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By SMG Research Team, May 19, 2011 11:03 pm

Starcom China Yangtze Study continues.  For our next lower tier city destination, we arrived in Qingxin, a tier 4 county, in order to interview a student at a local senior high school.

Students

As we walked into the school’s campus, imagine every single student stopping and staring at our little group, walking past, pointing, straining their necks for a better look, and those bold enough, coming up to say “Hi!” and then running away giggling.

So why are they doing that?  Good question.  It’s because of our dear Lisa.

“I’ve never seen a foreigner in real life before!” said an excited 16 year old student.
“How tall IS she?” whispered another girl to me in awe. (Lisa is 6 feet tall)

It truly made our day, watching the girls line up for opportunities to take pictures with Lisa on their mobile phones and squealing at the opportunity to stand next to her and see where they came up to. She was a celebrity to those starry-eyed students.

Our celebrity, Lisa!

During our long visit, we were able to see how the students live, their daily routine, their product interactions, and understand their media habits and their thoughts on life.

“I want to do interesting things with my life… How do I do what you do?” I was asked in Cantonese by a female student who only knew how to speak 3 English phrases to Lisa (“Hello”, “Nice to meet you”, and “Goodbye”)

“Um… study hard!” I replied.

“I am trying to!” She responded.

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By SMG Research Team, May 18, 2011 9:31 pm

And off to Heyun, a tier 5 town, we go.

Meiji & Lisa in Heyun

Entering the town on a dusty unpaved road, the street was lined with mom and pop stores and fruit and veggie sellers.  Here, we met Li, a 23 year old young man.

Li lives a simple life.  He is expected to take care of his family and help them pay rent.

Family was a reoccurring theme throughout our interview with Li.  As the oldest son, he feels responsibility over them and when seeking a wife, his first requirement is that she is a good person and good to his family.  We saw this same theme when talking to youth on the street too…  In lower tier cities where family is the top priority, a stable family life is the most desired.

We found many people to be content… often because they don’t know any other life.  Some have tried the big city (Guangzhou) but feel that it is too overwhelming, others have never even considered moving to a bigger city because it is beyond their comprehension.  So those who stay behind are actually very content with their life.

We had a chance to speak not only to Li, but also to his mother and father.  This gave us a very comprehensive idea of their life, needs and desires – not only from the viewpoint of a youth, but from the flip side of the elderly also.

Much food for thought indeed… which will be shared with you at a later time!

Heyun banana vendor

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By SMG Research Team, May 17, 2011 12:01 pm

Starcom China is embarking on an ambitious adventure into China’s lower tier cities.  This is the first time we will be diving deep into China’s tiers, going from our Tier 1 home cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, to counties and towns.  Our first leg is in Guangdong, the next is Hebei and our final leg brings us to Anhui.

Marrying both quant and qual, this is a robust study that takes the thoughts and opinions of over 13,000 respondents from 510 locations across tiers 1-5.

Starting yesterday, we have hit the road and traveled to Qingyuan, a prefecture-level city in Guangdong province with a population of just over 4 million.  Initial observations were “this isn’t so bad!” and “Seems quite developed”.  Indeed it did seem that way.  While Qingyuan is lacking the tall towers, skyscrapers, and bright lights seen in top tier cities, it has no shortage of KFCs (this morning, I saw two on the same street), shops and boutiques.  Traffic is more chaotic and buildings look older, but there is clear evidence of a city on the path of growth.

Yesterday afternoon, we met up with Wen, a 30 year old sales associate.  She welcomed us into her home – a 9th story flat (no elevator) she rents for 300 yuan a month.  It contains two small sectioned rooms (one as bedroom), a small balcony which she uses as a kitchen and laundry room rolled up into one, and a washroom.  She lives in what seems to be a busy shopping area of town.

Wen leads a simple life.  Her desires don’t appear great and her ambitions few.  Her perfect day is going to work, making good sales (she works at a clothing boutique), going home, watching TV dramas on her computer (via “PPS”, a video streaming site), and getting good sleep.  It’s as simple as that.

She also has a handful of good friends that she loves to be around and sees practically every day.

Travel is something that she says makes her happy, though she hasn’t been many places.  She tried living in Guangzhou for a bit, but found the life too hectic.  Qingyuan is the perfect balance between the Qingyuan suburbs she grew up in and a large city like Guangzhou.  The places she most desires traveling to are Beijing (to see the historical sites), Yunnan (because her good girl friend went and said it’s beautiful) and Hangzhou.  Outside of China, she wanted to visit Hawaii (Why? Because she loves to see water and the beach).  We got the feeling that she wasn’t too aware of the world outside of China … or perhaps it was just all too daunting for her.  Being within China is desired due to it being familiar yet exotic at the same time.  Once again, this shows how she will not reach too far when it comes to her ambitions and desires.

Finding a husband is her top priority right now, but she does not desire one who is rich or who owns a flat (like many top tier ladies do), but rather one who treats her well and has a good heart.  Why not rich, we ask.  And once again, we see that her expectations only extend so far.  ”A rich man may not necessarily be a good man”, she says.

Are lower tier consumers more humble?  More accepting?  More content… or more complacent?  There is definitely a difference in being content and being complacent.  As we speak with more people and go deeper into the tiers, this is one of the many questions we wish to find an answer to.

Stay tuned for more daily updates for the rest of this week.  If there is a burning question YOU would like to ask, please feel free to send me an email or leave a comment.

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By SMG Research Team, May 6, 2011 12:22 pm

Given the love of Chinese netizens for the online space and the level of comfort they feel making new friends online (In Starcom’s Youth Surveillance study, 77% of youth ages 16-24 say that they have more friends online than in real life), it’s no wonder that they have turned the internet into their own personal dating platform.

Great Pressure

Family is highly important to the Chinese people, with grandchildren to pass on the family name and lineage.  This adds a lot of pressure to the millions of singles in China to find love.  Chinese men have a particularly difficult time due to China’s 180 million bachelors.  Thirty years of the ‘one child policy’ has resulted in a severe gender imbalance – for every 100 females, there are 119.5 males.  This is driving competition amongst men for partners.  There are only so many women they can meet on their own, so an estimated half of China’s bachelors are looking for love online.  This frantic search for a spouse involves the whole family – parents and even grandparents will petition on behalf of their son or daughter, attending “date fairs” and other such events to “promote” their son/daughter for marriage.   These events often take part in public areas, such as parks, where trees are literally littered with such ads.

Big Business

It is estimated that online dating sites in China attracted over three million paying customers last year, which amounted to over $150 million USD.

These websites allow subscribers to create online profiles, browse listings of thousands of potential partners, attend meeting events with other singles, and for extra, the sites will even help with targeted match-making services and arranging of dates.  Li Song is the founder of Zhenai.com, one of China’s three largest dating sites.  He expects to take in 200 to 300 million RMB this year ($30 to $45 million USD) and claims that to date, he has helped over 2 million members find steady relationships.

Learning the tricks

Young and savvy entrepreneurs have been taking advantage of this phenomenon, with some even proclaiming to be “professional pick-up artist” and holding classes whereby optimistic men come to learn tips and tricks to help them talk to women, followed by actual in-field experience.  Says Chris “Tango” Wu to Time Magazine:

“When a man has enough food to eat, water to drink and air to breathe, the next thing he needs to find is a woman.  A man in his 30s would be willing to pay you more than half of his savings —sometimes even his entire savings — if you can teach him how to get a girlfriend.”

What does this mean to us as Marketers

This is not a trend that will die down quickly.   I have previously written about “The Rise of the Superboy”.  With the number of men at a marriageable age growing much more quickly than the women, the competition for wives (which is also interlinked with competition at work) with evolve also.  The Chinese man must find ways that will give him a leg up on competition, and improve his confidence.  This will be sure to create great changes in the beauty and grooming sector in China.  Confidence and skill-set building will be important, as well as financial stability.  Entrepreneurs or marketers tapping into this area don’t have to be the first to do it, but to do it best.

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