Are Chinese Buyers really that different?
According to a recent report from JWT (via Agenda Inc.) :
“denizens of the Middle Kingdom are profoundly Confucian. They are motivated by a religious zeal to maintain order. One one hand, Chinese are passive, willing to conform to rigid, hierarchical convention. On the other, they are boldly resolute, intent on moving up the ladder of success. This master conflict between regimentation and ambition exists in the heart of the citizens and defines the bull’s eye of consumer desire.”
It’s a pretty interesting report, with profiles of the middle class as well as of urban buyers, and with detailed descriptions of what makes Chinese women, men and teens “tick”. The report is also full of “fun facts” - like the fact that they consume 21 liters of beer in China vs. 84 liters in the US, or that 90% of Chinese own cell phones vs. 54.6% in the US.
Apparently Chinese consumers like to buy expensive, foreign brands for the outside, and local, cheap brands for the inside.
Hmmm…I know people in the Western World that are not all that dissimilar in their buying behavior.
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January 17th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
I can’t remember where I read it, but the gist of the article was that consumption of beer in China is not limited by desire to consume, or even the lack of funds to buy beer. The real barrier to beer consumption is the lack of wheat to brew it. The article suggested that the amount of wheat needed to increase the per-capita consumption of beer throughout China by 3 bottle a year whould require the entire wheat crop of a country like Norway. In other words, the ability to consume in China may untimately be thwarted by the lack of resources needed to satisfy the appetite of its huge population. Could cars be next?