Consumer purchases increasingly driven by China’s singles – Ashley Dudarenok

 

Dropping birth figures in China are changing the country’s consumer market profoundly, as singles move upwards in spending patterns, says consumer analyst Ashley Dudarenok, author of Innovation Factory: China’s Digital Playbook For Global Brands  at CNN. “We need to start thinking about single living and this new economic model as something that is here to stay,” she said.

CNN:

Consumer analysts say singles are also spending more on video games, AI companions and micro-dramas, soap opera-like shows with episodes under two minutes.

“When you’re back home from work and it’s 10 p.m. and you’ve already eaten, if you had a husband or wife, you would talk to them,” said Ashley Dudarenok, founder of China market consultancy ChoZan.

“If that companionship is missing, you are left with subscriptions to games, to streaming, and that is a huge, huge trend that is reshaping the way people entertain themselves.”

Dudarenok said that China’s vast and competitive consumer market could accelerate the development of products and services for people living alone and eventually export them to the rest of the world.

AI companions and micro-dramas have already gained traction in the US. Companies there are also increasingly courting solo diners. Domino’s Pizza announced recently it would begin offering small rectangular pies designed for one.

Previously, businesses and governments typically treated singledom as a temporary stage before marriage, Dudarenok points out.

“We need to start thinking about single living and this new economic model as something that is here to stay,” she said.

More at CNN.

Ashley Dudarenok 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 looking for more consumer experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

240 million singles in China: no reason for panic – Zhang Lijia

 

Zhang Lijia

Panic struck some commentators in China when recent official figures showed the country counted 240 single households, the largest number for any country in the world. While China and the Chinese still might have to get used to this feature, those numbers are not surprising, says author Zhang Lijia in the South China Morning Post.

Zhang Lijia:

Do singles do themselves and society a disservice?

Not really, in my view. Sure, family support and emotional connection are vital to one’s physical and mental health. But living alone doesn’t equal being lonely or a total lack of a sexual or emotional life. It is extremely unlikely that the single tidal wave will undermine stability or result in an increase of vice.

Rather, it is a global trend that accompanies development – the better developed a country is, the higher number of singles it usually has. Living alone first gained traction in early industrialised countries and accelerated in the 1950s. Currently, only around 17 per cent of Chinese adults live alone, compared to 42 per cent in the United States. The percentage in Sweden and Norway is even higher – over 50 per cent – yet instability or crime is not a real problem there.

So, there’s no need to lose sleep over the rise in singles. If our government is worried about the fertility rate, it should give single women access to assisted reproductive technology…

The community and our authorities should accept that marriage should be a choice instead of an obligation.

More in the South China Morning Post.

Zhang Lijia 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 looking for more experts on cultural change at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.