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Development of consumer behavior patterns among Chinese children

Abstract (summary)

This study explores the consumer behavior patterns of urban Chinese children as a primary and an influence market. It examines, as primary consumers, their income, spending and saving patterns. It is found that they have two different types of income, save over half of it, and spend the rest on snack items, play items, and the largest portion on school-related items. Their influence on the spending behavior of their parents and grandparents among 25 product categories is analyzed and the results reveal that they influence around two-thirds of parents’ purchases. Also considers role of age and gender on children’s consumer behavior.

James U. McNeal: Professor of Marketing at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

Chyon-HwaYeh: Senior Statistician, Biometrics & Statistical Science Department, The Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, USA

Introduction

There is growing interest among international business firms in knowing when consumer behavior begins in particular societies around the world, what social agents are involved, and the resulting patterns of purchase. Understanding this process, usually termed consumer socialization (Ward, 1974) or consumer development (McNeal, 1964), allows for predictions of the economic prowess of the youngest members of a society as well as providing some insight into the economic behavior of families in that society. Such information also has significant implications for domestic marketers which must be prepared for the entry of new consumers into their respective marketplaces.

There are currently more than 800 million children, ages 4 to 12 years, in the industrialized world who will make purchases for their own needs and wants once they have been socialized into the consumer role. For example, in the United States children may begin their purchase behavior as early as age four (McNeal, 1987). The age group of 4 to 12 that is usually described as children or kids averages around $250 per year each in spending, or approximately $8.5 billion per year for the 34 million youngsters in the USA (McNeal, 1992). Potentially even more lucrative for the business community is the direct influence of children on their parents’ purchases that starts at around age 2 among US children. The amount for this consumer behavior is estimated to be approximately $4,400 yearly for US children 4 to 12, or nearly $150 billion annually (McNeal and Yeh, 1993). Probably most important to the business community of a nation is the future market potential of its children. If children can be encouraged to favor a company’s product offering, they are more likely to buy it when they reach market age of that particular firm (McNeal, 1991). Thus, in total, children have enormous market potential, not as one market but as three – a current market spending its own money for its own needs and wants, an influence market determining a substantial amount of parents spending, and a future market that eventually will constitute all the customers for a firm’s offering.

When Turner Broadcasting System introduced its Cartoon Channel in the USA in late 1992, the firm also announced that it would seek an international youth audience since cartoons are a universal language. It competes for the worldwide kids business with another well known US television broadcaster, Nickelodeon. PepsiCo, through its Sabritas subsidiary, has captured a major share of the kids candy and bubble gum business in Mexico, and has used that experience to expand into Spain and Brazil. In play products USA-based Mattel has made Barbie a worldwide brand of doll, while Denmark’s Lego has had similar success in construction toys. Three major US retailers, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and Toys ‘R’ Us, have relied heavily on children as influences for their successful growth overseas in the family markets of Europe and Pacific Asia.

There is a growing body of knowledge about the consumer behavior of children around the world. While the majority of all consumer socialization and development studies originate in the US and focus on US children (e.g., Ward et al., 1977), there are also studies reported from Canada, for example Goldberg and Gorn (1978), and Gorn and Goldberg (1977), from Europe, Antelo (1992), Ferrari and Pescetti (1992),Furnham and Thomas (1984), Le Bigot (1992) and from Pacific-Rim countries, McNeal and Yeh (1990a, 1990b). Ironically, empirical analysis of the consumer behavior of children of the most populous country, China, apparently has not been the topic of published studies until the one reported here.

There is probably no economy outside of the USAthat is more in the news than that of China. Its population magnitude, economic growth, and gradual change from a centrally planned economy to a market-driven economy, are important news to business communities worldwide. Young consumers are also significant in China and frequently are mentioned in the press. China adopted a one-child policy in 1979, and today it is fundamentally in place in China’s urban population (Zhang and Yang, 1992). These only children receive most of the love and attention of both parents as well as that of four grandparents. In effect, there is a “4-2-1 indulgence factor” operating in China – four grandparents and two parents indulging one child (Cutler, 1988) – or what Goll (1995) calls the six-pocket syndrome. Some critics have even referred to China’s only children as “spoiled brats” (Wu, 1986) and “little emperors” (Baker, 1987), and expressed concern that a nation of only-children could be harmful to the future of China (Hall, 1987). Thus, the influence of the only child in the Chinese society appears to be very real and very great.

However, if Chinese children truly are as much of the family’s focus as is suggested in published descriptions, their consumer behavior patterns will reflect this status. We would expect that they not only would have their own money to spend on their wants and needs, and lots of it, but they also would have a major voice in the spending behavior of their parents. But do they really have money to spend, and if so, do they spend it, and on what? After all, we also often hear how poor China’s people are, for example, that they have an average monthly income of $40-50. If they are so poor, can the children have much money to spend, and can they actually influence much parental spending?

An examination of the literature inside and outside China suggests that answers to these questions are mostly anecdotal rather than empirical. For example, the many daily newspapers in China sometimes report interviews with mothers or fathers who describe their children’s influence on some of their economic decision making. Shao and Herbig (1994) discuss at length the economic impact of the only child on the Chinese family, but present no empirical evidence of it. Goll (1995, p. B1) observes that “Chinese children are being showered with everything from candy to computer games”, but adds, “There are no official figures documenting how much is spent”. Li and Gallup (1995) did summarize the results of a national survey of Chinese household buying patterns, but while describing the nature and extent of purchases, interestingly, they did not indicate the economic influence of the one child that is mentioned often in the literature. Apparently the only reported study of Chinese children’s consumer behavior is that of Cheng (1993). According to Cheng (1993), “the Beijing Municipality Statistical Bureau conducted a survey at the end of 1990 that indicated that primary school students spent an average of 173.10 yuan per month” (p. 47). Cheng (1993) also reports that the same agency conducted another “survey of 360 families in August 1992 that showed that middle school students spent 66.3 percent of their parents combined incomes”(p. 47). He goes on to describe the objects of consumption of the children, presumably in both primary and middle school, as follows:”

The main staples of their consumer appetites are food, clothes, and amusement. Food must be multifarious. Favorite foods include imported biscuits, swiss chocolate, American seedless raisins, Japanese sweets and a variety of Chinese delicacies. Many students eat regularly in hotels and restaurants, taking turns on who picks up the check.

Their dress must follow fashion trends – leather jackets, designer jeans, stretch pants, and miniskirts. A headband may cost several dozen yuan; they buy it without hesitation.

When it comes to amusement, they know how to enjoy themselves. Transformers, mountain bikes and skateboards are all recreational necessities. If they enjoy listening to music, they buy the newest release on cassette or CD. If their favorite pop star is giving a concert, money is no obstacle in purchasing tickets.

When home becomes dull, they go out. The cinema, video game rooms, a place that features karaoke singing, amusement parks and dance halls are all popular haunts (p. 47).”

Cheng’s report seems very significant because of the paucity of factual data regarding Chinese children’s consumer behavior, but regrettably the report provides no information about the sample size, actual location of sample members, or how the survey was conducted. Since this agency is a census bureau, of sorts, for the city of Beijing, it is assumed that the survey was conducted in Beijing. The tone of Cheng’s narrative suggests that he is drawing generalizations from the studies as well as his own observations, and that they mainly refer to older children, at least middle school age.

Given the economic potential of China’s children as reflected in their very large numbers, the rapid growth in the income of their families, and the power that they reportedly wield in their households, it is logical that global businesses would desire pertinent research information about them. The study reported here was a first attempt to provide this information.

Research procedure

In order to obtain descriptions of the nature and extent of Chinese children’s consumer behavior, two pretested questionnaires were utilized. One measured children’s spending and the other their influence on parents’ spending. The questionnaires were distributed on two different occasions in five schools in Beijing and Tianjin to children in grades K-5 who were instructed to take them home to their parents for completion and return them to their teachers within a week. A small gift was promised in order to assure their return. A net total of 1,496 families completed and returned the questionnaires – 870 regarding children’s spending and 626 regarding their influence on parental spending – with about 45 percent from girls and 55 percent from boys. All were completed by mothers who in 99.2 percent of the cases had one child.

The two questionnaires were first constructed in English and then translated into Chinese, tested, modified, and tested again. The spending questionnaire consisted of eight check-off and closed-ended questions regarding each child’s income, saving, and spending. The questions attempted to determine the amount and sources of income of the children, the amount saved, the amount spent, the places where it was spent, and the objects purchased. The influence questionnaire was similar in style and asked for the percentage estimate of children’s influence on parents purchases of 25 product categories. Data were also requested in each questionnaire about the child’s age and gender, and the actual members of each household. Two professors at a major Chinese university who regularly conduct studies among China’s families selected the five schools so as to be as representative as possible of urban Chinese families. They also arranged with school officials and teachers to conduct the study among the children and their parents.

Analyses of the questionnaires were conducted by two researchers, one from Beijing and one from the USA. Data were examined primarily according to age as is typically done in consumer behavior studies of children. Children’s income, saving, and spending were compared for equality between age groups (4-12) using the analysis of variance method. The least significant difference (LSD) method was used for pair comparisons among the nine age groups. The findings also were examined for effect of gender using the Kruskal-Wallis rank test because some writings about China’s children suggest that this variable might have some influence on consumer behavior patterns (Li, 1989; Yau, 1988). Level of significance for all statistical tests was specified at 0.05.

Findings

Income

As the study results reveal in Table I, Chinese children have money to spend beginning at age 4, and their income continues and increases throughout their elementary school years. Their income consists of two equally important types. One is money that is given frequently to children for spending that we term regular income. There are three main sources of regular income. The primary source, accounting for 40 percent, consists of frequent small gifts of money from parents. This money is usually given to children of all ages on an as-needed basis and the amount tends to be related somewhat to the number of requests made by the children, according to unsolicited reports of some of the parents. An allowance – what may be described as periodic distribution of money to children with usually no specific conditions attached – constitutes the second most important source of regular income and averages 32 percent. Children of all ages may receive an allowance, but it is more likely to be given to children age 8 and above. Money gifts from others, mainly grandparents who live in the children’s households, make up 22 percent of their regular income Finally, 3 percent of regular income, mainly for 11- and 12-year-olds, results from work in the home – usually cleaning and repairing – and a similar amount (3 percent), again mainly for older children, results from work outside the home, such as selling food goods in the streets.

Chinese children also receive what we chose to call special income that is given to the children by parents and grandparents during special occasions; namely, Chinese New Year, Children’s Day, Moon Festival, and on birthdays. Money, called hongbau, that is given during the two weeks of celebrating the Chinese New Year, is by far the largest money gift, and 60 percent of mothers indicated in the questions about savings that it particularly was expected to be saved.

Table I reveals that the average weekly income – including regular and special income – increases significantly with age of children and ranges from 3.2 yuan for 4-year-olds to 21.1 yuan for 12-year-olds. (At the time of this study a yuan officially was equivalent to about 16 cents US.) Because special income is derived from grandparents – often four of them – as well as parents, this type of income is substantial and almost always exceeds the children’s regular income that is primarily given by parents. For example, around 70 percent of income of 4-year-olds consists of special income; for 12-year-olds it is roughly 50 percent. Table I somewhat disguises the large lumps of special income by averaging all income on a weekly basis.

While all children receive some special income, not all have regular income. Only 21 percent of 4-year-olds, 28 percent of 5s, 34 percent of 6s, 49 percent of 7s, and 77 percent of 8s have some regular income, while all the children age nine and beyond have some regular income.

The mean regular income of boys and girls does not differ significantly, but the mean income from special gifts is significantly higher for girls at all ages. We expected the opposite because of the emphasis given the male child as future head of the household. What may help explain some of the difference is that grandparents are the biggest givers of special gifts to girls while parents tend to give special gifts to boys and girls about equally.

Savings

Children in the study average saving about 60 percent of their income, according to Table I, with rates varying significantly from 51 percent for 12-year-olds to 75 percent for 4-year-olds. As noted, special income which constitutes a majority of children’s income, is expected to be saved and thus drives up the saving rate of the children. When special income is subtracted out and only regular income is considered, children save about 30 percent of their income. Around 15 percent of parents reported that their children, usually 12-year-olds, spend some of their special income. Most of the children’s savings are kept in commercial depositories with only small amounts kept at home. There are no significant differences in average weekly savings rates between boys and girls in the nine age groups.

Spending

The children in this study average spending around 40 percent of their total income, most of it regular income. Table I shows that there is very little spending among 4- and 5-year-olds, typically around one yuan per week. Once the children reach age 8, however, they spend at least five yuan per week, and that doubles by age 12. Thus, just as income increases age-step, so does spending. Eleven- and 12-year-old boys spend significantly more than girls, mainly by taking a small amount out of savings. In fact, based on some added remarks by respondents, it appears that boys are permitted to tap savings more than girls without incurring disapproval from parents.

Parents were asked to what extent their children go to the marketplace with them, as well as on their own, in order to make purchases. (The term “marketplace” is used here to embrace stores and street vendors.) Table II shows a summary of the parents’ responses. Most children of all ages make some independent purchases while shopping with their parents or grandparents. Approximately two-thirds of children aged 4, 5, and 6, 89 percent of 7-year-olds, and practically all children aged 8 and above make purchases with parents. About one-sixth of the responding mothers volunteered that their 11- and 12-year-olds usually do not go to the marketplace with them because they have to study for middle school entrance exams. The average number of shopping trips per week with parents during which children make purchases (column three of Table II) amounts to around two, with somewhat less being taken by the very young and the older children.

Shopping trips without parents are made by only 5 percent of the youngest children as shown in column five of Table II. More than a third of 6-year-olds and two-thirds of the 7-year-olds venture into the marketplace alone to buy things. From age 8 on, virtually all the children make some purchase visits independently. (It should be noted that retailers and residences are located together in urban China, as compared to the US where zoning often separates the two, and this arrangement facilitates shopping by the young children. Also, they typically walk to and from school which provides them with additional opportunities to shop.) Once children reach age 6, they average between one and two independent purchase trips a week; by age 9 it is between two and three, except for 12-year-olds whose shopping trips decline noticeably as they devote more time to school. Gender is not a significant influence on average number of store visits, with or without parents, although there is a tendency for girls to shop more frequently with parents.

The number of types of stores visited (columns four and seven of Table II) by the children in this study is typically one a week with parents and around two a week without parents, or an average of slightly less than three a week in total. Children, 9-11, may make purchase visits to three stores a week, while this number declines significantly for 12s. (In Table II street vendors are considered one type of store even though they sell a wide range of products.)

We asked parents what kinds of stores their children go to for their purchases. The data were translated into frequencies which were used to rank the store types and provide a measure of children’s store preferences. Food stores are the number one frequented store type by children ages 4-10, while book stores are number one with children age 10 and over. Toy stores rank second with the young set, while food stores are second in importance with the older children. Stationery stores, where children buy their school supplies, are popular for all school ages and rank third among all children. Street merchants, where children can most conveniently buy almost any product desired, rank fourth among all the children on the basis of patronage. Department stores are the last in rank, and even then, are frequented almost solely by the 10-and-over group. Store visit frequencies do not differ by gender although girls tend to patronize food stores and book stores slightly more than boys.

Parents also were asked to estimate how their children allocated their money to eight product categories: snacks (foods and beverages), books and magazines, school supplies, play items (including pay-to-play video games), clothing, sporting goods, recorded music, and electronic items. (This list was finalized in the testing of the questionnaire.) The average results for all children are as follows: snacks, 21 percent; books and magazines, 31 percent; school supplies 25 percent; play items, 8 percent; clothing,10 percent, music, 2 percent, sporting goods, 2 percent, and electronics,1 percent. Children, 4-8, allocate significantly more of their money to snacks and play items, while older children, those 9-12, allocate significantly more of their money to books, clothing, and electronics. There are no significant differences in the percentage of spending that boys and girls allocate among the eight categories.

Influence on parents’ and grandparents’ spending

As part of a questionnaire, parents were given a predetermined list of 25 items commonly purchased by Chinese households and asked to estimate to what extent, if any, their children decide the purchase of the items. Table III displays these items alphabetically and shows the mean percent of influence for each age, 4-12. A scan of the table reveals that children’s influence is very high; 75 percent or more for parental purchases of bakery items, candy, clothing, fruits, fruit juices, gum, ice-cream, imported candy, movies, nuts, shoes, stationery, toys, and video games, that is, products we might normally associate with children as major consumers. Their influence is relatively low for deli items, meats, seafood, and vegetables; that is those products for which we might expect the head of the household to be the chief decision maker. There was a statistically significant decline in purchase requests for five products as the children got older – bakery items, gum, ice cream, milk, and toys – and a statistically significant increase in requests for one product set – toothpaste/brush.

Table IV looks at the gender factor in children’s influence on parental purchases. Girls and boys have about equal influence on 21 items, but girls have significantly more influence on four categories – bakery items, fruit juices, ice cream, and toys.

Actually, the children often exert more influence on parental purchases than these figures show. A quarter of the parents voluntarily reported that they usually have their children’s likes in mind when they make most purchases. Therefore, the measures of children’s influence shown here are conservative since they do not include their passive influence on parents purchases.

We also asked the parents if their children requested things from their grandparents in the household, and if so, to check off these items on the list of 25 products provided in the questionnaire. Table V shows these results by age for products for which an average of 3 percent or more of the children made specific requests to grandparents. The information suggests that many of the Chinese children in this study do see grandparents as an additional source of products. Among their frequent requests, around 43 percent ask for books, 35 percent for toys, 28 percent for vegetables, and 23 percent request stationery – school supplies. Four- and 5-year-old children make significantly more requests for candy and significantly less requests for stationery, while children, ages 5 and 6, make significantly more requests for soft drinks.

Gender was also considered in requests to grandparents as shown in Table VI. Boys ask significantly more than girls for books, toys, and video games while girls sought more clothing. Again, like the influence on parents, this measure of influence on grandparents does not include passive influence.

Summary and discussion

This initial study of urban Chinese children’s consumer behavior suggests that the consumer role is an important element in urban family life in spite of China’s fundamental socialist structure. Children are typically assisted into the consumer role before they begin their schooling. They are given money to participate in the consumer role beginning as early as age 4, and concurrently they are taken to the marketplace as co-purchasers with their parents from which soon emerges independent purchasing behavior. During preschool years Chinese children learn to obtain products from the marketplace through requesting them from their parents who apparently are willing to cede substantial consumer decision-making power to the children as soon as the children seek it. Indeed, by the time the children in this study become acclimated to school, they also are practicing consumers who fulfill many of their wants and needs in the marketplace either on their own or through the direction of parents spending.

While Chinese children spend their money on a relatively wide range of items, it is surely their expenditures on school-related items that distinguish them from US children. US children spend practically none of their own money on school-related items (McNeal, 1992), but well over half of Chinese children’s spending is for this category (books and magazines, 31 percent, school supplies 25 percent). This interest in educational items is accented by the children’s strong influence on parental spending in this category. It appears that the paramount importance of an education is instilled very early in childhood by Chinese parents. Chinese parents see education as the only escape from the poverty they experienced as children (Baker, 1987; Li, 1989), but education is rationed in China, so doing well on entrance exams at each education level is absolutely necessary in order to get a seat in a good school. A supply of the best educational materials is considered a necessary but small price to pay for a bright future.

Chinese children’s overall index of influence on family spending on 25 items is around 68 percent (Table III), surpassing the approximately 40 percent for US children on similar items(McNeal, 1992), and warranting such often used descriptors as “spoiled brats” and “little emperors.” This high level of influence on family spending suggests that there is clearly a “filiarchy” in Chinese households that determines consumer behavior patterns at least as much as the patriarchy for which China is known.

It is important to note that young children in this study are given money to teach them the consumer behavior of saving as well as that of spending. To oversimplify somewhat, they are given money regularly to spend, and on special occasions such as New Year they are given substantial amounts that are expected to be saved. We must look beyond China’s historically socialist economy to its culture to understand the strong emphasis on saving money (Yau, 1988). The early saving of money in Chinese childhood contributes to the development of one’s prestige, or face, or what the Chinese would call mien tsu. Saving is also a way of learning to balance one’s life, of not giving in entirely to one’s impulses to splurge, or what Confucius termed “the mean.” So saving, like spending, satisfies several important needs. It permits planned spending, probably for relatively expensive items, and it enhances one’s dignity and one’s feelings of security and contentment.

Grandparents are a factor in Chinese families when considering the development of consumer behavior patterns among children. In this study grandparents who lived in the children’s households were providers of money to the children, with favor to girls more than boys. They also were expected to fill some requests of children for a number of products, particularly books, toys and foods.

When one steps back and looks generally at the overall patterns of consumer socialization of the urban Chinese children in this study, the similarities to Western children are more apparent than the differences. Chinese toddlers of both genders learn the basics of the exchange process from their parents through encouragement and practice, and by the time they are comfortably situated in elementary school, they also are routinely performing in the consumer role. They receive money from family members, they spend some on their own wants and needs and save some, and they make purchase requests to parents and grandparents for items that they cannot afford or whose purchase are the primary domain of family members.

Marketing implications and recommendations

In what is still primarily a socialist economy, and a relatively poor one, we might not expect there to be marketing implications from a study of China’s children that are worthy of discussion. But urban Chinese children begin practicing their consumer behavior as early as age 4 – as early as US children – and by the time they enter elementary school they are primary consumers for a relatively wide variety of products. With their own money they buy those products traditionally associated with children – snack items and play items – and therefore represent attractive market potential for such firms as PepsiCo and M&M Mars, both of whom already have a presence in China. Their allocation of over half of their spending to school-based products such as books, magazines, and stationery, presents an unusual opportunity for firms in these industries to sell directly to them and to form relationships with them early in life.

While the urban Chinese children in this study spend only around the equivalent of $1 per week, there are 56.5 million children ages 4-12 in China’s urban centers alone (compared to 35 million in the entire USA) who may spend this amount. Even though China’s government severely limits the number of children per family, roughly 28 million new children are born each year compared to 4 million in the USA, and their household income grows at a rate of 8 percent annually. Consequently, their concentrations in China’s major population centers permit international marketers to reach them in spite of what is still an antiquated logistical system.

This study also demonstrates that China’s urban children have great market potential as an influence market. In fact, their average influence on family purchases substantially exceeds that of US children and probably exceeds that of children anywhere in the world. International marketers who target families in China should take into account its children’s great influence on parents purchase decisions when designing their marketing strategies. Perhaps a substantial amount of marketing communications intended to influence household purchases might better be utilized if they were targeted to the children. It may be, in fact, that children have not yet assimilated their culture and may be more receptive than their parents to products of other countries. As an example, the children in the study reported here influenced the purchase of 95 percent or more of imported candies.

While acknowledging the robustness of the youth market in China, new marketers must be aware that China’s children emphasize savings at least as much as spending. Consequently, they have a relatively large amount of money in commercial savings that surely must have an attraction to the financial industries. It is noticeable that older children, those 11 and 12, do withdraw some of this money for spending. Therefore, it may be that marketers may view some of this substantial saving as deferred spending and that it would be responsive to marketing communications related to relatively expensive items such as athletic shoes and computers.

Limitations

Although this is probably the first study to reveal the nature and extent of the children’s market in China, its findings should be viewed with all the caution associated with any initial description of a market. Some of the apparent limitations are as follows:

- (1) While the sample was intended to be representative of urban China where the regional economies tend to be market driven and similar in appearance to Western economies, the households selected were from only two of China’s urban areas. Noticeably missing, for example, were households from the highly westernized southern region of Guanzho.

- (2) The sample focussed on children 12 and under and did not give consideration to adolescents. The study looked at consumer behavior of the youngest members of China’s households in order to derive a picture of consumer socialization in that country. However, youth marketers would logically be interested as well in the consumer behavior of teens who traditionally are heavier users of soft drinks, salty snacks, clothing and shoes.

- (3) Though the study purports to examine the consumer behavior of China’s it is limited to income, spending, and saving of children. It gives little consideration to other significant consumer behaviors such as planning and actual consumption. Also, it practically ignores the concept of brand, the foundation of Western marketing.

- (4) The study does give emphasis to Chinese children’s influence on the purchase behavior of their parents, but it generalizes the influence and does not detail its locus of occurrence. We know that much of US children’s influence is at the point of sale, but that kind of behavior was not captured by this study.

- (5) Finally, perhaps the severest limitation of this study of Chinese children’s consumer behavior patterns is the fact that all of the information was obtained from parents rather than the children. While this may be defensible on the basis of the difficulty of eliciting useful information from children because of their limited articulation, it is expected that the parents may report more socially desirable responses that have not yet been learned by children.

As China grows it becomes more and more attractive to consumer marketers. Not only is there a huge population, but they are largely virgins when it comes to the wonders of Western consumer goods and services. In reading about consumer opportunities in China, I can detect a certain trepidation. Businesses feel they should be advancing into this vast untapped market, but equally are concerned about the risks and confusion associated with a totally distinct culture and political system.

McNeal and Yeh look at one area of consumer marketing – that of consumption behavior by children. They observe that a growing body of work exists looking at US and European children’s behavior and influence, but that the Chinese market remains unresearched except for a few studies of questionable rigor and of limited value to marketers. In pointing out that around 28 million children are born in China each year, the authors reveal the sheer scale of the opportunity for those producing and marketing in this sector.

At the heart of the study – and the way in which China differs from Western nations – is the country’s “one child” policy. Much has been made of the distortions created by this policy especially in the imbalance between male and female children, implying the aborted births of children identified as girls. Alongside worries about the Draconian nature of the policy lies a concern with the attention given to children. McNeal and Yeh report on the “little emperor” syndrome where the single child becomes the focus of all the family’s attention. This “4-2-1″ set-up (four grandparents, two parents, one child), it is argued, affects the consumption patterns and social behavior in Chinese society.

This research shows the reality of the “little emperor” issue. Up to two-thirds of parents’ purchase decisions are influenced directly or indirectly by the child. The protection of the single child implies a tendancy to, in Western terms, spoil the child. Ultimately, such an imbalance in social relationships could prove a serious problem for China in the future, but this is not the purpose of the study.

The main intention of the study is to apply the sort of research techniques used in Western societies to the Chinese environment. The result is the first significant examination of the consumption behavior of China’s “little emperors.” Two aspects are examined: the purchases made by the children themselves; and the influence of the child on its parents’ purchasing decisions.

More saving means less spending

In Western nations, there is little expectation that children will save significant amounts of their income. We make half-hearted attempts to persuade children of the value of saving both economically and morally but, when all’s said and done, the child still spends the pocket money almost as fast as it is given. Even when larger sums are given as gifts, children in the West tend to make a significant purchase rather than save the money.

For Chinese children it is clear that a different attitude to saving exists. Not only are they encouraged to save by their parents, but they do take this advice both in the short term and the long term. This replicates the patterns seen in Japan and the so-called Asian Tiger economies where savings rates are massively higher than those seen in the US or Europe. This high rate of saving among children not only bodes well for China’s future economic well-being but affects the way in which consumer marketers approach marketing to Chinese children. High savings rates also indicate that calculations of child income exaggerate the size of the market by ignoring the third of income put away for later consumption.

Notable in this savings pattern is the treatment of larger sums given at special times of the year (e.g. Chinese New Year). These sums appear to be given with the clear expectation that the child will save the money rather than spend. We should contrast this with our expectations when we give money to children as a gift in the West. Here the expectation is that the child will make some purchase with the money, not that it will form the basis of savings.

Chinese kids buy pencils and paper

The second notable difference in consumption patterns between Chinese children and our experience in Western countries lies in the type of goods purchased. While soft drinks and snacks do feature in the purchases of Chinese children, there is a large proportion made up of items for school. We expect either the largess of the state or adults to provide stationery and other school items for our children, certainly in the age group up to 11 years. In China, it seems, the child makes many of these purchases out of its own money. This situation makes for a peculiar pattern of child spending – very different from the purchases of candy, soft drinks, comic books and toys that dominate the purchases of Western children.

A child-centered society

Finally, it is worth reiterating the point about children’s influence on family expenditure. We know that in the US and other Western nations, children influence purchases across a wide range – from breakfast cereals and other foods to household appliances and even automobiles. Yet in comparison with the Chinese situation, we are fairly unaffected by children’s influences. The focus on the single child evident from this research and much other commentary suggests that China is a very child-focussed society – something that consumer marketers need to bear in mind.

While we use the image of happy children in Western advertising, I suspect that consumer promotions need an even greater stress on the child’s interest, since a great deal of the family’s attention is on their sole child’s comfort and satisfaction. The evidence from this research is that consumer marketing centered on children could prove an extremely powerful approach in China – even for products where the child has not traditionally featured in Western advertising.

ANALISIS : 

Sementara kita menggunakan gambar anak-anak bahagia dalam iklan Barat, saya menduga bahwa promosi konsumen memerlukan stres lebih besar pada minat anak, karena banyak perhatian keluarga adalah pada kenyamanan anak tunggal mereka dan kepuasan. Bukti dari penelitian ini adalah bahwa konsumen pemasaran berpusat pada anak-anak bisa membuktikan pendekatan yang sangat kuat di Cina - bahkan untuk produk di mana anak belum tradisional ditampilkan dalam iklan Barat. 

SUMBER
http://blog.ub.ac.id/gusty/2012/09/26/tugas-jurnal-perilaku-konsumen-4/