Export and investment drove the meteoric economic rise of Mainland China since the start of Reform and Opening. The newest story is the rise of a vast, new consumer class in China that barely existed just a decade ago. Brands from BMW to Apple have reaped the benefits of this blossoming in consumption. If this is not quite the beginning of the internal consumption phase in China’s economic rise, it is still very far from points of saturation. Due to its size, China remains the largest virgin market left on the planet. Most of the population still has not entered the middle class. The affluent segments have not yet reached points of maturity in their ways of consuming.
The products and services that Chinese buy and why they buy them are the subject of this website. We seek to take individual items that consumers purchase as a departure point for examining China’s evolving consumption patterns. We look at which are the hero products and what that shows about the market here. On the other hand, we also look at niche items that might not have existed just a year ago but that are suddenly attracting interest. On occasion, products that have not succeeded will also come in for examination. We look at what failures show about this market.
Whatischinabuying.com is a project of Afflux MCC, a leading boutique PR and activation group based in Beijing. Afflux opens to gates to China’s new class of consumers as a service to its clients. This page shares some of the insights found over the course of these projects with the broader public. The content here reflects the fruit of the many years the Afflux team has worked in marketing, consulting, fashion, and media in China. As we embark upon this journey, we welcome the comments and suggestions of our readers. We hope you too will make contributions to the site.
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