As more Chinese move into cities, there are more who need to return home for China’s Spring Festival. The world’s largest mass migration just keeps getting larger, with 2.91 billion trips expected to be made in China over this year’s festival period – 100 million more than last year.
The Lunar New Year period brings its predictable barrage of selfies from crowded transport hubs, tales of long journeys home riding pillion through sub-arctic conditions and fake girlfriends and boyfriends earning as much as $450 to keep Mama to Baba happy back in the village.
Yet not everyone will be munching on dumplings with one eye on CCTV’s Gala and the other on WeChat. More and more Chinese are shunning family traditions to shop, sightsee and dine in spots like Bondi and Bali (albeit, with one eye still on WeChat).
Last year’s Spring Festival saw 5 million Chinese travel internationally. If the 11% rise in outbound trips during the 2015 October Golden Week’s and general tourism growth trends are anything to go by, we can expect to see many more Chinese head overseas this February.
There’s been a lot of talk about slowing economic growth and the falling yuan keeping Chinese from travelling abroad. Just as this hasn’t really affected consumer spending, international travel will be strong this Spring Festival as well. China’s richest people like Jack Ma and Wang Jianlin think so too, based on the billions they’re investing in the tourism segment.
The falling Yuan against the US Dollar is likely to have more on an impact on where Chinese go, rather than whether they go. The Yuan has stayed strong against the Aussie and Kiwi Dollars, which are ideal to visit at this time of the year. And at a time when Chinese are earning more, their currency is also stronger than it was a year ago against the Thai Bhat and Indonesian Rupiah to name a few.
Like always, Chinese travellers will do a lot of research before shopping, and be as shrewd as ever, but they’ll still be spending up a storm abroad, ensuring they retain their title as the world’s biggest spending tourists.
No mention of Chinese New Year would be worthy without covering the blunders that foreign brands make trying to appeal to Chinese consumers during their busiest shopping season. There was no shortage this year, with the biggest faux pas going to Nike.
Have a Happy New Year, expect the rest of 2016 to be as interesting as ever. China Skinny will be back in the Year of the Monkey. 新年快乐!
Image may be NSFW.
Foreign Brands’ Blunders for the Chinese New Year: From monkey designs that are just all wrong for Chinese consumers, to even bigger gaffes, there’s been plenty to laugh about on Chinese social media leading up to this Spring Festival.
Guys, Need a Fake Girlfriend for CNY this Year? Be Prepared to Pay Matchmakers a ¥3,000 ($456) Fee: For a mere ¥3,000 plus travel and other expenses, you can have a ‘friend’ accompany you home for up to a week to keep your family off your back for another year.
Connecting with Chinese Consumers: Just having the right sales agreements and communication channels is no guarantee of sales in China, brands need to connect to consumers with relevant content and context.
Gauging the Strength of Chinese Innovation: If China is to continue to meet it’s GDP growth targets, innovation will need to play a bigger part in its economy. China has innovated in areas such as consumer electronics and construction equipment, yet in others like creating new drugs or designing automobile engines, the country still isn’t globally competitive.
Image may be NSFW.
The World’s Largest Mass Migration Kicks Off: 2.91 billion trips are expected to be taken during this year’s 40-day Lunar New Year period – 100 million, or 3.6%, more than last year.
China’s Tourism Robust in 2015, Investment Surges: For the first time in history, annual tourism investment in China reached ¥1 trillion ($152 billion) in 2015, 42% more than a year earlier. Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent contributed ¥16 billion yuan ($2.44 billion) to that, while property and entertainment giant Dalian Wanda Group allocated over ¥700 billion yuan ($106.6 billion) to business and cultural travel projects.
Image may be NSFW.
73 Million More Shoppers Use Alibaba in 2015: 407 million Chinese shopped on Alibaba’s retail platforms last year spending close to a trillion RMB. See Alibaba’s 2015 results including how they performed globally versus domestically, mobile performance and an infographic.
Geographic Insights on China Online Shopping 2015: The 10 provinces making the highest average purchases on Taobao and Tmall are Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Tianjin, Beijing and Liaoning.
China’s Fickle Fake Stores Cool on Apple: For Now: If Shenzhen’s fake stores are a guide of a brand’s popularity, Apple may be losing its novelty factor. One well-known fake street has seen stores selling fake Apple products drop by a third since September. Time for the iPhone 7?
Image may be NSFW.
McDonald’s Plans Expansion in More Lower-tier Cities in China: McDonald’s plans to open 250 new stores in China this year and will focus its expansion on lower tier cities and consumers’ digital experience.
Image may be NSFW.
Chinese Shoppers Latest Must-Have from Japan: Condoms: Chinese who fear locally-made condoms have been credited with turning around sinking sales in Japan, driving a ‘rubber rebound’ in the country. In April, Shanghai police seized 3 million fake condoms made locally from inferior, foul-smelling material.
Dearth of Doctors in China Said to Put Children’s Health at Risk: With the Year of the Sheep ending, birthrates are likely to increase. Unfortunately, China has a shortfall of at least 200,000 paediatricians. Nearly half of all registered paediatricians left their positions between 2005 and 2011 due to poor pay, long working hours and dim career prospects, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
Image may be NSFW.
China Market Presents Strong Denim Opportunity: China’s youth present a large opportunity for denim brands, however 21% say it’s difficult to find traditional jeans styles. 72% of men prefer regular fit jeans, 14% loose and 11% slim fit. 47% of women prefer regular cut, 39% slim fit, 7% skinny and 6% loose fit.
Image may be NSFW.
While China Remains Ripe With Opportunities for Fashion Brands, Market Insight Is Needed: In 2012, just over 60% of luxury purchases occurred outside of China. In 2015 it was 75-80%, reflecting the importance of effective strategies to target Chinese tourists, cross-border ecommerce and relevant social media campaigns.
That’s the Skinny for the week! See previous newsletters here. Contact China Skinny for marketing, research and digital advice and implementation.
The Lunar New Year period brings its predictable barrage of selfies from crowded transport hubs, tales of long journeys home riding pillion through sub-arctic conditions and fake girlfriends and boyfriends earning as much as $450 to keep Mama to Baba happy back in the village.
Yet not everyone will be munching on dumplings with one eye on CCTV’s Gala and the other on WeChat. More and more Chinese are shunning family traditions to shop, sightsee and dine in spots like Bondi and Bali (albeit, with one eye still on WeChat).
Last year’s Spring Festival saw 5 million Chinese travel internationally. If the 11% rise in outbound trips during the 2015 October Golden Week’s and general tourism growth trends are anything to go by, we can expect to see many more Chinese head overseas this February.
There’s been a lot of talk about slowing economic growth and the falling yuan keeping Chinese from travelling abroad. Just as this hasn’t really affected consumer spending, international travel will be strong this Spring Festival as well. China’s richest people like Jack Ma and Wang Jianlin think so too, based on the billions they’re investing in the tourism segment.
The falling Yuan against the US Dollar is likely to have more on an impact on where Chinese go, rather than whether they go. The Yuan has stayed strong against the Aussie and Kiwi Dollars, which are ideal to visit at this time of the year. And at a time when Chinese are earning more, their currency is also stronger than it was a year ago against the Thai Bhat and Indonesian Rupiah to name a few.
Like always, Chinese travellers will do a lot of research before shopping, and be as shrewd as ever, but they’ll still be spending up a storm abroad, ensuring they retain their title as the world’s biggest spending tourists.
No mention of Chinese New Year would be worthy without covering the blunders that foreign brands make trying to appeal to Chinese consumers during their busiest shopping season. There was no shortage this year, with the biggest faux pas going to Nike.
Have a Happy New Year, expect the rest of 2016 to be as interesting as ever. China Skinny will be back in the Year of the Monkey. 新年快乐!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Chinese Consumers
Foreign Brands’ Blunders for the Chinese New Year: From monkey designs that are just all wrong for Chinese consumers, to even bigger gaffes, there’s been plenty to laugh about on Chinese social media leading up to this Spring Festival.
Guys, Need a Fake Girlfriend for CNY this Year? Be Prepared to Pay Matchmakers a ¥3,000 ($456) Fee: For a mere ¥3,000 plus travel and other expenses, you can have a ‘friend’ accompany you home for up to a week to keep your family off your back for another year.
Connecting with Chinese Consumers: Just having the right sales agreements and communication channels is no guarantee of sales in China, brands need to connect to consumers with relevant content and context.
Gauging the Strength of Chinese Innovation: If China is to continue to meet it’s GDP growth targets, innovation will need to play a bigger part in its economy. China has innovated in areas such as consumer electronics and construction equipment, yet in others like creating new drugs or designing automobile engines, the country still isn’t globally competitive.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. Chinese Tourists
The World’s Largest Mass Migration Kicks Off: 2.91 billion trips are expected to be taken during this year’s 40-day Lunar New Year period – 100 million, or 3.6%, more than last year.
China’s Tourism Robust in 2015, Investment Surges: For the first time in history, annual tourism investment in China reached ¥1 trillion ($152 billion) in 2015, 42% more than a year earlier. Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent contributed ¥16 billion yuan ($2.44 billion) to that, while property and entertainment giant Dalian Wanda Group allocated over ¥700 billion yuan ($106.6 billion) to business and cultural travel projects.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. Internet, Mobiles, Social Media & Ecommerce
73 Million More Shoppers Use Alibaba in 2015: 407 million Chinese shopped on Alibaba’s retail platforms last year spending close to a trillion RMB. See Alibaba’s 2015 results including how they performed globally versus domestically, mobile performance and an infographic.
Geographic Insights on China Online Shopping 2015: The 10 provinces making the highest average purchases on Taobao and Tmall are Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Tianjin, Beijing and Liaoning.
China’s Fickle Fake Stores Cool on Apple: For Now: If Shenzhen’s fake stores are a guide of a brand’s popularity, Apple may be losing its novelty factor. One well-known fake street has seen stores selling fake Apple products drop by a third since September. Time for the iPhone 7?
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![Premium]()
Food & Beverage
McDonald’s Plans Expansion in More Lower-tier Cities in China: McDonald’s plans to open 250 new stores in China this year and will focus its expansion on lower tier cities and consumers’ digital experience.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![Overall]()
Health
Chinese Shoppers Latest Must-Have from Japan: Condoms: Chinese who fear locally-made condoms have been credited with turning around sinking sales in Japan, driving a ‘rubber rebound’ in the country. In April, Shanghai police seized 3 million fake condoms made locally from inferior, foul-smelling material.
Dearth of Doctors in China Said to Put Children’s Health at Risk: With the Year of the Sheep ending, birthrates are likely to increase. Unfortunately, China has a shortfall of at least 200,000 paediatricians. Nearly half of all registered paediatricians left their positions between 2005 and 2011 due to poor pay, long working hours and dim career prospects, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![Designers and]()
Fashion
China Market Presents Strong Denim Opportunity: China’s youth present a large opportunity for denim brands, however 21% say it’s difficult to find traditional jeans styles. 72% of men prefer regular fit jeans, 14% loose and 11% slim fit. 47% of women prefer regular cut, 39% slim fit, 7% skinny and 6% loose fit.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![Premium and]()
Luxury
While China Remains Ripe With Opportunities for Fashion Brands, Market Insight Is Needed: In 2012, just over 60% of luxury purchases occurred outside of China. In 2015 it was 75-80%, reflecting the importance of effective strategies to target Chinese tourists, cross-border ecommerce and relevant social media campaigns.
That’s the Skinny for the week! See previous newsletters here. Contact China Skinny for marketing, research and digital advice and implementation.
The post International Travel Set to Boom Over Chinese New Year appeared first on China Skinny.