Ten Chinese Consumer Trends: Report

Posted by david on Jan 2, 2013 in Blog | 0 comments

Consumption is charging ahead in China with all social classes and age groups increasingly combining online and physical platforms to maximize accessibility and convenience.  This is the conclusion of Consumption Trends China 2013, a joint survey and analysis by MEC, a major international media agency and CIC, a leading social business intelligence provider in China. 

The study identified 10 major trends that are likely to shape Chinese consumption for years to come.  Most interesting among them are Chinese concerns about food and product safety, emerging ‘highbrow’, ‘nostalgic’, and hedonistic tastes, spending by and catering to singles and the ‘gray-haired’, along with charity and altruistic pursuits.

 

Here is Part I of a two-part summary:

Consumer safety scandals involving tainted food and faulty products are upper most in the minds of consumers, prompting many to “pay for safety” – paying premium prices for organic foods, buying property and auto insurance, and posting microblogs on food and road safety.  Last summer, CCTV’s hugely popular A Bite of China documentary on Chinese food culture engendered a revival in regional cuisine but also evoked memories of when food was simple, natural, and safe.  The series inadvertently spawned sarcastic remarks on microblogs about the state of food safety in China. 

In addition, websites like www.zzcw.info (throw it out of the window) organized by a group of volunteers in 2011 provide information on poisonous and harmful foodstuff reports going back to 2004.  On May 3, a couple weeks before the airing of A Bite of China, the site crashed temporarily because it was getting too much traffic, revealing the extent of concern at the grassroots.

In part due to the food scare, middle class consumers are renting plots in the suburbs to grow their own food.  Happy Farm, a micro-farming website, lets subscribers rent a small plot to grow their favorite vegetables and fruits.  Renters tend to the plots themselves or have the farm manager and his team help out.  Netizens experience firsthand harvesting the fruits of their labour or they can ask the farm to harvest and deliver the produce.   The remarkable thing is that growth of their vegetables can be monitored online. 

Chinese consumers also desire more culture in their improving lives. They like the arts, gourmet food and travel, and are eager to show off their “cultured life” on social media. The ‘foodie’ phenomenon has infected Chinese consumers even more severely than in the West, especially given the depth of Chinese food culture.  Sitting at a table with scrumptious dishes, instead of gobbling them up straight away, the first impulse is to pull out mobile phones and take pictures to send to friends or post on weibo. Many Chinese foodies have accumulated large portfolios that are shown to like-minded fans around the world.

What used to be haute culture is now more accessible to the general public.  Consumer spending on highbrow cultural events and performances has grown steadily over the past few years and not confined to the large cities, attested by rising expenditures in tier 3 and 4 cities.  And providers have been quick to catch the wave.  Since the end of 2011, for example, the Shanghai Grand Theatre has made each third Sunday a month a discount ticket day for diverse and multi-genre performances.  Two rounds of discount ticket sales at the beginning of 2012 attracted long queues of enthusiasts.  Similar programs have been introduced in Beijing and other major centers.

On the Internet, sites catering to “backpackers” and “tour pals“ are another expression of the Chinese craving for developing “cultural temperament”.  Travelling is as much about culture and people as it is about scenery.  On weibo, there are legions of netizens following the corporate accounts of travel agencies and hotels.  For those who like to record their experiences in artistic ways, picture-taking is a favourite medium.  Not counting smart phone picture takers, aficionados carry single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras with them wherever they go.  Within a couple years, household ownership of SLRs has gone from 10% to 14% in 2012 and the proliferation of photo sharing platforms encourages even more people to participate. 

The institution of marriage is not as sacred as it used to be as China’s population of single men and women increases year by year.  The “singles culture” and “singles effect” is a much-talked about topic on microblogs. Singles are unburdened by family responsibilities and are by definition hedonists willing to open their wallets for immediate gratification.  Compared to other groups, they go to the cinema more often with a date, with friends or on his/her own.  Cooking for one, singles tend to frequent nearly convenient stores rather than busing or driving to supermarkets for major grocery shopping.  Products and services specifically designed for singles are thus on the up and up. 

In China, like traditional Valentine’s Day for couples, singles have their own Singles’ Day (November 11).  Chinese numerology considers 11-11-11 the most auspicious Singles’ Day of the century.  Last year, Taobao.com launched a campaign offering free delivery and 50% discounts on many famous brands. The resulting turnover reached 960 million RMB, setting a record for B to C e-commerce.  Revenues this year topped a whopping US$3 billion, double Cyber Monday revenues in the US that ComScore estimated had hit $1.5 bn.  Black Friday, November 23^rd, barely passed the $1 bn mark.

Discussions centering on keywords “retro” and “nostalgia” have been surging on weibo.  In 2012, tweets involving “retro” grew 10-fold to 22,588,671.  Retro is the new fashion in which consumers find deep emotional resonance.  Scribbled Warrior Shoes and sailor’s stripe shirts, all the rage in the sixties and seventies that combine retro and modern elements are back in vogue.  ‘Educated Youth’ canteens targeting students who were sent down to the countryside during the 1960s and 1970s and “post-70” and “post-80” (people born in the 1970s and 1980s) restaurants draw crowds reminiscent about the innocence of youth.  In the hustle and bustle of the daily grind, dining on era dishes in a setting surrounded by memorabilia, people cannot but be overcome by nostalgia and a longing for simpler times.