Written by: Ahsan Ali

Student I.D: 3113999107

Consumer Behavior in China:

Summary:
When we think of huge population, ecommerce giant and hardworking youth the only
countrys name surrounds in the mind and that is China. China is growing day by day with positive
invocation and infrastructure. There is lot of difference in the 1970s china and 2014s China. In the
past, it was all about looking for new opportunities. But now, as the market stabilizes, it's more
about developing core competitiveness, and do what you can do the best to establish yourself
among consumers with an increasing desire for value. In terms of economic growth it is predicted
as next giant in the world so there is most focus on consumer behavior.
Although, China is getting more and more established, the distribution of brands have been
forcibly diverted to the consumer value strategies. There are so many opportunities for the
companies to launch strategies to boost their business by knowing consumers needs and wants.
This is the reason the consumers are divided by the group of ages and generations to predict the
behavior towards products and services. Research has shown that consumer behavior vary from
children to young and elders/senior citizens.
As China is the largest e-commerce market in the world. The country has the largest population
of online shoppers. Chinese consumers have always been a mystery to many Western companies.
Little is known about their spending behavior and buying habits. The habits are changed by the
ages, it is now focusing on the traditional as well as modern culture of the civilization. If we talk
about consumer behavior, the customers are more loyal with the brand and they are sticky with
online shopping. They spend more time to get best deal and purchase desired goods and services.
The consumers behavior towards free or promotional sale is highly noticed as the western
consumers do. Chinese get more advantages from promotional sales or 11.11 discounted sale as
more as they can. Same as western countries do on black Friday. There are several differences in
the Chinese and western consumers but here few Chinese consumer trends mentioned bellow,
i)
ii)
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v)
vi)

Shopping Makes Them Really Happy

They Prefer Marketplaces to Stand-alone Shopping Websites
They Are Into Brands, but They Arent Very Loyal
They Are Natural Omni channel Shoppers
They Rely on Social Media and What Their Friends what they say about product
They Love a Bargain, But Price is No Longer Paramount.

According to the survey, product development and marketing were the most important steps
companies had taken to address the impact of consumer trends. Chinese consumers are
increasingly opting for quality goods at higher prices and adopting online shopping and social
media to gather product information, which are the two key trends driving company strategy in
China

Some Suggestions:

Some consumer habits can change: example: Wine replaced Spirits in the alcoholic
market.
Small discounts are better than none:

Face matters: Chinese greatly value face, a quality associated with dignity, honor, and
pride and will pay more to save face.

Chinese consumers generally favor foreign brands:

Pricing is a sensitive issue: On one hand, Chinese shoppers believe the higher the price,
the better the quality or the higher the status.

Understand the government policies towards consumer safety or securities.

Localization is key Facing such a unique group of consumers, foreign companies should
focus on localizing operations

Conclusion:
Chinese consumers demonstrate different shopping patterns depending on their wealth,
age, and location. Though many Chinese consumers demand less expensive products, a small
but significant proportion is willing to pay a premium for higher quality. The biggest change in
Chinese consumer behavior comes from the young generations rising wealth and increasingly
Westernized lifestyle. So, the consumer behavior is totally concern about the satisfaction of the
products offered than consumer will value the firm.