Another example from China — this one looks at retailing there. Just published in BusinessWeek, “China: Where Retail Dinosaurs Are Thriving” (January 21, 2010). This might be useful when talking about consumer behavior in other countries, in retail, or international.
Looking for a nice example of differences in consumer behavior across cultures? I learned something today about consumer behavior in China. Apparently many Chinese consumers value the bargain — maybe not so culturally unique. But they go about it in an interesting way. Many Chinese shoppers go on a group bargain hunt — realizing that they might get a volume discount. I heard about this on the American Public Radio show, Marketplace (January 22, 2010) “China’s next export: group shopping?“ Click through to read or listen to the story — I have embedded a video of group shopping below. [Note: click through to the story to see the video, at first my embedding the video worked, but now it does not.] I know we have at least a few Chinese readers. Can you add a comment with more insight on this practice?
“PC Makers Cultivate Buyers in Rural China,” The Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2009 [subscription required or google the article title]. This short article describes how PC makers have adapted their marketing mixes to better meet the needs of relatively low income rural Chinese.