Tag: China

Social Media in China

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This sign was the last thing I expected to see when I stepped into a quiet back alley restaurant off a street several hundred years old in China. Printed on the worn green wooden plate were Chinese characters that roughly translated into “Feel free to take pictures and show off on WeChat and QQ.” (WeChat and QQ are major social network platforms/apps in China.) Situated at the entrance to a traditional looking courtyard, the sign felt like it was left by someone who once traveled here from the future.

But as my month-long trip to China continued, I came to realize that the presence of such a social media token is perhaps not so surprising after all. It appears social media have become more or less a way of life here. Everywhere I looked, I saw the presence of social media. In this post, I would like to take you on a vicarious tour of the social media landscape in China.

Social Media is Everywhere

According to Statistica, there were 596 million social network users in China in 2017, the highest in the world. This translates into approximately 42% of the country’s population. But the penetration rate is much higher among those under 50 years old, at nearly two-thirds and as high as 77.3% for those 20-29 years old. What is unique about Chinese social media users is the dominant use of mobile devices for social media access. eMarketer estimates that 480.4 million Chinese users will be accessing social media through their mobile phones in 2019.

My own observations in China conveyed the same impression as the numbers. Buses and subways were full of people hunched over their smartphones scrolling through social media postings and friends’ messages. Even the traveling retirees (all 60-70 years old) that I encountered during my trip were frequent social media consumers, spending a large chunk of their free time reading, liking, and to a lesser extent posting on social media. Adoption by businesses is also high. On advertisements and product packages, company social network information was frequently printed alongside phone numbers and website addresses for consumers to reach them. Continue reading “Social Media in China”

The New Rich in China

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As I stood at a busy intersection on People’s Avenue South in Chengdu, China, I am dazzled by the high-end designer labels I see. Louis Vutton, Dior, MaxMara, and many other luxury brands all opened up shop here. With the fast economic development during the last decade, there has arisen a new class of rich Chinese consumers who spend their money generously on these luxury goods.

 yacht
Photo by Flickr user yachtfan | CC 2.0

Of course, those who can afford to buy luxury brands are still far and few in between. According to the World Bank, 1% of Chinese families now possess 41.4% of China’s wealth. This represents a bigger gap than that of the United States, whose corresponding number is 5% families owning 60% of national wealth. The Gini coefficient, an index used to measure income inequality, has also surpassed the warning level of 40 in China ten years ago to reach 47 today. Continue reading “The New Rich in China”

China – An Update

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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”