China, el primer mercado mundial de consumo

Notas del editor

• #3: Companies should not underestimate the challenges of doing business in a market as complex as China. In fact, the experience of countless businesses suggests that the “Chinese market” is actually a collection of different markets. For instance, in 2009, average urban disposable income in China’s richest city was four times higher than in its poorest city. Not only is China one of the world’s most diverse markets, it is also arguably its fastest-changing one. The urban population is likely to increase by 143m over the next ten years, and average urban incomes are set to more than double during that period. By 2025, there will be 21 cities in China with a population of over 5m.
• #6: New policy blueprints, outlined in the 12th !ve-year plan of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, link infrastructure, city development, and regional economic growth. Urban hubs along China’s coast will remain the nation’s biggest and wealthiest economic zones and continue to invest in facilities that support trade. In the future, though, inland areas with faster industrial-growth rates will get an increasing share of infrastructure investment. China also is poised to develop ten logistics corridors connecting city clusters across the nation with new rail lines, expressways, and bridge crossings. Interior regions will receive additional funding to improve their resource utilization and address environmental concerns. In larger eastern cities, some infrastructure investments will underpin the transition from traditional manufacturing to high tech, services, and advanced manufacturing.
• #7: The Development Research Centre, a think-tank for China's cabinet, proposed last month eight key areas for reform at the plenum - finance, taxation, land, state assets, social welfare, innovation, foreign investment and governance. Some reforms still face stiff resistance from powerful interest groups such as local governments or state-owned monopolies, people involved in reform discussions have said.
• #13: Coming of no surprise to those working for luxury watch brands is the continued strength of China in driving overall watch demand. Composed of three major regions and 56 ethnic groups, China’s diversity requires an in-depth understanding of local culture and clientele preferences, and this is no different when analysing the interest for luxury watches. Coastal China, represented by major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Dalian, represented 57 per cent of the nation’s demand for luxury timepieces, highlighting that the luxury markets in central China are still to be developed, a potential opportunity for brands. In addition to differing levels of demand across China, the interest for particular brands is stronger in some regions over others. Omega and Longines hold the top two positions in most Chinese provinces, but the people of Guangdong province have a preference for Rolex, Cartier is much stronger in Shanghai than anywhere else, Patek Philippe ranks highly in Beijing and Vacheron Constantin does comparatively well in Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
• #14: The surge in sales is also affecting new markets. In China, the male grooming market should increase by more than 20% a year during 2012 to 2014, according to RNCOS.
• #15: As it is, China already dominates the world’s car sales, but is coming up on replacing the United States as the No. 1 market for luxury cars too. Estimates by McKinsey & Company put China in control of 40% of the world’s luxury auto market by 2020. China automakers sold 19.3 million vehicles in China last year, from Buicks to Chery QQs.  That’s nearly five million more than the U.S. If China’s middle class consumers spend more than they save, and if the economy avoids a hard landing — as many economists suspect — then consensus estimates have China’s auto market is seen hitting 25 million cars sold each year within seven years.
• #16: Consider Nike, long familiar for its TV advertising in China and for WeChat, a popular Chinese mobile-messaging platform. The campaign, billed as a sports-subscription service, allowed users to “follow” the company and receive daily updates about an upcoming Nike sports festival. To encourage participation, the company aggressively placed QR codes5 on taxis, outdoor posters, and other noticeable spots. WeChat’s broad reach—it has 200 million users—helped Nike to keep in touch with the mainstream, while opportunities for user participation helped heighten the sense of individuality for upscale consumers.
• #20: Part of the reason China’s ecommerce market is growing so quickly, analysts say, is that internet access itself still has room to grow. Only 31 per cent of households now have broadband internet, and 21 per cent have mobile broadband, says Paul McKenzie of brokerage CLSA. With the recent growth in affordable smartphones, that percentage is poised to grow.
• #30: The data are very favorable for expat life in Asia's developing economies. Companies in these countries prize expat workers and tend to pay them 15 percent more, the report explains. This, combined with lower costs of living, can give expats much higher spending power than they'd enjoy elsewhere. Expats in East and Southeast Asia also tend to report that their social lives become much more active on moving there, due perhaps to the boost in disposable incomes as well as better weather and proximity to beaches.