中國消費生力軍 Chinese consumers changing faces
A problem as old as humanity has been solved. We all need to know how we look with a full face of make-up; but we are too lazy to apply it. L’Oréal’s Makeup Genius app allows users to try different looks without getting messy. Among the most enthusiastic adopters of this breakthrough? The Chinese.
一個自人類誕生以來就有的問題解決了。我們都想知道我們上完妝的臉會是什麼樣子；但我們又懶得化妝。歐萊雅(L’Oréal)的一款應用——“千妝魔鏡”(Makeup Genius)讓用戶不必把臉畫得亂七八糟就可以嘗試不同妝容。哪些人最熱衷於使用這項突破性技術？中國人就是其中之一。
This is not the only area where the Chinese shopper is leading. In 2013, China’s ecommerce market overtook that of the US, according to a PwC and EIU report, and more than half of China’s internet shoppers are now mobile. Yet overall retail growth has been slowing, and even ecommerce bellwether, US-listed Alibaba, is showing the strain. This week the company cut its top line outlook for the coming quarter, saying that the total value of goods sold will only grow in the mid-single digits.
中國消費者領先的不僅僅是這個領域。根據普華永道(PwC)和經濟學人智庫(EIU)的一份報告，2013年，中國電商市場的規模超過了美國。目前，超過一半中國網購者使用移動端購物。然而，整體零售增長呈現放緩趨勢，即使是電商行業的領頭羊——在美國上市的阿里巴巴(Alibaba)——日子也不輕鬆。上週，該公司調低了即將結束的這個季度的業績預期，稱商品交易總額(GMV)將比最初的預期低5%左右。
It is tempting to interpret Alibaba’s caution as a sign of broader malaise. It could, however, be that e-consumers’ tastes are simply changing. Chinese millennials, those born since the 1980s, are particularly influential in this regard — and this influence will grow. Those aged 16 to 35 make up nearly a third of China’s population. They outnumber the same cohort in the US by five times. Although they command less aggregate spending power than their US peers, Goldman Sachs estimates that over the next decade the income of this group will grow by $3tn.
阿里巴巴的謹慎很容易被解讀爲一種更大範圍內出現問題的徵兆。然而，問題也可能只是網購者的口味在變化。上世紀80年代後出生的中國千禧一代在這方面格外有影響力——而且這種影響力還將繼續上升。中國16歲到35歲的人佔總人口的近三分之一，數量是美國同代人的5倍。儘管他們的總支出能力不如美國的同齡人，但高盛(Goldman Sachs)預測，下一個十年中國這一羣體的收入將增長3萬億美元。
They are not buying the same items as their parents. More young Chinese choose experience and lifestyle expenditure over tangible status goods; travel and entertainment, for instance, are increasingly popular. Expenditure on “fun” is still less than a tenth of total outlay, compared with around a sixth in the US and Japan. This suggests that companies such as US-listed online travel companies Ctrip and Qunar and mall developer Dalian Wanda — which emphasises entertainment in its shopping centres — stand to benefit. L’Oréal should, too: on a night out, virtual make-up is no substitute for the real thing.
他們和他們的父母買的東西不一樣。中國年輕人更愛把錢花在體驗和生活方式方面，而不是購買彰顯地位的有形產品；比如，旅遊和娛樂正變得越來越受歡迎。該人羣在“樂趣”方面的開支依然不到總開支的十分之一，而在美國和日本，這個比例約爲六分之一。這表明，在美國上市的在線旅遊公司攜程(Ctrip)、去哪兒(Qunar)以及在開發購物中心方面重視娛樂體驗的開發商大連萬達(Dalian Wanda)等公司，很可能會獲益於這股潮流。歐萊雅也應該會獲益：在外出的夜晚，虛擬化妝可沒法替代真正的化妝。
