Business analyst Shaun Rein appeared on the “On China” show of CNN’s Kristie Lu Stout, discussing China’s growing consumption, Barbie and how even in a downturn China’s wealthy will become wealthier.
CNN:
One area where Western brands have some headway against their domestic Chinese competitors is product safety, in the wake of scandals over tainted baby formula, fake eggs and exploding watermelons.
Shaun Rein said his company, China Market Research Group, interviewed 5,000 Chinese consumers in 15 cities last year. “Their biggest concern in life, ahead of being able to pay education for their kids, or for medical care cost for their families, was food and product safety,” Rein said.
“They’re absolutely petrified of biting something and dying, or getting toxic shock syndrome from a toy. So what we’ve found is in these 5,000 consumers they trust foreign brands far more than they trust local domestic Chinese brands,” Rein said.
A dichotomy is growing in Chinese consumer trends between shopping for status and shopping for value.
“What that means is, people don’t buy mid-level brands, which is why you see (brands?) like Marks & Spencer, or Li-Ning, or Gap kind of struggle, because these are branded for middle-class consumers,” Rein said. “What we see is people either shop for the most expensive things they can get, like a Louis Vuitton or Hermes bag, or they go for the cheapest.”
Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
This week, on November 22, the China Weekly Hangout is about the future of nuclear power in China. You can register at our event page here. (Two weeks earlier we missed the change in daylight saving time in the US and had to cancel.) First part will focus on the resumption of building nuclear power stations, the second part of the chances NIMBY protests can derail this ambitious program. Planned participants: Richard Brubaker and Chris Brown.
You can access all editions here.
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