Just when we thought the New Year celebrations were coming to an end, the 5th day of the Chinese New Year was upon us yesterday, a day that, judging by the noise, could easily be mistaken for New Years Day itself. It was welcomed in with spectacular fireworks and more importantly, hour long, noisy heartstopping firecrackers; all this to welcome in the God of Wealth 'Cai Shen'. This year perhaps just a tad noisier than others, just to make sure Cai Shen doesn't take his wealth elsewhere.
This year marks the 30th year of the opening up of China. It will also probably become the 1st year that China will experience a slowdown in what has been a soaring 30 year ride of economic wealth. The big question is how will China fair in the global downturn? Exports will certainly decline further and the population have been called to be dutiful citizens and spend, spend, spend! So will they spend more? And what will they spend on? Or will they simply spend more discerningly?
The prosperity of the past decades has witnessed an embrace of all things western and a development of discerning tastes for quality, style and luxury even. These are characteristics not typically associated with Chinese brands. So, despite a strengthening of Chinese patriotism, not least through the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, can we really expect the Chinese consumer to turn and buy local? Probably not; even for low involvement type purchases like food and drink, the dairy scandals of the past year were enough to put anyone off. International brands offering safety and good value for money (value meaning not just functional but also emotional) will fair the best in these conditions. As for the astute Chinese consumer, they've been good savers in the past and know when to tighten their belts when they need to.
Posts
