The Chinese government tries to shift its economy from investment-driven towards consumption, with considerable success. And the outside world is equally seeing the consumption power of the Chinese, as they travel more than ever, and spend per head more than tourists from any other country.
But tapping into that huge spending power is not always easy, and is driven by the often hard-to-predict habits of Chinese consumers, policies by the government and the powerful social media. Experts at the China Speakers Bureau are happy to give your efforts direction.
Arnold Ma is CEO and founder of the first and largest Chinese digital creative agency in Europe, Qumin, founded in 2012, with the mission to “open the world to China”, specializing in marketing to China by truly understanding Chinese people and culture.
The unprecedented growth and unparalleled development of China’s economy over the last 30 years brought about important changes within the society. The adaptability and global awareness of China’s younger generation are way beyond those of their ancestors, for example.
Young people have a newly found desire to be different, to express themselves by not conforming to public perceptions. Common beliefs embedded in communist China are the reason why “quite rebellious and not popular movements”, as defined by Arnold, started to emerge. These movements are known as subcultures.
Arnold recommends that brands should always bear in mind that “changes in China happen at a fast pace, people latch on to subcultures really quickly, they rapidly move on to new things and adapt to upcoming trends”. This means that new subcultures can emerge but also die very quickly, creating a very risky and volatile youth market. Thus, brands must be extremely careful when micro-targeting specific trends or subcultures.
Are you looking for recent stories by Arnold Ma? Do check out this list.
Rupert Hoogewerf has been tracking China´s rich for over a decade. And he sees a trend in the way his research subject prepares for investments overseas. First, they go on a holiday as tourists. Then they send their children abroad. Then they start investing in some real estate, sometimes first apartments for their children and themselves.
Only then they have paved a way, and are ready to invest more abroad.
You can read some of his articles here.
Shaun Rein, managing director of the China Market Research Group (CMR)
Shaun Rein is one of the world’s recognized thought leaders on strategy consulting in China.
Early 2018 he published his third book, The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order, bound to be a bestseller, like his previous two books
His book The End of Cheap China, Revised and Updated: Economic and Cultural Trends That Will Disrupt the World, published in 2012, solidified his reputation of challenging established classic ways to frame China.
He is a regular commentator on Bloomberg TV, The Wall Street Journal, and other mainstream media.
At the end of 2014, he published his second book The End of Copycat China: The Rise of Creativity, Innovation, and Individualism in Asia. In that book, he explains how China from a copy-and-paste culture is now developing into one of the world´s leading innovators.
Are you looking for more stories by Rupert Hoogewerf? Do check out this list.
Ashley Dudarenok is a China marketing expert with two decades of professional experience in China. She is fluent in Mandarin, Russian, German and English.
Ashley is also a serial entrepreneur, professional speaker, bestselling author, vlogger, podcaster, media contributor and female entrepreneurship spokesperson. She is the founder of several startups, including social media agency Alarice.com.hk and resources & training company ChoZan.co.
She co-authored Digital China: Working with Bloggers, Influencers and KOLs, published in November 2018.
Are you looking for more stories by Ashley Dudarenok? Do check out this list.
Sharon Gai has 10+ years of experience in leading positions at e-commerce companies, including five years at Alibaba.
Sharon Gai is a China-born Canadian who is an expert in e-commerce, digital transformation, and AI. She is the former Head of Global Key Accounts at Alibaba and General Manager at a billion-dollar e-commerce unicorn. In her tenure at Alibaba, she has advised brands and heads of state in crafting their digital strategy with programmatic marketing and AI. She is the author of Ecommerce Reimagined: Retail and Ecommerce in China.
She has been the keynote speaker at TEDx, Singularity University, UBS, Nestle, Ecomworld, and Etail. She has appeared on ABC, CCTV, CBC, Techcrunch, Retail Asia, and The Next Web. Sharon is also a Global Shaper in the World Economic Forum. Sharon has an Honors Bachelor’s degree in International Development from McGill and a Masters in Information Management from Columbia University.
You can read more of her stories here.
Ben Cavender is a senior analyst with The China Market Research Group (CMR) focusing on strategic planning and brand positioning. Next to his boss, Shaun Rein, he has become one of the leading voices of his firm.
His focus on retail has also made him into an expert in consumption trends. No brand, no product in China can nowadays survive without also a solid online marketing strategy,
You can read some of the articles who quote Ben here.
