Consumer confidence in China has dropped, month-over-month, about 4% to below 120 for the first time since last September. While the 118 range is still a strong positive number, the decline says something is making Chinese consumers pull back. One month does not make a trend, so it will be important to watch the next couple months before coming to a conclusion. In other sectors we have seen significant spikes or declines that have corrected themselves in the following period. It is important because consumer positivity is central to the new Chinese economy and to marketers’ success. Sources: Tradingeconomics.com; Nat’l Bureau of Statistics, China
Demographic and social forces are at play as past practices like China’s one-child policy and traditional thinking butt up against newer, more independent values in China’s still evolving modern culture. The remnants of the one-child policy and its over-valuing of male children have led to fewer marriage-age women in the population. This cultural change, as more women are educated and go abroad for education, has given women a sense of independence and power in the male-female dynamic that never existed before. As these women have become financially independent they are less dependent on men.