Mobile phone applications dedicated to women have been gaining popularity recently in China, transforming the market structure once dominated by men-inclined software.
One of China's largest mobile apps download sites, The Tencent App Store unveiled a list of its best programs of 2015 on Jan. 17. Of the 23 app titles, those dedicated to women take a share of four. Besides, the top trending applications for socialization, shopping, video and photo emerged as the most popular among the female clientele, according to Women of China.
An example of the popular apps is the shopping app Red aka Xiaohongshu. The app has helped women in China to purchase items abroad, enabling them to enter the Black Friday sale event, a bonanza practiced in the West. Since the launch of Xiaohongshu at the beginning of 2014, the app has grown by over 2,000 percent.
According to a different report by the same publication, shopping app HIGO, also referred to as "Meilishuo," has attracted approximately 100 million users over the past year. It focuses on fashion, beauty and personal recommendations.
On the other hand, the Instagram-like image stream IN is a fan-favorite app among Chinese women. The app combines photo sharing with social networking besides uniting people of the same tastes.
Meanwhile, Tencent pointed out that a photo-enhancing application for selfies, Beauty Camera, has "played a big role in making Chinese women more confident and at ease when taking photos." As a result, the app has risen to the top in the "tools" category.
A report released by the Internet Society of China indicates that mobile Internet users summed up to 902 million in Nov. 2015. Software has become highly specialized and diversified for sub-groups. It is not surprising that Chinese women are major players in the mobile apps sphere, showcasing an apparently high appetite for fashion, beauty and high standards of life.