Retail

China’s Exploding Wine Consumption

U.S., Chile, Australia as well as old world wines all generating increasing market shares as China develops new tastes

Op-Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

May 21 – China is a country that continues to surprise, even 20 years after I first established my business there. Back in 1992, drinking coffee was limited to the few hotels that even had such a thing as a Nescafe sachet. Last October, Starbucks opened its 500th store, not bad going for a nation once considered purely tea drinkers. The same story, that of changing consumer tastes, has filtered across many F&B markets, not least with wine. In 1992, red wine would be drunk as a highball with coke, and white wine with 7Up. While that may be understandable given the general quality of wine in China at the time, that is not the case today, and rather like the coffee phenomena, wine consumption has sky rocketed and continues to do so. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, FDI and Foreign Trade, Markets, Retail | Tagged China Consumption, China Imports, China Luxury Goods, China Wine Consumption, China Wine Market | 4 Comments

Taobao and CTR Release Report on China’s Online Shopping Growth

By Xiaolei Gu

Apr. 19 – To further expound the important role that online shopping is playing with regards to China’s expanding consumption levels, popular shopping website Taobao and China’s largest market research firm CTR jointly released the “Report on China’s Online Shopping Trends 2012 (中国消费风向标报告2012).” The report identifies and extrapolates on online shopping trends in China based on CTR’s continuous single-source survey CNRS-TGI, Kantar Worldpanel, and data collected from Taobao – a facilitator of B2C and C2C retail business run by Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, FDI and Foreign Trade, Retail, Science and Tech, Technology | Tagged Alibaba Group, China Consumption, China E-Commerce, China Online Market, China Online Shopping, China's Consumers, CTR, Taobao | 1 Comment

American Companies Selling to China – Why and How

Impressive increases in exports drive U.S. businesses to export to China. This is a user’s guide on joining the trend – and includes a complimentary U.S. Dept. of Commerce download

Op-Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis, Founding Partner of Dezan Shira & Associates

Mar. 28 – With the U.S.-China Business Council poised to release a report outlining significant gains in U.S. exports to China over the past 12 months, the opportunities for American companies to sell goods and services to China has never looked brighter. Part of this is a significant and still growing shift concerning China’s own dynamics and demographics – a phenomenon we covered earlier this week in the piece titled “Why China’s Consumer Development is Assured.” Put simply, the article explains that when China began its policy of opening up to foreign investment 25 years ago, it had no developed middle class and there was simply no meaningful Chinese wealth to buy American goods and services. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, FDI and Foreign Trade, Markets, Retail | Tagged China Consumption, Chinese Consumers, Chris Devonshire-Ellis, Selling to China, U.S.-China Relations | Leave a comment

Why China’s Consumer Development is Assured

Lewisian turning point impacts upon China demographics with India close behind, meaning sales opportunities in China exist as never before

Op-Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Mar. 27 – China is about to become a great market for international businesses to sell to. That’s quite a statement, and I can recall similar proclamations being bandied about 20 years ago during the early days of Deng Xiaoping’s reforms, and then 10 years later when China eventually joined the WTO. Yet, as many a wise man noted – unless you were in the chopstick business, there weren’t actually a whole bunch of affluent Chinese looking to buy goods and services. That is now changing. But why? Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Economy and Politics, FDI and Foreign Trade, Manufacturing, Markets, Retail | Tagged Arthur Lewis, China Consumers, China Consumption, China Demographics, China Market, India Demographics, Lewisian Turning Point | 4 Comments

Report: China’s 2020 Consumer Demographics

Mar. 13 – As China gradually shifts its economy from an investment-led growth module to a more consumption-driven structure, be prepared to engage a more individualistic and emotional Chinese consumer in the near future, suggested a new study conducted by the international consultancy group McKinsey & Co.

In its report “Meet the 2020 Chinese Consumer,” McKinsey predicted that China’s GDP would grow 7.9 percent annually over the next 10 years and, by 2020, consumption would account for about 43 percent of China’s economic growth, compared with a forecast contribution of 38 percent from investment. Statistics from the firm show that investment currently accounts for 53 percent of the country’s economy. Private consumption will represent 39 percent of GDP by 2020 and government consumption will be 13 percent, the report added. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Economy and Politics, FDI and Foreign Trade, Retail | Tagged China Consumers, China Consumption, China Economic Growth, China Economy, China GDP | 2 Comments

Consumption Trends and Targeting China’s Female Consumers

By Vivian Ni

Mar. 8 – Consumer goods retailers and female-oriented service providers across China are competing to launch promotional campaigns and offer discounts today in a bid to attract more female consumption. At the end of this year’s “International Women’s Day,” they hope to harvest profits from the wallets of the country’s increasingly wealthy female buyers.

In fact, not only on this symbolic day, but in Chinese people’s day-to-day lives, spending by women has become a significant contributor to the “great Chinese consumption power,” a concept that is becoming the mantra for international businesses nowadays. According to a Nielsen survey in 2010, the consumer confidence of Chinese women aged between 30 and 39 achieved the same level of men in that age group, and there is a growing tendency that younger Chinese women are willing to pay more for their favorite items than men. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Markets, Retail | Tagged China Consumption Market, China Female Consumption, International Women's Day | 1 Comment

China’s Provincial Retail Statistics for 2011

By Julia Gu

Also included: Figures on Chinese tourists’ retail spending abroad

Feb. 9 – According to preliminary data released from China’s National Bureau of Statistics, retail sales of consumer goods totaled RMB18.12 trillion (US$2.88 trillion) nationwide last year, up 17.1 percent year-on-year. While growth was 2.2 percentage points lower than the increase in 2010, China’s retail industry is expected to remain relatively strong in the near future amid declining export demand and a cooling real estate market – aided largely by the country’s expanding middle class population. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, FDI and Foreign Trade, Retail | Tagged China Consumption, China Provinces, China Retail, Luxury Goods | Leave a comment

China’s Wine Market Shows Great Potential

By Vivian Ni

Nov. 21 – The surging demand for wine in China has made the country one of the most important target markets for global wine producers, as regular Chinese consumers are now becoming more receptive to Western wine, and wealthy Chinese buyers are considering red wine as a new type of speculative investment to counter inflation.

Promising wine consumption market
While traditional wine consumption markets in the West are all declining amid the recent global economic woes, wine sales in China have been experiencing an impressive 15 percent annual increase over the past several years, according to estimates made by U.S.-based consulting firm A.T. Kearney (ATK). Furthermore, a report issued in September by U.K.-based International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR) says that wine consumption reached 125 million 12-bottle cases in 2010 and is forecast to double to 250 million cases by 2016. Continue reading →