I am spending a few weeks in China. This time, I sense a really big change in the Chinese marketplace. Not only has income level risen dramatically since my last visit a few years ago, but the Internet has become an even more pervasive force in Chinese consumers’ daily life. I confess that I have not done extensive research about marketing and consumers in China. But there are a few notable observations that I would like to share with my readers.
Discretionary Spending on the Rise
When I graduated from college in 1996, I was paid slightly over 1000 Yuan (about $140) a month as an assistant editor at a publishing company in Beijing. Today, my college classmates are often paid more than ten times that working in their professional jobs. Without a doubt, the standard of living has increased dramatically in China. As the cost of basic living items (excluding housing) is still pretty low, Chinese consumers in metropolitan areas are enjoying more and more discretionary income. This has boosted spending on discretionary items such as travel and automobiles. A lot more consumers are traveling both within China and aboard. Having a car is also becoming more commonplace.
Housing Gap
With the high population density in China, housing (sold by square meters) is still expensive and is one of the largest expenses in many consumers’ budget. In popular metropolitan areas such as the capital city Beijing, condominiums cost from a few thousand yuan (= a few hundred dollars) per square meter to upwards of $10,000 per square meter, which puts the price tag of a 2000sqft condo at $1.8 million. Continue reading “China – An Update”
