Spiegel Institut has conducted plenty of market and consumer researches for premium manufacturers all over the world. Before we go more into detail about premium products or brand image during interviews, we always ask the study participants one definition question: What does “luxury” mean to you? Here we noticed clear differences between the answers of the European and Chinese consumers.
Due to the pandemic, this year’s China Automotive Consumption Summit of the Forum, a dedicated consumer conference, was held online on March 30, 2021. As a strategic partner of CATARC, Spiegel Institut had the great honor to be the only foreign enterprise invited to deliver a speech at the Summit with the topic: Through the Eyes of the User: Automotive Trends in Europe – Consumer Perception and Customer Experience.
The pet market in China is booming. One reason for this is that there are more and more single-lived people in tier 1 and 2 cities who need a companion. The emotional need for a pet leads to the purchase of products and services in a much bigger scope. So let`s face the differences regarding pet raising between Germany and China and the major products and services on the pet market in China.
As mentioned in the previous article, Chinese will do everything they can to support their children's education, allowing them to learn all the knowledge and special skills that will help them attending a good university. So in China everyone is facing the involution. But what does it mean?
In our second article about the Chinese mindset we want to focus on social mobility. What is the key to an upward mobility and how can Chinese fall down to the lower class? Let's find out!
The Chinese mindset impacts consumer behaviors in a lot of aspects. We often notice in user requirement research, that the Chinse consumers need happiness right away, or they need assistance products solving their problems to save their time. Why do Chinese need so much assistance in their daily life? Why are they always short of time? Why are they so anxious? Introducing the mindset is a good way to have a deeper understanding of consumers in a certain milieu.
In the past, there has been an interesting development within the Chinese market. Until recently, Chinese consumers rejected Chinese brands for one simple reason: Products from Chinese brands are often nothing but a copy of brands from abroad, but with worse quality for a cheaper price.
However, in the last few years, we notice that Chinese consumers talk more and more about local brands across all industries.
A few years ago, when we asked Chinese participants in our studies which social media platforms they regularly use, we usually received two answers: WeChat and Weibo (similar to Twitter). But as time passes by, we now hear one name more and more often, especially from female participants: Xiao Hong Shu (“little red book”).
Have you ever heard about the Chinese word “Pèngcí”? Let's find out what it means and why dashcams become more and more desirable for drivers in China.
Second-hand in Germany probably reminds many of flea markets and used products for little money. But in China a completely new market for new second-hand products has established itself. Premium brands are in high demand – especially on second-hand platforms.
Online communities as a market research method is becoming more and more popular now. Since we have conducted several global market research studies using online communities ourselves, we have observed significant differences of the communication behavior between Chinese and users from other countries.
When we are conducting vehicle relevant studies, there is one thing that we hear again and again from Chinese users, especially owners of foreign car brands: “The built-in navigation system in the car is terrible, I only use my phone to navigate.”
More and more Chinese consumers are integrating smart home devices into their homes. In the beginning, the early adopters were those young people who would like to try something fancy and new. After they have gathered good experience, they will potentially take a second purchase, but this time for their parents.
There are plenty of online courses in China, including different majors – more precisely: you can find online courses for almost everything. Different platforms are gathering teachers for different majors. Each platform has its own focus like music, painting art, foreign languages, after-school tutorials, etc. So online courses are a real business in China.
