For international brands, China offers a vast and enticing consumer market with significant potential, yet it operates within a unique digital landscape.

Achieving success requires more than just translating existing business models; it necessitates a complete re-engineering of technology, marketing, and products to align with local platforms and regulations. This is a challenge of profound adaptation.

This was the challenge faced by US-based fitness technology company iFIT. “China is a very different market compared to the rest of the world,” explains Jason McMurdie, Senior Vice President of Technology at iFIT. “You need a highly experienced in-country partner who understands the market. To achieve that, we partnered with Alibaba.”

Building a digital foundation

For iFIT, the initial step focused on compliance. This involved navigating China’s regulations on data sovereignty and migrating its core infrastructure, including its SAP ERP system, to local Alibaba Cloud servers. It also required connecting with consumers on platforms where they are most active, such as ‘super-apps’ like Alipay and TaoBao.

Implementing a CRM like Salesforce necessitated a specialized approach. “Salesforce doesn’t have any data centers in China,” explains Forrister Ross, Global Account Executive at Alibaba Cloud, “so when users in China accessed the application, it would pull data across borders, which would violate the cross-border data transfer law.”

The collaboration between Alibaba Cloud and Salesforce not only addresses this legal challenge but also mitigates network latency issues.

The outcome is a platform co-developed over two years, specifically tailored for Chinese users. “We didn’t incorporate Marketing Cloud because email is less frequently used for daily communication,” notes Forrister. “Instead, we concentrated on integrating features that are significant in China. We seamlessly connect Salesforce CRM with the unique local app ecosystem and Alibaba Cloud technology, known as the Connected Experiences Gateway (CXG).”

What started as a vendor relationship has deepened into a more collaborative partnership. “They’re being very proactive,” Jason remarks about the Alibaba Cloud team. “That’s been incredibly helpful for us.”

AI as an engine for adaptation

With the foundation established, the focus shifted to the product itself. iFIT boasts an extensive library of fitness content—petabytes of video. AI emerged as the tool to unlock this resource for a new audience.

The initial task was translation, where Forrister notes that Alibaba Cloud’s AI model Qwen successfully “matched the tone and timbre of the coaches and then automatically translated videos.”

Qwen is now transforming this library of content, offering more personalized experiences. “Can we use AI to automatically shorten a two-hour workout to 20 minutes for a user with limited time?” Forrister highlights.

Even audio is being tailored: the profile for a user on a phone differs from that of someone on a “$20,000 treadmill with a super-surround system,” so AI is “modifying and enhancing audio based on the device it’s being played on.”

This capability to rapidly prototype and implement changes is essential: in a recent instance, Alibaba Cloud delivered a proof of concept just two days after the request.