As the giant Chinese economy begins to refocus on its consumer market, huge opportunities are opening up in the market research space. Nearly a fifth of the earth’s consumers are in China and a new range of mobile consumer insight methods are set to help capture that market.
Ludo Milet points out the almost unlimited possibilities for market research in China in this post from Green Book:
The size of the Chinese economy—the second largest in the world, and the world’s largest in terms of purchasing power—means that brands, marketers, and consumer insights professionals need to understand the Chinese market. But, until recently, it has seemed impossible to gather the quality, quantifiable information needed to generate meaningful, actionable insights. The sheer size of the consumer population means that any study needs to include a huge number of consumers in order to have any statistical viability.
Over the last decade or so availability in China of internet and mobile technologies has now given the industry the tools it needs to garner information from across the country. While Chinese consumers rarely own PCs—which tend to be reserved for the country’s elite—smartphones have spread across the landscape, including into tier two and three cities. (This is partly because phones are relatively inexpensive in the country, putting them within the reach of many consumers.) That has given consumer insights professionals the tool they have always needed to reach out to Chinese consumers.
Chinese consumers’ reliance on mobile logically means that consumer insights professionals should gear their practice to mobile-related techniques.
[…]
…KuRunData, the leading provider of APAC-based survey respondents, featuring the best-profiled online and mobile panel in the region, with more than 5 million registered members. After more than a decade of operations in the country, the company has a depth of understanding and immersion in the market that would be impossible for an outsider to achieve.
Recently, KuRun launched a WeChat mobile survey app, enabling direct access to WeChat—the most popular app in China, with 1 billion users. It’s important to note that WeChat provides access to so much more than a social network. It plays an important role in everyday life in China, providing users access to messaging, social media and mobile payment capabilities within the platform. So the company’s mobile respondent access via WeChat enables KuRun to provide respondent access beyond its 5 million-member panel and couples this with a robust survey platform. There could hardly be a configuration better suited to the expansive Chinese market.
