In our last report on young Chinese consumers (published in October, 2008) we see that the youth in China definitely want to have more gadgets in their lives.  In this installment we’ll find out what are their favorite brands and some of their spending habits?  With our year-round tracking studies we are able to pin point the purchase and spending behaviors of these consuming “maniacs.”

Recent study shows that Apple, Adidas, Nike and Lining are still the top ranked brands that youth in China love the most.  We will need to take Apple out of the equation since one of the incentives of participating in our survey is an Apple product.  So the number one brand for youth in China is Adidas and closely followed by Nike, which is no surprising since these two sporting good giants are fighting it out from shopping malls to shopping malls across China.

Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, April 2009

Comparing Q4 2008~Q1 2009 results with Q2~Q3 2008 findings, current global economic crisis has had very little impact on the youth spending behavior here in China.  Of all participants, 19% say they spend more than what they make, slightly less than 21% response from the last 2 Quarters of 2008.  So, there is a huge segment of the youth population here who live their lives like debt-ridden consumers in the developed countries.  Who say the credit card market isn’t making a dent here in China?

Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, April 2009

55% of the participants own 1 or 2 credit cards, other 26% own at least 3 credit cards and the remaining 20% do not own any credit card.  That’s a staggering 80%+ credit card ownership among the respondents.  We have learned from past research that the younger set is using credit cards to pay for purchases online, including ecommerce, gaming and other added value services.

Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, April 2009

Overall, 63% spend less than RMB1, 000 per month which is about right since the average income of respondents in this on-going survey is RMB3, 283.  A third of their income attributed to credit expenditure is probably acceptable, but it will be interesting to find out if they pay back all of the balance of their credit card on a monthly basis or do they only make minimum payments?  We’ll leave that for another installment of our Youth Omnibus.

Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, April 2009

Number of Samples: 2,209
Q2-Q3 2008 sample size = 1,079; Q4 2008-Q1 2009 sample size = 1130
Data Capture Period: 2008.4.1 – 2009.5.12
Target: Youth age between 15 to 29
Margin of error +/- 2.7%

ChinaPolling conducts Omnibus Surveys on an ongoing basis to provide continuous tracking of consumer trends in China.  This innovative approach to tracking consumer behavior will allow companies looking to enter the China market to get the most up to date information about what’s hot and what’s not here in China.  The 20 question survey for the Youth answers some very basic question of purchase decision for this very competitive market.   All real-time datasets are available to purchase online.  Additional questions can be added into the Omnibus Survey and field at any time.