How China Exporters Can Learn from Japan
Countries trading with China have seen their share of geopolitical tensions of late: the trade war with the US, Canada's arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, foreign espionage claims in Australia, threats of Huawei bans across countries from New Zealand to Poland, European talk of China being a “systemic rival” and threatening tighter rules on its investments in the region, a host of ongoing tensions with ASEAN countries over the South China Sea, and so on.
The tensions are said to have been responsible for restrictions on Australian coal shipments, suspension of Canadian canola exports, the delayed launch of the 2019 China-New Zealand Year of Tourism festivities (which finally took place on Saturday), and Wall Street bankers' claims that an informal boycott of US goods is the root of Apple's woes in China.
There's no question the results of tensions can be challenging for exporters, but they aren't a scratch on what happened to Japanese brands in 2012 over an island territorial spat in the East China Sea. It was one of the most fearful displays we have seen when it comes to how powerful China's state media can be in swaying public opinion. Anti-Japanese sentiment soared among consumers, driving protestors to wreak an estimated $126 million worth of damage to Japanese-branded goods, buildings and related sales. In two waves of protests, hundreds of Japanese-branded cars were smashed and overturned, rocks were thrown at Japanese restaurants, Japanese factories were set ablaze, Japanese buildings were broken into and ransacked, and stores selling Japanese goods were vandalised, causing many to shutter, including the $8.8 million destruction of an AEON supermarket.
The week between 15-21 September saw the Japanese car manufacturing industry suffer losses of $250 million due to the production of about 14,000 cars being suspended, with subsequent sales in September dropping by close to 50%. Tourists to Japan plummeted by nearly half in the month that followed.
Yet if Japan is anything to go by, exporters losing sleep over their current geopolitical tensions should be heartened. Japan has good stuff, and most Chinese consumers couldn't stay away, no matter how deep-rooted their Anti-Japanese feelings were. Chinese tourists to Japan grew more than five-fold from 1.4 million in 2012 to 7.4 million in 2017. Since then, visiting Chinese spending in Japan was so lavish that a new term — “buying explosion” — emerged to describe the way Chinese tourists descend on particular Japanese retailers, buying everything from Japanese rice, to toilet seats, to condoms. Even Japanese car sales have soared, with China expected to overtake Japan on volume last year.
However, probably the most astonishing indicator of Japanese love by Chinese consumers is restaurant data released by the Japanese External Trade Organization. The number of Japanese restaurants in China grew from about 10,600 in the beginning of 2017 to 40,800 at the end of the year. Even by Chinese standards, that is phenomenal growth!
The key takeaways from our Japanese friends is that the impact of geopolitical tensions - as undesirable as they are - are generally short term blips, if they have any impact at all. If you make quality products and services that connect with Chinese tastes and preferences and are marketed well, the shoppers are likely to stay loyal, or soon come back wanting more. Here's to that.
On the subject of Chinese restaurant and food preferences - Japanese and the others, China Skinny's Mark Tanner will be sharing valuable insights at the Foodomics Conference in Auckland, New Zealand on 10 April. It would be great to hear from you if you will be there. More info here.
Here are this week's news and highlights for China:
Chinese Consumers
Industry Insiders see Continuous Consumption Upgrading in China: Business leaders from industries ranging from home appliances, food, and film all see continuous consumption upgrading trend in China, with upgrades, technology and branding driving growth. China's retail sector is expected to grow an average of 10.6% a year for the next five years due to Chinese consumers’ willingness to pay for higher quality products and unique experiences.
China’s Big Spenders are Reining in on Buying Cars, Jewellery and Watches as Confidence in Personal Finance Cools, Credit Suisse Says: 30% of respondents expected an improvement in the state of their personal finances in the next six months, five percentage points lower than last year. 6% said it was a good time to make a major purchase, down from 7% a year ago. Young Chinese are less interested in luxury purchases of jewellery and watches, while consumer sentiment remains ‘strong’ in lower-tier cities.
'You Can't Make Friends After One Lunch': What Brands Get Wrong About China: Connecting with Chinese millennials is about genuinely wanting to impact on their lives and about having heart and soul. Courting the Chinese customer is like forging a new friendship: it doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s OK if you embarrass yourself a little bit, so long as you learn from it and have the right intentions.
No Earrings, Tattoos or Cleavage: Inside China’s War on Fun: Male earrings have been blurred out on TV and online following similar rules forcing football players to wear long sleeves to cover their tattoos. Women in costumes at a racy video game convention have been told to raise their necklines. Rappers can rhyme only about peace and harmony and last year, male ponytails got the blur treatment as Beijing looks to promote “core socialist values” — patriotism, harmony and civility, among others. Content that celebrates money worship, hedonism or individualism is increasingly removed.
Chinese Consumers Going Bespoke with Custom Furniture: 52% of affluent Chinese have ordered custom furniture. Higher tier cities are typically demanding more customization, with demand for renovation of old houses in first-tier cities rising in the past decade or so. In fourth- and fifth-tier cities, larger units are the mainstream, with most orders coming from the decoration of new houses.
Food & Beverage
Japanese Cuisine Tickles Taste Buds, Spins Money in China: The number of Japanese restaurants in China grew from about 10,600 in the beginning of 2017 to 40,800 at the end of the year, according to data from the Japanese External Trade Organization. Half of all Japanese restaurants opening outside of Japan between 2015-2017 were in China.
Nestlé Bullish on a More Nutritionally-Aware Chinese Market: Nestlé is bullish about long term growth of the China market and is investing heavily in research and development to best serve it. As Chinese consumers turn to healthier and more balanced diets, the company continues to develop products that have lower sugar content, and more whole grain foods.
China's Appetite Continues to Grow for New Zealand Exports: Selling for up to $10 a litre, a regular air freight service has Theland selling 40,000 litres of fresh milk a week into China's large urban markets, with plans to expand that to 100,000 litres. New Zealand's PM Jacinda Ardern arrived in Beijing on Sunday on her first trip since becoming the country's leader.
South African Bottled Water Company - It's Not Made in China Angers Chinese Consumers: A South African water company has touched a nerve with Chinese consumers after they found out the brand name 'It's Not Made in China'.
Healthy
From Online Doctors to Counting Steps: Top 5 Chinese Health & Fitness Apps: As China’s fitness market is seeing rapid growth, these are some of the health & fitness apps that are popular among Chinese mobile users including: 1. Keep: which contains China's biggest online sports community; 2. Meet You, the menstruation tracker said to be the second most favoured app among female mobile users in 2018; 3. Qin Baobao, providing childcare information for pregnant woman and families with children up to the age of six; 4. Ping An Good Doctor health care and medical consultation platform; and 5. Yodo Run social health and fitness recording app.
Got Poop? Guangzhou Hospitals Will Pay You for It: Hospitals in Guangzhou are paying up to ¥500 ($75) for stool samples, used to transplant the bacteria to help “rebuild patients’ gut flora.” The samples are primarily being used as clinical research, with trials for diseases such as clinical depression and diabetes undergoing testing.
Chinese Tourists
Chinese Tourists Are Going International—and Their Travel Habits Are Evolving: As they seek more authentic experiences, 56% of Chinese travellers noted that “beauty and uniqueness of a given destination is their primary consideration” when choosing where to travel according to Nielsen. Food and beverage is an increasing motivator for travel with 66% trying to have as much authentic local cuisine as they can, up from 62% a year earlier. 83% are happy to try new food.
Fliggy Brings Duty-Free Shopping Online for China's Consumers: OTA Fliggy is launching a new service that allows Chinese travellers to shop online at duty-free and tax-free shops, international retailers and specialty stores overseas before they head off on vacation.
Cars
Spot the difference: Jaguar Land Rover Wins Legal Battle Over Chinese Copycat Car: Jaguar Land Rover has won a three year court battle in China which has forced local company Jiangling Motors to stop selling its Landwind X7 sport utility vehicle due to its extreme resemblance to Range Rover Evoque. The landmark decision is the first time that a Chinese court has ruled in favour of an overseas manufacturer over a Chinese carmaker.
That’s the Skinny for the week! See previous newsletters here. Contact China Skinny for marketing strategy, research and digital advice and implementation.
