Archive for the ‘Consumer’ Category
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
In mid-June, media transnational Bertelsmann AG announced that it would close all of its 36 bookstores across China (called Beijing 21st Century Book), by the end of July. Then at the end of June, the company further announced that it was closing down its book club business in China, ...
Posted in Claire Li, Consumer | No Comments »
Friday, June 27th, 2008
It’s almost been one month since the government implemented new policies limiting the use of plastic bags, in order to reduce pollution. But as far as I can tell, it doesn’t seem to be having any effect yet.
I go to the supermarket almost every day and have ...
Posted in Claire Li, Consumer, environment | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
Online spending in China last year totaled RMB 59.4 billion. Of that, 43.3 billion alone was spent on Chinese online retailer Taobao.com. For comparison, Taobao points out that gross profits for international grocery chain Carrefour last year were 24.8 billion – that is, people are spending more through an online ...
Posted in Claire Li, internet, Consumer | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
Anyone living in China can’t fail to have noticed the sharp price increases in recent months. Zhang Hong has written a fascinating piece for our magazine this month – link to follow - on how the rising cost of living in Chinese cities has lead to a major shortage of ...
Posted in Consumer, Matthew Plowright, economy, cib | No Comments »
Friday, March 21st, 2008
Every week, I receive at least ten junk text messages offering me mortgages, cheap air tickets, and fake graduation diploma. Others notify me that I’ve just won some award, offer to kill my enemies or sell me guns. The latest one, which I received just 30 minutes ago, concerns a ...
Posted in Claire Li, Consumer | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
There was an amusing article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday that pointed out that nearly all older, prominent Chinese men seem to dye their hair black. The article also touched, very briefly, on what I thought was one interesting (although not entirely convincing) reason why:
Experts say that obsessing about ...
Posted in trends, Consumer, Eveline Chao, cib | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
Anyone who’s ever travelled with a Chinese tour group knows the drill: the coach pulls up at some ungodly hour of the morning. You stumble on board and doze off, hoping that when you wake up you will have been magically transported to the Terracotta Warriors, or the Great Wall, ...
Posted in trends, Consumer, Matthew Plowright | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007
Well, all this talk about the rising price of pork and eggs has finally entered my life in a tangible way - the price of stir-fried eggs 'n' tomato at the homestyle restaurant near my apartment went up 3 kuai. I'll have to order a pork dish next time to ...
Posted in Consumer, Eveline Chao, economy, cib | No Comments »
Friday, November 30th, 2007
Somewhat randomly the other day I started wondering whether Costco has any sort of presence in China. There are 5 Costco stores in Taiwan (the first one opened in 1997 in Kaohsiung and the latest just opened in November of this year, in TaiChung) and my aunts in Taiwan are ...
Posted in America, Consumer, Eveline Chao | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
Why don't Chinese women use tampons? This is what crossed my mind the last time I went to Watson's, a Hong Kong-based drugstore chain (or as British co-worker Matt insists I write, a chemist) where expats in Beijing go to buy dental floss, tampons, and other things you can't find ...
Posted in marketing, America, Consumer, Eveline Chao | 3 Comments »
