---
title: "China's New Consumers: Who, Where, and What Do They Want?"
description: "This article, sourced from Accenture and authored by Huang Weiqiang, Chen Kedian, and Zeng Xianlong, explores the evolving behaviors and expectations of Chinese consumers in the digital age. It highlights the shift from brand loyalty to solution-seeking, the importance of 'micro-moments' in the purchase journey, and the urgent need for FMCG companies to adapt by becoming 'intelligent assistants' that anticipate consumer needs."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-10-19"
categories: "Brand Marketing"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/china-s-new-consumers-who-where-and-what-do-they-want-023b6572/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/china-s-new-consumers-who-where-and-what-do-they-want-023b6572.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Vq13K0FT9TKLijuqxE8O1w"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E6%96%B0%E5%9E%8B%E6%B6%88%E8%B4%B9%E8%80%85-%E6%98%AF%E8%B0%81-%E5%9C%A8%E5%93%AA%E9%87%8C-%E8%A6%81%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88-023b6572.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/china-s-new-consumers-who-where-and-what-do-they-want-023b6572/"
citation: "New Distribution. “China's New Consumers: Who, Where, and What Do They Want?.” New Distribution, 2016-10-19. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/china-s-new-consumers-who-where-and-what-do-they-want-023b6572/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# China's New Consumers: Who, Where, and What Do They Want?

> This article, sourced from Accenture and authored by Huang Weiqiang, Chen Kedian, and Zeng Xianlong, explores the evolving behaviors and expectations of Chinese consumers in the digital age. It highlights the shift from brand loyalty to solution-seeking, the importance of 'micro-moments' in the purchase journey, and the urgent need for FMCG companies to adapt by becoming 'intelligent assistants' that anticipate consumer needs.

**Source | Accenture, Huang Weiqiang, Chen Kedian, Zeng Xianlong**
**Personal WeChat | hello_SSX**

**China's consumer market is changing rapidly. Driven by digital technology, consumer behavior patterns are also quickly transforming.** Currently, consumers expect to get the products and services they desire at the right time. By 2020, they will expect their wishes to be fulfilled in the right way. By 2025, they will expect to be better understood and known—products delivered to them before they even have a desire. **For FMCG companies, this is a major challenge: can they take immediate action to meet these needs?**

The **future consumer** is **already emerging**. China's e-commerce market has developed at an astonishing pace—just a few years ago, online shoppers accounted for only 15% of the population; today, that figure has reached 40% and is still climbing. Meanwhile, in this booming market, consumer behavior is also changing rapidly.

**Our research reveals the extent to which Chinese consumers integrate digital technology into their lives.** On average, 95% of shoppers now go online to search for suitable products to buy; if the shopping goal is clothing, that percentage rises to 98% (88% of consumers research health and beauty products online).

**Shopping was once a linear process, but it is no longer so.** In today's interconnected, digital consumer environment, the purchase path has become complex and winding, passing through multiple overlapping touchpoints. Each touchpoint is a 'micro-moment'; and each micro-moment holds the potential to win over consumers. This is clearly a huge opportunity for FMCG companies. But the problem is: brands are gradually losing customer loyalty, as more and more Chinese consumers favor solutions that make their lives easier and more enjoyable.

Recent research confirms this. **Our survey shows that consumers are increasingly inclined to shop via mobile phones because it is not only convenient but also helps speed up decision-making.** 72% of Chinese consumers believe that buying products via mobile phone is very easy (compared to the global average of only 48%).

Market research firm eMarketer's findings also confirm this trend towards simplicity and speed: among Chinese consumers using mobile phones, 65% cite convenience as the primary reason for online shopping. As a result, from 2011 to 2015, the average annual e-commerce spending of Chinese digital consumers more than doubled, reaching 9,732 RMB.

**Consumers are increasingly demanding convenient shopping solutions.** This is the challenge that FMCG companies must face head-on. Currently, few companies are prepared to seamlessly provide these solutions across all important micro-moments. In today's market, which is developing at digital speed, companies must act immediately. Otherwise, they will lose to new forces born from digital technology—new platforms represented by Tencent and Alibaba have already driven China to become the world's largest e-commerce market.

**In this situation, FMCG companies must quickly complete a series of priority tasks: understand China's new consumers; deliver the solutions they need; and fully integrate into their daily lives.** The ultimate goal is to become an 'intelligent assistant' that predicts purchase content and provides personalized solutions before consumers even make a request.

To help FMCG companies achieve this goal, we recently conducted research on China's new consumers—tracking their e-commerce preferences, difficulties encountered, and motivational factors. This article is based on insights from our survey of online consumer communities.

Focus on Micro-Moments: **Insights into China's New Consumers**
**Our recently completed research on the Chinese consumer market highlights significant changes in consumer behavior and expectations.** Today, consumers expect to get the products and services they desire at the right time. By 2020, they will expect their wishes to be fulfilled in the right way. By 2025, they will expect to be better understood and known—products delivered to them before they even have a desire. This points to the urgent priorities for FMCG companies:

Chinese consumers are shifting from following brands **to seeking solutions**
In the interconnected market, the shopping journey is far more complex than before, with multiple overlapping touchpoints along the way.

**And companies will face increasing competitive threats.** Homegrown digital platforms have driven the growth of China's e-commerce market... and now, they are in an ideal position to attract consumers by providing the seamless solutions they need.

What FMCG companies must do: **Act now to seize micro-moments**
So far, FMCG companies have focused on brand building and delivering value through traditional paths. In the digital market, such efforts will become increasingly less relevant to consumers.

**New priorities?** Serve each micro-moment and help consumers find solutions throughout their shopping journey.

**How to achieve this?** Work with disruptive partners to jointly and/or independently drive market development.

Long-term goal: **Become the consumer's 'intelligent assistant'**—proactively provide solutions before needs are even expressed.

FMCG companies that make this leap can become leaders in the Chinese market, capturing a large share of consumer spending.

Highly developed **e-commerce market**
**China's e-commerce market has made significant progress, and its value continues to rise.** In 2015, the total market size reached $371 billion; at this pace, the total market size is expected to rise to nearly $630 billion by 2019. By any standard, this is an extraordinary growth trajectory. Currently, the market is being strongly boosted by technology, and with the widespread adoption of mobile devices and active use of mobile payment methods, the pace of development is likely to accelerate further.

**With the support of disruptive digital platforms such as Taobao, Tmall, Alibaba, and Tencent, China has become a consumer powerhouse in Asia.** For FMCG companies, winning this market is clearly key to success (China accounts for 45% of the Asian consumer goods market), but it is also a formidable challenge. The digital platforms that have empowered Chinese consumers are directly threatening the businesses of traditional companies (and the customer loyalty they once had).

**These digital-born players have been building their organizations closely around consumers.** They understand how digital technology changes the purchase path and can quickly create tailored, seamless solutions that put choice, insight, and control into consumers' hands at every step of the consumption process.

Getting to know **China's new consumers**
It must be recognized that as China's digital infrastructure becomes more widespread, the lives of Chinese consumers will become more closely integrated with technology, and the power, reach, and appeal of these digital platforms will only increase.

To counter this competitive threat, FMCG companies first need to understand these new Chinese consumers: what products and services they currently desire; and how their needs and expectations will change from now on.

Figure 1 provides an overall picture of this evolution. Today, Chinese consumers expect to get the products and services they desire at the right time. By 2020, they will expect their wishes to be fulfilled in the right way. By 2025, they will expect to be better understood and known—products delivered to them before they even have a desire. Let's take a closer look at the progression.

Today's view: **"Get the products and services I desire at the right time"**

**Busy, independent, and career-oriented—Zhang Li represents a growing segment of decision-makers in China's consumer market.** Her basic needs are clear: convenience and value, while maintaining an appropriate level of choice and information, with a focus on control over the shopping process. However, her purchase process has changed dramatically from the past. The traditional linear progression (from product familiarity to purchase consideration) has been completely abandoned, replaced by a new model of much greater complexity. Multiple elements of Zhang Li's shopping journey occur simultaneously, and technology is involved at all touchpoints (see Figure 2). Our recent research clearly demonstrates this trend: 12% of Chinese consumers log onto social media to post information while shopping in-store, and 30% eagerly anticipate having this capability.

Our research shows that, like other connected consumers in China, Zhang Li can clearly see that there are many obstacles in her shopping process (offline and online). Ipsos's report on the Chinese consumer market also proves that this situation is very common. Regarding the purchase of groceries and fresh produce, the report states: "There is a clear disconnect between cooking inspiration and the ingredients purchased. As a younger generation with less cooking experience, these consumers have to switch between various tools to find out what ingredients to buy, how much, and where to buy them. The few recipe-sharing websites have begun to guide readers to corresponding shopping sites and provide comprehensive assistance throughout the process, but they are not yet strong enough to attract widespread attention." The Ipsos research report quotes a respondent's lament: "In real life, I find it really troublesome to compare between stores repeatedly. I look forward to having a unified platform that integrates products from all online and offline stores..."

The same is true for Zhang Li. Her greatest wish is to use a single platform to search, purchase, share experiences, and receive rewards. In other words, a combination of Baidu, WeChat, Weibo, Youku, Alipay, and Taobao/Tmall. She wants a seamless shopping experience, confident that she can get the products she prefers at the right micro-moments. This means that product offerings are highly personalized and relevant. But first and foremost, it is a solution to real-life problems—not just about products or brands. Currently, traditional FMCG companies cannot provide such services, so Zhang Li's disappointment is growing.

Tomorrow's trend: By 2020, **"Fulfill my wishes in the right way"...**

By 2020, Zhang Li will have greater purchasing power, be busier, and be more reliant on technology. Wearable devices and phablets are her everyday tools. Her expectations have also changed. She is willing to spend more to get the best products and thereby satisfy her personalized needs. She still values convenience and wants to complete every purchase in a seamless omnichannel environment.

Micro-moments truly play an important role. Zhang Li's purchase decisions tend to favor solutions that are delivered seamlessly—at the micro-moments when she is seeking them (see Figure 3). As time becomes increasingly scarce, she is willing to delegate some decision-making to intelligent assistants that can predict and deliver the products she needs (before she even realizes her need). But few companies are ready to provide this service.

By 2020, her shopping process will be more refined, and many of the shopping frustrations she encountered in 2015 will no longer exist (see Figure 4).

The day after tomorrow: By 2025, **"Products delivered to me before I even have a desire"**

By 2025, Zhang Li's purchase process will always be dynamic. Technology bridges the gap between thinking and acting, and she can seamlessly transition from one experience to another, expecting to get solutions across all channels and platforms "while thinking"... and without agonizing over it (see Figure 5). Any company that can help her effectively shorten her "thinking list" will win her loyalty. These intelligent assistants provide solutions before she even asks. In turn, they are being rewarded for it.

Her lifestyle has become more intelligent. Technology has seamlessly integrated into her daily life—wearable devices, implantable devices, and smart devices are ubiquitous. All these devices are seamlessly interconnected and integrated with multi-channel platforms (see Figure 6).

As Zhang Li's experience shows, we are witnessing significant changes in the consumption process driven by technology (see Figure 7). Loyalty is inexorably shifting from brands to solutions, and consumers increasingly expect companies to provide ready-made solutions at every micro-moment along the purchase path.

**Putting China's new consumers at the core**

FMCG companies must recognize that a large-scale transformation is underway and should take immediate action. Our research shows that China's new consumers are dissatisfied with the current shopping process, which is far from seamless. Any company or organization that can eliminate these gaps will win their favor, loyalty, and wallets (see Figure 8).

Those companies leading the change in China have already figured this out. They are using new digital technologies to influence purchase decisions, get closer to consumers, and capture a larger market share (see Figure 9).

For such companies, they are going all out to leverage new technologies to ensure that China's new consumers are at the center of all their operations. Disruptors like Alibaba are no longer viewing the shopping process in a linear way (as most FMCG companies do), but are redefining the entire value chain to achieve this goal.

Starting as an e-commerce company serving small and medium-sized enterprises, Alibaba has steadily expanded its business territory. By creating an online payment service (Alipay), launching online marketplaces, adding commercialization platforms, and building cloud computing platforms, the group has built a future-oriented infrastructure for e-commerce, leaving most FMCG companies struggling to keep up (see Figure 10).

**Seizing China's digital opportunity**

We see that the battle for consumers is being fought at every micro-moment that makes up the shopping journey. The urgent priority for FMCG companies is to move their digital channel strategy beyond just the "purchase" perspective and start leveraging new opportunities to drive sales and measure success in as many touchpoints as possible (see Figure 11).

As a first step towards the goal, companies should establish a forward-looking strategic e-commerce vision, which must be built on a deep understanding of Chinese consumers' shopping journeys. To shape this e-commerce vision closely around consumers, FMCG companies need to ask themselves the right questions (see Figure 12):

It is also crucial for companies to carefully study the role of each touchpoint in the consumption process, thereby conducting appropriate communication at every micro-moment. The challenge here is that, no matter how complex the purchase path has become, it must attract decision-makers to choose a specific brand. Online clothing retailer Vancl has successfully done this. Through innovative marketing campaigns, the company collected a large amount of data from web trackers (cookies), dynamic ads, sales sites, and third-party research. Using this data, Vancl established a real-time data analysis strategy to optimize daily marketing activities and launched a new social commerce concept—Vancl Star: target customers can share 10% of the profit from subsequent purchases by showcasing and recommending the Vancl products they have purchased. Notably, Vancl invested about 15% of net sales in marketing (compared to the industry average of only 3.5%).

Consumer behavior data is a key source of information, and leading FMCG companies have turned it into their advantage. On China's increasingly crowded e-commerce platforms, it is difficult for brands to stand out and attract attention. In light of this, Burberry created a proprietary platform "The Art of the Trench," successfully positioning customers as fashion icons. The platform provides a forum for customers to showcase their clothing and personal style, while also aggregating thousands of selfies, comments, likes, and dislikes—all of which are potential sales leads. In other sections of the site, Burberry uses rich categorized content to guide customers through purchases and provide personalized services (for example, allowing customers to design their own unique custom clothing). In addition, to create a data-driven shopping experience, the company launched the "Customer 360" program, inviting customers to digitally share their purchase history and preferences, and then recommending products in real-time based on their consumption content and engagement records.

FMCG companies should adjust all their marketing elements—strategy, spending, channel management, and messaging—to align with consumers' shopping journeys. To further support cross-channel marketing and capture relevant opportunities, companies need to invest in building more scalable technology platforms and backend processes. Deploying advanced data analytics capabilities is another urgent priority. This will enable companies to predict and influence customer purchase behavior, helping them move towards becoming intelligent assistants, ultimately being ready to provide personalized solutions before consumers even ask. Increasing the adoption of existing e-commerce platforms can also help FMCG companies achieve rapid business growth and continuously capture a larger share of consumer spending—especially recurring spending.

**Specific strategic initiatives include:**

**Establishing partnerships with e-commerce platforms**

**This is a quick solution.** FMCG companies should consider partnering with the digital institutions driving China's e-commerce transformation, as these institutions are threatening their inherent advantages.

When developing partnerships, companies must keep two points in mind:

**— Treat e-commerce sales channels as strategic partners, not as a supplement to traditional retail channels.** This means FMCG companies need to set up dedicated account managers and customized business marketing/sales plans for each e-commerce institution. Moreover, companies can further set specific category management plans for each partner.

**— Do not underestimate the importance of supply chain and customer service.** FMCG companies must choose the right logistics and customer service partners to ensure timely product delivery and resolve complaints as quickly as possible. But this may require direct contact with consumers through e-commerce channels. How should companies balance the two? End-to-end solutions will play a much greater role than ever before.

**Some FMCG companies have already begun to establish such partnerships.** Last year, Unilever partnered with Alibaba to expand its business in China through a data-driven ecosystem derived from digital technology. The key areas of cooperation between the two institutions include: penetration into China's rural markets, cross-border e-commerce, consumer protection, and big data analytics. L'Oréal has also taken similar action, with its Tmall flagship store achieving a remarkable $1.3 million in sales just three days after opening—setting a new record for brand sales in the cosmetics category on Tmall.

Such partnerships will help FMCG companies secure their share of China's interconnected market. But on top of these digital platforms, efforts to protect their own brands are also indispensable. Strong data management will play a key role—improved data analytics can provide real-time insights into consumer experiences on digital platforms and how to improve them.

Looking ahead: **Next steps**
**We have been emphasizing the changing expectations and lifestyles of China's new consumers.** For FMCG companies, the situation is clear. They must take immediate action to meet these expectations, or they will continue to lose ground to the digital platforms that are driving the growth and rapid expansion of China's e-commerce market, watching them dominate the consumer market.

To help companies embark on this journey, we have developed an E-commerce Value Assessment (EVA) methodology. It is designed to measure e-commerce readiness, determine the actions companies should prioritize, review and evaluate existing e-commerce solutions, provide improvement recommendations, identify opportunities for future e-commerce development, technology architecture and integration, and clarify governance models, best partner/operating models, and omnichannel e-commerce frameworks.

-END-

China's best FMCG distributor learning platform
Dedicated to providing professional, practical, and actionable tutorials for companies and distributors
Committed to helping Chinese FMCG distributors grow rapidly
**The most professional and practical knowledge base in the FMCG industry**
Reply with the red number below to get the corresponding content
Reply with number 1 to view the complete knowledge base
| **001** Excellent article selection | **002** Distributor market operations | **003** Terminal visit management | **004** Sales supervisor skills | **005** Sales volume improvement techniques | **006** Channel expansion | **007** Managing distributors | **008** Distributor development | **009** Distributor internal operations management | **010** Team management | **011** Efficient distribution techniques | **012** Sales manager's skills | **013** KA operation methods and strategies | **014** First lesson for new salespeople | **015** Internet, brands | **016** Distributor B2B transformation |
[Long press QR code to follow]


---

## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: New Distribution
- Published: 2016-10-19
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/china-s-new-consumers-who-where-and-what-do-they-want-023b6572/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Vq13K0FT9TKLijuqxE8O1w

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671