Chinese consumers increasingly turn to online search for high quality and useful health information to support their health care decisions. Consumers use the information they have searched to improve their health.

China Polling’s recent study revealed that almost 90% of Internet users search for health care information online. The top-search and most cared about medical information are Diet, Nutrition, Vitamins or Nutritional Supplements, followed by Exercises or Fitness related information. It’s obvious that people prefer information to improve or maintain their current health conditions more than solving any ailment or treatment for medical problems.

N=1,695 Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, November 2008

And how do consumers find this information online? Most popular channel is still through search engines such as Baidu which ranked at the top. Health channels on major websites or portals also gained higher recognition such as Sina, NetEase, Sohu etc.

N=1,695 Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, November 2008

With the abundance of health-related information already existed online, consumers still feel frustrated and confused by the information that they have found. 66% felt frustrated because they couldn’t find what they needed and 80% felt confused by the information they found online. Chinese consumers definitely want more reliable and authoritative health care information.

Number of Samples: 1,695
Data Capture Period: 2008.9.3 – 2008.11.20
Margin of error +/- 2.38%

China Polling 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. All real-time datasets are available for purchase online. Additional questions can be added into the Omnibus Survey and fielded at any time.