China Consumer Report 2004

CONSUMER CHINA 2004

Tenth Edition, Euromonitor International

Euromonitor International, the leading business and economic research Publication Company in Europe has just published the tenth edition of their extremely useful publication – Consumer China 2004. Why should your company be interested in the China Consumer market?

Here are a few reasons:

China had the highest GDP growth in 2003 in all of Asia, nearly 8%.

GDP per capita in China is nearly $1,000 and the Chinese government has set a goal of quadrupling GDP by 2020 which most observers believe is realistic. This would make China the 3d largest economy by 2020.

Retail sales broke RMB 4,000 billion in 2002, a growth of 8.8%

China is undergoing another phase of its great consumption rush. Chinese consumers are moving away from savings and conventional household items, and increasingly spending on private vehicles, computers, mobile phones, property, insurance and securities.

Thirty-eight million urban families currently can afford to spend the nearly US $12,000 required to buy a new car. More than 70 percent of the adults living in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou (combined population – 33 million) plan to buy a car in the next five years. (China State Economic Information Center, November 2002)

Retail growth in 2002 in telecommunications was 69.2%, cars 73% and household appliances 14.6% over 2001. Sales of houses grew by 43.9% for the first 7 months of 2003 compared with the same period of 2002 while car sales grew by 77.1%.

Over 70% of the World’s top retailers – Wall Mart, Carrefour, Metro, etc are now in China. Wall Mart has 30 stores and plans to have 44 by years end. Lian Hua is the largest local retailer. Analysts believe that 60% of the retail market will be taken by 3-5 major retailers within3 to 5 years.

The market for toiletries and cosmetics has passed US $3 billion and is expected to reach US $22 billion by 2013.

The growth in retail sales has driven China to be Asia’s second largest Advertising market after Japan. Television is the dominant medium with over 1 billion daily viewers.

As the above statistics demonstrate, retail potential in China is substantial and growing fast. In this environment, information is critical and this is where the Euromonitor publication excels. The book which is about two inches thick and covers over 550 pages is organized into five sections. The first is a very well done general overview of market and economic developments in both China and separately in Hong Kong. Section two is a section on market parameter for China, presented in a detailed table format (see below). For Example, table 2.78 shows retail sales of consumer goods 1980-2003

Table 2.78 Retail Distribution
China: Retail Sales of Consumer Goods 1980-2003

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Section three covers demographics in Hong Kong. Section four includes detailed analysis of the China consumer market. This includes a statistical table analyzing product by product coverage. For example, table 4.283 (shown below) covers brand shares for laundry detergents 2001-2002. Section 5 includes similar highly detailed information on the Hong Kong consumer market.

Table 4.283
China: Brand Shares for Laudry Detergents 2001-2002
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Euromonitor puts out highly professional publications for the research and high-end business market. These publications aren’t cheap but the statistics are generally well researched, professionally and attractively presented and the publications are always easy to work with and well organized. This publication is a must for major consumer companies interested in the China market, for trade organizations, libraries, international law offices, research and other organizations. Publications can by ordered at the Euromonitor website www.euromonitor.com.