China leads innovation in mobile - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

In China social commerce has become the backbone of e-commerce, writes author Helen Wang in Forbes. Chinese internet companies offer services, their Western competitors only dream of. "China will lead innovation in mobile commerce".

Helen Wang:

In China, social commerce has taken up a life of its own and become the backbone of e-commerce. 

While the “Ice Bucket Challenge” has gone viral on Facebook, Chinese consumers use social media in a much more thoughtful way. Instead of posting some silly videos and pictures, they turn to social media to solve real life problems, to seek advice from friends and opinion leaders, and to decide what products to buy or not to buy. 

For example, Tmall, China’s Amazon owned by Alibaba, integrated social media as a consumer-powered review and recommendation system. Consumers can rate the accuracy of product descriptions, the speed of delivery, and their satisfaction with customer service. Anyone who is interested in buying a product can see its scores. Tmall promotes products with higher scores by giving them more exposure. This has created a virtuous cycle that encourages better products and services, and consumers are at the center of it... 

We are seeing many exciting innovations in China’s social commerce sphere. Already, WeChat, a mobile message board with over half a billion users, has gone far beyond a social media tool. Users on WeChat can order a taxi or book a hotel – right there while they are chatting with friends. It has digital ID (using QR codes), interphone, and a shake function to link contacts. There is nothing like it in the West. Early this year, more than 5 million people linked their bank accounts on WeChat within two days. It has the potential to become a mobile and social commerce platform with integrated e-wallet and location based services, and much more. 

Moving forward, China will also lead innovation in mobile commerce. The country already boasts 700 million active smart phone users. The way people shop in China is very different from that in the West. In the West, e-commerce is very much computer-based, while mobile phones are merely a complementary tool to the personal computer. In China, mobile phones predominate people’s everyday lives. About 75 percent of Internet users browse it from their mobile phones. In 2013, 55 percent of consumers in China had used mobile payments, compared to only 19 percent in the US. 

Chinese are far savvier with mobile phones than with computers. Ten years ago, Chinese used text messages to vote for their popular singers. Today, Americans have just begun to adopt this method of communication. Businesses have started to use text messages to get feedback from customers. Politicians have begun to tap into the ubiquity of mobile phones to advocate their political agendas. 

In the past, many innovations originated in the West and spread to the rest of the world. But this is about to change. We expect to see more innovations in social and mobile commerce coming from China. And they will reshape the global business landscape.

More in Forbes.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Are you interested in more experts on innovation at the China Speakers Bureau? Check out our recently updated list.

Learning from Burger King's missteps - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

Burger King had a hard time setting up shop in China, but seems finally to be able to get the country. China consultant Helen Wang explains on her weblog a few of the mistakes the US chain made, and what we can learn from it. One lesson: work from China, not Singapore.

Helen Wang:

When it first entered China in 2005, Burger King hired former McDonald’s president of greater China Peter Tan as senior vice president and president of Asia Pacific. This was a good choice as Tan has extensive experience growing McDonald’s to over 1,000 restaurants. However, there was one problem: Tan was based in Singapore. Headquartering the China operation in Singapore was a mistake that could be detrimental to Burger King’s China strategy. 

As the time of this writing, Tan is no longer with Burger King. His position has been replaced by Elías Díaz Sesé, who is responsible for all operating decisions and the overall growth strategy for the Asia Pacific region. China is an extremely complex market with diverse conditions. One thing companies must absolutely avoid is to run the China operation from outside of China. You can’t even run the China operation in Hong Kong or Macau. The management team must be on the ground to understand local customers and the fast-changing business landscape. When Sam Su was hired by Yum! Brands as the president of its Asia Pacific operation, he voluntarily demoted himself to be the president of China. Su understood that the China market needs special focused attention. The result was exponential growth of Yum! in China.

More at Helen Wang's weblog.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Getting things right in China can be tough. The China Weekly Hangout looked over a set of foreign firms that failed in China with Andrew Hupert, Richard Brubaker and Fons Tuinstra on January 30, 2013.

Related articles

• Defining the Chinese dream - Helen Wang

• Burger King to offer a turkey burger (bostonherald.com)
• How Burger King Can Recover in China (forbes.com)

The China middle class debate

Is China having a middle class? Yes, it has, but how large is it and is it a useful group to target if you want to sell your products on the China market? Leading opinion leaders on China differ fundamentally about this issue, and it is about time to put those differences in the limelight. Here the arguments by +Helen Wang , +Shaun Rein , +Wei Gu and Tom Doctoroff.
Initially, following Weber, the middle class was the group of people between the working class and the upper class. But especially in the US much of the working class started to consider themselves also to be middle class too, and sometimes for good reasons. But it has made the label 'middle class' a difficult one. (A thorough overview of the historical development of the definition here at Wikipedia .)

Two schools of thought exist in this China debate. One group sees the existence of a Chinese middle class as a no-brainer. While the Chinese middle class might be defined in different economic terms than the US middle class, some estimate it already to be as high as 600 million.
A second school disputes that assumption; they say money can be made at the rich and ultra-rich in China, but the middle class is at best a very thin, too thin layer between those rich and the majority of relatively poor. And even worse: China's focus on improving minimum wages for the working class, and less at improving the position of the middle class.

In the middle is Evan Osnos who uses a OESO definition for the middle class in The New Yorker:

A decade later, Chinese politics have not achieved that goal. The Chinese middle class— defined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as those with the means to make spending decisions beyond just subsistence—is almost certainly growing: it is now about ten per cent of China’s population, and on pace to be forty per cent by 2020. But when it comes to politics, the Chinese government risks losing the support of the middle class.

Using that definition still does not mean the Chinese middle class can buy the same products as their US counterparts, even though the costs of living in China's larger cities have matured over the past decade, and move upward even more.

The debate is both financial and political. Defenders of the middle-class theory in part looked mainly at financial criteria for the middle class in China compared to the US because (at least in the past) the costs of living in China were lower than in the US, they argued. Their opponents believe you should look also at the ambitions of the Chinese consumers. Unlike the average American consumers, Chinese do not want to be middle class. They want to be filthy rich, even when they know they might not be able to achieve that ambition all.

Whether or not there is a substantial middle class has profound consequences for marketing efforts by both Chinese and foreign companies in China. When you are selling Lamborghini's, private airplanes or yachts, the middle class is not interesting. But how looks the market for other products?

Let's give the word to the two different schools.

The Middle Class School

JWT's Tom Doctoroff clearly believes in a large and vibrant middle class, as he states in the first half of this clip:

On his side, we also find Helen Wang, author of the bestseller "The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You. In Forbes she tried to start a debate on defining the middle class, and is more optimistic than Evan Osnos:

In The Chinese Dream, I use a combination of these definitions: urban professionals and entrepreneurs from all walks of life, who have college degrees and earn an annual income from $10,000 to $60,000. Over three hundred million people, or about 25 percent of China’s population, met these criteria in 2010.

The not-so Middle Class school

Shaun Rein, author of The End of Cheap China: Economic and Cultural Trends that Will Disrupt the World,  is one of the opinion leaders who has cautioned foreign companies to expecting a Chinese middle class comparable to the US one. In SeekingAlpha:

China's middle class does not really exist, at least by the American definition. Many analysts define the 350 million Chinese who live in households that earn between $6,000 and $15,000 a year as middle class. However, Chinese consumers with this socio-economic background do not exhibit the same hopes, aspirations, and shopping habits of middle-class Americans. As a result, brands that emphasize a middling position will not appeal to consumers there.

He was recently supported by Wei Gu, wealth editor at the Wall Street Journal:

Wei Gu estimates the middle class to be 6% of the population and stalling. She comments:

At present, the great majority of the Chinese are working class, living in households with annual disposable income of between $6,000 and $16,000, just about enough to cover basic needs, according to consulting firm McKinsey & Co. The middle class, with annual disposable income of between $16,000 and $34,000, make up only 6% of the urban population. A tiny group of upper-middle-class to rich consumers, whose disposable income exceeds $34,000, comprises only 2% of the urban population.

She quotes also Shaun Rein in her article:

"The biggest risk in the world is China's middle class not being happy," said Shaun Rein, the managing director of China Market Research, a consulting firm. "They are the most pessimistic group in the world."
"The truly rich can afford to live anywhere, and the poor get double-digit wage increases every year," Mr. Rein, author of the book "End of Cheap China," said. "China's middle class has hopes to own a car and home and be rich one day. But as their salary growth slows, they realize they will never be able to get there."

If we agree that you cannot create a middle class by just shifting definitions, the question is whether the middle layer between the rich and the poor is really substantial, and - literally - adding value to the economy? And what should be done to change the current pressure on the middle class?

Not clue how to set up a debate, let me hear your thoughts.

+Helen Wang , +Shaun Rein +Wei Gu and Tom Doctoroff are all speakers at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need one of them, or a combination? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Related articles

• A squeezed middle class needs more love - Wei Gu/Shaun Rein
• Now also China's middle class invests abroad - Wei Gu
• Defining the Chinese dream - Helen Wang
• The different consumer demographics - Shaun Rein
• Will the Middle Class Shake China?

Defining the Chinese dream - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

Incoming president Xi Jinping tried to define his Chinese dream, and got - rather uncensored - he did not gather a lot of support among China's internet users. Helen Wang, author of The Chinese Dream summarizes the Chinese efforts to define their dream in Forbes.

Helen Wang:

Xi’s Chinese Dream statement is uninspiring, to say the least. Today, China is the second largest economy in the world, and soon to be the largest. In many people’s view, China is already a strong nation. The skylines of Shanghai, Chongqing, and other cities are much more impressive than those of New York or London. Such a call for nation-building would have made sense 100 years ago when China was at its knees. But today, average people are more concerned with their individual rights and opportunities for upward mobility. 

To his credit, though, Xi Jinping helped to start a long over-due conversation: what is the Chinese Dream? When my book The Chinese Dream was translated into Chinese in 2011, I wrote in the Foreword that China doesn’t have a Chinese Dream. This is a crisis because it is like a country without a soul, a computer without software, or a ship without navigation. 

The Chinese middle class is now more than 450 million strong. To ensure that the middle class continues to grow, China needs to have an environment where people can feel safe and secure to pursue their dreams and aspirations, and a system that is fair, just, and provides opportunities for all, not just for the privileged and connected few. This requires reform of China’s current political system, which is at the root of corruption and a lack of enforcement of the rule of law. 

As one person pointed out sharply on Weibo, “The country belongs to the people. People make history. Only when everyone has freedom of speech, elections, migration, and equal rights, will they really care about the country – that is everybody’s dream.” A Chinese saying says, he who goes with The Way thrives; he who goes against The Way perishes. In the past 30 years, the legitimacy of the Communist Party was due to its economic reforms. In the next 30 years, the legitimacy of the Party will depend on whether it will initiate political reforms. Otherwise, Xi Jinping’s grand Chinese Dream will turn out to be a Chinese nightmare. 

Whatever the outcome, I am confident that the Chinese people will define their Chinese Dream.

More in Forbes.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

 One way Chinese try to pursue their dream is by actually leaving China. In September 2012 the China Weekly Hangout discussed why Chinese are leaving China with  lawyer Li Meixian, blogger Isaac Mao and business professor Richard Brubaker. Moderation by president of the China Speakers Bureau, Fons Tuinstra. On Thursday 7 February the China Weekly Hangout will focus another dream, the one on education: a goldmine or a black hole (and for whom). You can register at our event page, and also leave there your questions and comments. 

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• Happy Chinese New Year

The China middle class: close to half a billion - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

The American middle class might be licking its wounds and wonder what it means to have been middle class, in China their numbers keeps on growing and is, according to the latest figures by author Helen Wang, close to half a billion, she writes in Forbes. 

Helen Wang:

This means the Chinese middle class accounts for 68 percent of urban population, which is believable to me. Assuming two percent are super rich, still about 30 percent of the people in urban areas are poor. 

Some would argue that there are different criteria to measure the size of the Chinese middle class. A simple and important rule of thumb, as stated in my book The Chinese Dream, is that of a household with a third of its income for discretionary spending. These people have passed the threshold of survival and have disposable income to spend on leisure items. As I travel around China, it’s very clear to me that the majority of people in urban areas have reached this stage. 

The rising Chinese middle class is the biggest story of our time. However, many US companies are missing the opportunity. US exports to China account for only 6 percent of China’s total imports. The major categories of US exports to are in industrial sectors such as power generation equipment, aircraft, and medical equipment. 

The biggest opportunity, however, is in the consumer sector. On November 11, China’s “Single Day” shopping festival, online retailers Tmall (B2C) and Taobao Marketplace (C2C) generated a record revenue of $3.1 billion, more than the total sales in the U. S. on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. Before long, China will become the world’s largest consumer market, and its consumption could reach $13 to $16 trillion by 2020.

More in Forbes.

 Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Related articles

• The middle class pushes back - Helen Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• What did Barbie wrong in China? - Helen Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• How China's middle class differs from the American one - Shaun Rein (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

The middle class pushes back - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

What is making China's middle class making of the ongoing leadership transition in Beijing, author Helen Wang was asked by a range of media. On her weblog she summarizes some of her answers. "They are beginning to push back." 

Helen Wang:

They are beginning to push back. In October, weeklong protests involving thousands of people in an eastern city, Ningbo, forced a chemical plant to suspend its expansion plans. Such large-scale protests are happening more frequently all over the country, from Shifeng in the southwest to Dalian in northeast China. 

In the past, most protesters were farmers who fought for their land. Recently, however, an increasing number of protesters are urban middle class people who are angered by environmental hazards that harm their health. Some use social media to coordinate street protests against construction or expansion of factories and mines. 

The Internet is playing an important role in facilitating average people to voice their opinions. Weibo, a Twitter-like Chinese social media with 300 million users, is a major platform for people to express their views on issues from pollution to corruption. 

On November 6^th, in the midst of the US presidential election, Chinese Internet users flocked to Weibo to follow the news. Some commented pointedly on the lack of input they have in choosing their leaders. One blogger wrote, “We are perfectly clear about how the US presidential election works but utterly ignorant about China’s.” 

Evidence from other countries, such as South Korea and Taiwan, suggests that when countries advance economically, they begin to democratize when their median income reaches somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000. Last time I checked, China’s per capita GDP was around $8,000 in 2011. If this rule applies to China, a change in China’s political system may be imminent, if not inevitable.

More at Helen Wang's weblog.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

The China Weekly Hangout will focus next Thursday on the global ambitions of China's internet companies. For our announcement, please go here, or you can register directly at our event page. You can see all previous editions on our YouTube channel. 

At November 1, the China Weekly Hangout looked back at ten years of harmonious society under president Hu Jintao, with Janet Carmosky, Greg Anderson and Fons Tuinstra.

Related articles

• What did Barbie wrong in China? - Helen Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Why are Chinese leaving China? - China Weekly Hangout (chinaherald.net)
• Why China is heading for a crisis - Wang Jianmao (chinaherald.net)
• Why Home Depot failed in China (customerthink.com)

What did Barbie wrong in China? - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

When Barbie went down in 2011 in Shanghai yet another icon of US consumerism failed in China. Author Helen Wang looks back in Forbes and describes what Mattel did wrong.

Helen Wang:

Mattel didn’t quite understand what Chinese girls and young women want. The Chinese concept of “femininity” is very different from that of American. In China, “feminine” is more about sweet and soft rather than smart and strong, more about gentle and loving rather than dazzling and fashion-forward.  Although it has created a Chinese Barbie Ling with black hair who wears Chinese attire, Mattel failed to understand what Ling would represent in order to appeal to Chinese girls. 

Instead of making Barbie a fashion and lifestyle brand, Mattel should have made Barbie an aspirational brand to empower Chinese girls. The idea of “I can be” is not encouraged in Chinese society, but is exactly what Chinese girls need. If Barbie, or Ling for that matter, could become a role model for Chinese girls, she would have re-invented herself and Mattel would have had a better chance to succeed in China... 

Mattel tried to bring a 50-year-old brand to a new market that had just gotten to know Barbie. Chinese consumers are new consumers. They are not yet as sophisticated as their counterparts in the West. Although China has changed significantly, it hasn’t changed to the point that 6-year-old girls would want to have their own fashion runway. I grew up with only one doll. Many women of my age didn’t even have dolls when they grew up. Although my niece now has many dolls, I am afraid that having a design studio to design her own dolls is too much of a luxury for her. The market was simply not ready for that.

More in Forbes. 

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

On Thursday November 1 the China Weekly Hangout will focus on eight years of harmonious society under Hu Jintao and what we can expect the next eight years under Xi Jinping. Including Janet Carmosky who will report on the findings during the National Committee on US-China Relations China Town Hall on Monday. The CWH is held on 10pm Beijing time, 3pm CET (Europe) and 10pm EST (US). More on the logistics of the hangout later this week at the China Herald or our event page at Google+.

Related articles

• Are we ready for Chinese tourists? - Roy Graff (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
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• How Yum! rebranded for success in China - Helen Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Why are Chinese leaving China? - China Weekly Hangout (chinaherald.net)

To succeed in China, think opposite - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

Succeeding in China needs special talents from Western companies, author Helen Wang explains in Forbes. One of them is thinking counter-intuitive, think opposite and act like Chinese. A crash course. 

Helen Wang:

In order to adapt your business to the Chinese market, you will have to understand how Chinese think and what makes them tick. In many ways, Chinese think and act opposite to the way of Westerners. For this very reason, a sound China strategy may seem counter-intuitive to people who are not familiar with Chinese culture. 

For example, in the West, individualism is highly valued. In China, individualism is not encouraged and sometimes has a negative connotation. Chinese culture is very collective. People put the interest of their country above their personal needs. Companies need to understand this and not to assume that Chinese are becoming westernized like themselves. 

In a recent talk at Honeywell Executive Program in Shanghai, I spoke about “thinking opposite” in China. I believe that is a critical skill that business executives must master if they want to run a successful operation in China. Until they can “think opposite” and act like Chinese, it will be difficult for Western companies to compete successfully in China. 

At this stage, working with a consultant who understands the China market can provide real value and save companies from headaches they would run into when operating in China.

More in Forbes

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Related articles

• How Yum! rebranded for success in China - Heleen Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Why did Starbucks win in China? - Helen Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Why are Chinese leaving China? - China Weekly Hangout (chinaherald.net)
• Why Home Depot failed in China (customerthink.com)

Why are Chinese leaving China? - China Weekly Hangout (updated)

Why are Chinese, who can afford it, leaving China? Most of China's rich send their children abroad for study, and 92% of them do not return, despite efforts by the Chinese government to get them back. Even more, some of them start to invite their parents over, after they get settled in - mostly - the US. And according to the latest figures, more children of wealthy Chinese already leave for expensive high schools abroad, not only universities.

That means a drain on China's intellectual, managerial and financial resources: how bad is it, and is there any way to reverse that trend?

Those are some of the issues we want to tackle on our second China Weekly Hangout, on Thursday, September 13, 9pm Beijing Times, 3pm CEST and 9am Eastern. 

Invited panelists are Janet Carmosky, Li Meixian and Helen Wang. Helen Wang is traveling in China and could not yet fully commit herself. Moderation is in the hands of Fons Tuinstra, president of the China Speakers Bureau.

Are you interested in this subject, or even part of it? A limited number can join our official hangout, please drop a line here and tell us how you can add to the debate. Or otherwise you can ask questions and add comments here or at our upcoming event page. You can view the hangout through a link to YouTube we will provide shortly before the broadcast.
Sign up here for regular updates of the China Weekly Hangout, or register here at our event page of this hangout.

Helen Wang

For the second China Weekly Podcast are invited:


Helen H. Wang is an author, consultant, and expert on China’s middle class. Originally from China, Wang has lived in the U. S. for over twenty years. Wang is a contributor to Forbes and a sought-after speaker. Her book, The Chinese Dream, is based on over 100 interviews with the new members of the Chinese middle class, which is already 300 million strong and will reach 600 to 800 million in fifteen years.
Currently, Wang divides her time between consulting for companies doing business in China and helping non-profit organizations make a difference. She lives in Silicon Valley with her husband, her dog Frodo, and her parakeet Star. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, dance, and travel.

Janet Carmosky

Janet Carmosky, is China guru at-large and CEO of the China Business Network. She started her Chinese Studies major (U. Penn) in '81 at age 17; graduated & moved to China (Xi'an) in 1985; married into PRC family 1986; lived & worked in China - mostly Shanghai - through 2003, when she returned to USA.

Li Meixian

Li Meixian, Member at Cozen O’Connor's

Meixian Li is the Director of China Business Development. Mei is responsible for the development and implementation of Cozen O’Connor's China business development initiatives. In this position, she plays a key role in the firm's growing China practice.

Mei spends a substantial amount of her time in China maintaining the firm's existing client relationships and developing new ones. Through the extensive business and government relationships she has developed in China, Mei provides advice and assistance to the firm's existing and new U.S. clients in their effort to build or expand their presence in China.

Prior to joining Cozen O’Connor, Mei was project director at Kamsky Associates Incorporated, based in Kamsky’s Beijing office. In this role, Mei led projects for clients in China market entry-related areas, including market research and analysis, strategy formulation and implementation, due diligence, competitor and partner analysis, and contract negotiations.

Richard Brubaker

Richard Brubaker is the producer of All Roads Lead to China, Adjunct Professor of Management, Sustainability and Responsible Leadership at China Europe International Business School. With almost 20 years of Asia experience (the last 10 based in mainland China), Rich assists his clients (both Fortune 500 companies and SMEs) in understanding the China market, determining their own China platform and implementing effective strategies. He is currently living in Shanghai.  

China Weekly Hangout: Why are Chinese leaving China:

Previous China Weekly Hangout: Why are foreigners leaving China?

Upcoming subjects: sustainability, China's energy security (planned for 27 September)

Update: Additional guests for this hangout are Isaac Mao and Andrew Hupert. You will be able to watch the hangout here in this space, both live and recorder.

For the hangout on sustainability and China's energy security on 27 September as panelists will be present Merritt Cooke, Richard Brubaker and others.
For October 4 (just after the China holiday) we plan a hangout on the future of the communist party. Interested? Sign up for our China Weekly Hangout page, or drop us a line.

How Yum! rebranded for success in China - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

Yum! operates highly successful brands like KFC and Pizzahut in China, a success that is largely due to the ability to rebrand and reinvent itself to cater to the needs of Chinese customers, explains author Heleen Wang in Forbes.

Helen Wang:

Through rebranding, Yum! Brands has completely re-invented itself in China. 

In the U. S., fast-food restaurants, such as KFC and Pizza Hut, are a place where people can get food quickly. The food is usually tasty, but mostly unhealthy and low-priced. But in China, the same restaurants are viewed as upscale, trendy, and modern. People love to go to KFC and Pizza Hut. Some even have weddings there. 

Each year, Yum! China introduces 85 to 100 new items on their menu, compared to one or two in the U.S. The robust growth in the China market also helped reinvigorate Yum! Brands’ under-performing U.S. business.  Recently, Kentucky Fried Chicken has begun to offer breakfast in the U. S., and to redefine fast food as casual dining. For companies like Yum! Brands, succeeding in China has not only provided an alternative growth engine, but also generated a new life blood for their home business.

More in Forbes.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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Why did Starbucks win in China? - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

Starbucks introduced a winning chain of coffee shops in a country of tea drinkers. Author Helen Wang analyses what the US company did right and found five key reasons, she explains in Forbes. First, they started to look smart.

Helen Wang:

Once Starbucks decided to enter China, it implemented a smart market entry strategy. It did not use any advertising and promotions that could be perceived by the Chinese as a threat to their tea-drinking culture. Instead, it focused on selecting high-visibility and high-traffic locations to project its brand image. 

The next thing Starbucks did was to capitalize on the tea-drinking culture of Chinese consumers by introducing beverages using popular local ingredients such as green tea. This strategy has effectively turned potential obstacles into Starbucks’ favor. Chinese consumers quickly developed a taste for Starbucks’ coffee, which was essential to Starbucks’ success in China. 

One of Starbucks’ key marketing strategies is to provide customers with an exceptional experience. The chic interior, comfortable lounge chairs, and upbeat music are not only differentiators that set Starbucks apart from the competition, but also have strong appeal to younger generations who fantasize about Western coffee culture as a symbol of modern lifestyle. Many go to Starbucks not just for a cup of Frappuccino, but also for the “Starbucks Experience” that makes them feel cool and trendy.

Four more reasons in Forbes.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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The second edition of "The Chinese Dream" - Helen Wang

The bestseller "The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You" on China's middle class by Helen Wang is getting its second edition and Lord Wei, has written the new foreword, announces Helen Wang on her weblog. 

Lord Wei:

The Chinese Dream today as portrayed in Helen’s book speaks of a changing China that is discovering consumerism, that is increasingly globalised, and also at a crossroads. Will her path in years to come continue to be one that resembles that of Western countries with all the benefits of further urbanization, wealth, and industrialization, but at the same time challenges in managing scarce resources, population migration, and the social problems that affluence can bring, elsewhere called ‘Affluenza’? Or will the Chinese people themselves inside and outside China create a new sustainable Chinese Dream, based on their ancient values of respect for culture, family, and nature, harnessing technology and creativity? 

Only time will tell, but Helen’s book gives insights into how middle class Chinese consumers are thinking, what they are buying, and the lifestyle pressures they are facing which hints at the possible paths ahead. Over time the symbols of the Chinese Dream will emerge, just as red pillar boxes and the English countryside did for the British Dream in the 19th century and white picket fences and jeans have for the American Dream in the 20th century. The enduring symbols of the Chinese Dream are being invented at this very moment in time.

More in Helen Wang's weblog.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

More on Helen Wang and 'The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You' at Storify
.

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The Chinese consumer - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

Author Helen Wang of The Chinese Dream introduced her book on December 5 at the Asia House in London, on the invitation of Lord Wei. Here is what she had to say about the Chinese consumer.

Helen Wang:

Now, here are three truths about Chinese consumers: 

First, Chinese have more money than you think. Chinese households hide “grey income” that is never reported. For example, many state companies give big bonuses that are not accounted for as official salary. 

Second, Chinese are status conscious people. They would pay premium prices for products and services that can enhance their “status.” But for products and services that their neighbors and friends cannot see, they would be very price conscious. For example, the woman who bought Gucci shoes would not spend more money on first class airfare. 

Third, the next big opportunity is in smaller cities. Recently, I visited a second tier city in Western China, called Chengdu, with about 5 million population. At Chengdu’s downtown, you can see big signs for “Cartier,” “Louis Vuitton.” Chengdu’s retail was booming. And China has hundreds of cities like that. 

A recent Credit Suisse report indicates that Chinese consumption will reach $16 trillion by 2020, and China will become the largest consumer market in the world. This just shows how big the opportunity is, and that’s why I said the rise of China’s middle class is the biggest story of our time.

The full speech is at Helen Wang's weblog.

More links for Helen Wang and the Chinese Dream at Storify.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request.  

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• Luxury dreams from Chengdu - Helen Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
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