Socially Embedded Marketing Practices in China's Illicit Retail Drug Market

Based on 21 in-depth interviews with drug users and retail-level dealers in China, this study examines how marketing-like practices operate in the absence of formal mechanisms such as advertising, branding, or contracts. Drawing on Granovetter's concept of embeddedness, it shows that retail drug exchange in the Chinese context is primarily organized through offline social relationships and interpersonal trust, with little reliance on digital promotion. The findings identify three key practices: socially embedded introduction of new products, selective customer maintenance, and tailored service provision. These practices are shaped by a highly constrained, tightly regulated environment and show how visibility, coordination, and customer retention are achieved through dense social networks rather than open or digital markets. The study conceptualizes marketing not as a formal institution but as an embedded relational process that organizes retail drug markets under strong enforcement and high risk, highlighting the contextual specificity of trust, reputation, and social ties in China's illicit economy.