The report highlights the branding strengths of nine major Chinese cities, all making it into the top 100 global city brands. This includes Shanghai (54th), Beijing (58th), Shenzhen (73rd), Chongqing (74th), Macau (81st), Guangzhou (85th), Chengdu (89th), and Nanjing (93rd).

Key Findings from the Report:

1. Hong Kong’s Global Standing:
   • Hong Kong ranks exceptionally in “Familiarity” (9th globally) and as a “Global Important City” (10th).
   • Known as one of Asia’s largest financial centers, Hong Kong’s favorable tax system, straightforward listing procedures, and robust regulatory framework make it highly attractive to foreign investors.
   • With the easing of travel restrictions, Hong Kong is poised for a strong economic rebound this year.
2. Shanghai’s Financial Influence:
   • Ranking 14th in “Global City Influence,” Shanghai asserts its position as a globally impactful financial center.
   • The city leads China in “Future Growth Potential” (7th) and “Strong and Stable Economy” (18th).
3. Beijing’s Global and Cultural Impact:
   • Beijing scores high in “Global Importance” (13th) and “City Familiarity” (20th).
   • Renowned for its exquisite royal palaces and museums, Beijing is also China’s leader in rich history and heritage (31st globally), making it a popular tourist destination.
4. Shenzhen’s Business and Trade Value:
   • Shenzhen ranks as China’s most valuable city for business and trade (16th globally).
   • The city excels in “Ease of Employment” (4th), “Ease of Starting a Business and Innovation” (5th), “Access to Skilled Labor” (6th), and “Ease of Doing Business” (10th).
5. Chongqing’s Emerging Presence:
   • Known as China’s “Mountain City,” Chongqing, despite limited global familiarity (98th), outranks other Chinese cities in various domains among those who know it.
6. Macau’s Tourist Appeal:
   • Macau leads China in “Lifestyle” (32nd), “Entertainment” (35th), and “Openness and Warmth” (57th), maintaining its allure as a tourist destination.
7. Guangzhou’s Manufacturing Ambitions:
   • Poised to become one of China’s leading manufacturing hubs, Guangzhou consistently ranks in the top 20 for “Access to Skilled Labor” (15th), “Ease of Doing Business” (15th), “Personal Tax Benefits” (17th), and “Ease of Employment” (18th).
8. Chengdu’s Financial Sector Growth:
   • Envisioned as a national financial center in Western China, Chengdu is gaining a reputation in financial technology, rural finance, and consumer finance.
   • The city ranks second in China for “Future Growth Potential” (33rd) and “Investment Reputation” (52nd).
9. Nanjing’s Friendly Business Environment:
   • As one of the nation’s most business-friendly cities, Nanjing ranks second and third in China for “Corporate Tax Benefits” (10th) and “Ease of Employment” (13th) respectively.

The Brand Finance report showcases Chinese cities’ diverse strengths and growing global recognition, positioning them as key players on the world stage.

Hangzhou surpassed Beijing and Shanghai in terms of GDP per capita. Beijing was the most active city compared with Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou. Beijing has invested the most in fixed assets while Shenzhen is the fastest-growing one.

Beijing leads with an index of 127.78 in the ranking of urban consumption vitality in the five select cities. Shanghai (97.07) and Guangzhou (82.58) followed in the second and third places, according to the report from People’s Daily Media Opinion Monitoring Office.

The ranking was measured by a series of indexes including basic GDP per capita, disposable income, retail sales of consumer goods, logistics infrastructure, spending on cultural, healthy, intellectual, and environmentally friendly products, and consumers’ attitudes products, good or bad, etc.

GDP per capita in those five cities are all above 100 thousand yuan (US$14,914), higher than the average level nationwide. Hangzhou surpassed Beijing and Shanghai in terms of that.

The urban consumption vitality will further be released along with the development of the tertiary industry. Empowered by the emerging technology and well-developed tertiary industry, the intelligent production and service system will be able to fulfill customers’ unique needs for individualized and premium products and services. Digitalization and online shopping also promote consumption.

By comparison, Beijing invested the most in fixed assets, such as municipal infrastructure and preparation for sports events, while Shenzhen was the fastest-growing one.

China had a total of 751,000 new patent filings in H1 2018, 217,000 of which were granted, according to the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). Specifically, 171,000 granted invention patents are domestic patents, among which, 159,000 are service innovation-creation, accounting for 93.2% of granted domestic patents.

By the end of June 2018, Chinese mainland had altogether 1.475 million invention patent filings and the average number of invention patents reached 10.6 per 10,000 people.

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. took the first spot on the top 10 ranking with 1,775 granted invention patents, followed by Sinopec Group (1,569) and OPPO (1,520).

Beijing tops the list of top 10 Chinese regions securing the highest number of invention patents per 10,000 people in H1 2018.

SIPO has handled 23,000 PCT filings in H1 2018, among which, 21,600 from domestic, up by 7.6% year-on-year. There are 7 regions filed with over 500 PCT applications, combined accounting for over 80% of the national PCT filings.

Check out the forecast of China’s mobile internet market 2018-2020.

New energy vehicle is the hottest theme of this year’s Beijing Auto Show. Kantar TNS Auto expert summarizes major trends in this sector.

China is the world’s largest auto market. Its annual auto show, which is held in Shanghai and Beijing in turns, has become one of the most important events for the world’s auto industry. This year’s show is being held in Beijing’s China International Exhibition Centre, New Venue from April 25 till May 4.

Given that new energy vehicle is increasingly becoming mainstream in China, I noticed some major trends in this sector during my trip to the mega exhibition.

Many traditional automakers launched new plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) models for today’s China market. Apparently, PHEV has become the main route towards the next phase of the new energy revolution in China.

Ford, for example, launched its first new energy vehicle for the Chinese market: Plug-in hybrid version New Mondeo. Chinese car maker Geely also unveiled plug-in hybrid sedan Borui GE, which is due to hit the market within this year. Compared with previous hybrid cars using gasoline engines to recharge batteries or to power the electric drive motors, plug-in hybrid vehicle represents a step towards a pure electricity driven car era.

Compared with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, pure electric vehicles have made more noteworthy progress in designing. Previously, automakers have kept the external designs of new energy vehicles similar to gasoline versions – in some cases even exactly the same.

Now, pure electric vehicles, regardless from traditional car makers or disruptive newcomers, have more distinct exterior designs compared with fossil fuel-based vehicles.

The body design and interior styling of electric cars distinctively emphasize on simplicity, streamlining and futuristic design, as well as fully loaded technology features, such as intelligent user-interface, connectivity, and self-driving features. Car makers wish to impress car buyers to provide them with easier, simpler, smarter but at the same time more customized services.

BYTON, one of the high-profile disruptive car makers and founded by a team led by former BMW senior executives, unveiled its CONCEPT car and became one of the most attractive new launches during the show.

In fact, traditional car makers are also rolling out sexy concept cars, such as ICON from Geely:

Pure electric vehicles have become more personalized: automakers are not rolling out just one or two models, but various models designed for very specific car buyer segments. BAIC, for example, displayed its two-seat pure electric LITE in 12 colors for 12 zodiac signs. It will also roll out models with different driving ranges to cater for the needs of different buyers, such as single buyers, the family of two or family with a small child.

Many businesses in China are expanding outside of their “native” industry, automakers are no exception. I have seen many automakers promoting their vehicles’ connectivity with “smart home” devices, as showcasing the benefits of automobiles connected with Internet of Things.

Dongfeng Motor displayed their vehicles’ ability to turn on air conditioners and water heaters at home within a certain pre-set distance. Geely displayed apps that could be installed on their in-car operating system and control devices at home and other locations. The examples demonstrated these automakers’ vision as how a connected car-home ecosystem can enhance life quality.

Many companies also displayed their solutions to tackle the biggest bottleneck preventing electric cars from taking off in China: power charging.

BAIC displayed a model “battery station” solution which can swap a used battery pack for a fully charged one within 2’30”. This echoes the direction of start-up Chinese pure electric maker NIO is taking. According to this model, electric car buyers won’t be buying battery packs. Instead, they pay for the usage of these batteries or rent it. It is possible that people will be charged at “battery stations” based on how much power they’ve used or distance they’ve driven on the battery packs being taken down.

For the pure electric vehicle, the latest models now can be charged up to 80% within 30 to 40 minutes in quick charging mode and fully charged to 100% within 6 – 8 hours in slow charging mode. Both modes are considerably shorter, especially quick charging mode, which used to take 1 to 2 hours. At the same time, most newly launched pure electric vehicles will have at least 500 kilometers of driving range.

At every major auto show in China, we can see many cool and sexy concept cars. But after quite a few “PPT auto start-up” busts here, which refers to start-ups trying to win investment and early buyers with nothing other than a nice presentation deck, we need to be more cautious. Let’s take a step back and think twice before being carried away.

It is true that China has gone a long way in new energy vehicle development, with traditional and disruptive automakers launching new concepts, new ecosystems or new theories one after another. But we also need to check how many of these fancy models eventually hit the streets.

A newcomer announced a pure electric SUV for 300,000 yuan. Another one promises to start to sell a pure electric racing car at 600,000 yuan to 1 million yuan range this June. We have to be patient and scrutinize which ones of these big promises are in the end delivered.

It doesn’t matter whether this automaker is new or long-existing, what matters is if this company can produce safe and efficient new energy cars that brings value to Chinese consumers. They are the true “new energy” to bring Chinese auto market forward.

This post was originally published on Kantar.com.

Beijing’s online retail market began relatively early, and in recent years has experienced rapid growth, such that it is now the primary driver behind consumption in Beijing. In 2016, sales from wholesale and retail enterprises above reporting size exceeded 200 billion yuan (US$29.76 billion), with an average yearly growth rate of 48.9% over the last five years.

In that timeframe, online retail went from accounting for 4% of social consumer goods sales in 2011 to 18.6% in 2016. In the first half of 2017, online retail sales made up 24.4% of all social consumer goods sales, a further increase of 8.3 percentage points over the first half of 2016.

On August 1^st, Beijing’s Municipal Bureau of Statistics announced that, as part of the ongoing effort to ease the situation faced by the non-government functions of the city, Beijing would be introducing a series of policies to deepen business transitions, advance consumer regulation, and make structural improvements to consumption. 

From this year on, growth in Beijing’s consumption is to shift from relying solely on growth in consumption of goods towards relying on both goods and services, while shifting consumption patterns towards high-end goods and emergent services.

In the first half of 2017, total consumption in Beijing reached 1.12 trillion yuan (US$ 166.4 billion), an increase of 9.3%.  Of this figure, commercial consumption (total sales of retail goods) accounted for 525.7 billion yuan (US$78.2 billion), an increase of 5.6%, and consumption of services stood at 592.6 billion yuan (US$88.2 billion), an increase of 12.7%. Services thus contributed 70.7% of total consumer market growth, making it the primary moving force in increasing consumption.

Innovation in e-commerce alters consumption patterns

Beijing’s online and offline consumption are interfacing in an increasingly seamless fashion, driving innovation and altering consumption patterns, with e-commerce at the forefront of the changes. Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics has said that Beijing’s online retail market began relatively early, and in recent years has experienced rapid growth, promoting change in consumption patterns and becoming a major driving force in Beijing’s economy, and has gradually entered a more mature phase of stable growth.

Data shows that in 2016, sales in Beijing from wholesale and retail enterprises above reporting size exceeded 200 billion yuan (US$29.76 billion), with an average yearly growth rate of 48.9% over the last five years. In that timeframe, online retail went from accounting for 4% of social consumer goods sales in 2011 to 18.6% in 2016, six percentage points higher than the national average and ranking first in the nation.

In the first half of 2017, online retail and wholesale sales increased by 15.4% over the first half of 2016, to 94.9 billion yuan, growing at a rate 6 percentage points higher than last year, and making up 24.4% of all social consumer goods sales, a further increase of 8.3 percentage points over the first half of 2016.

As new business models emerge, food and hotel industries usher in new opportunities

With the entry of “Internet+” models into the market, the food and beverage industry is changing the way in which it delivers services; group buying, delivery, mobile kitchens, and similar new models are increasingly popular.

In 2016, food and hotel industries above reporting size earned 5.83 billion yuan (US$867.5 million) through online channels, 1.8 times what had been earned the year prior. In the first half of this year, online platforms for food services have contributed 45.5% to the expansion in this market.

Old brands come back to life through e-commerce

In addition, with the help of the internet, many older brands have been able to achieve a new life. In 2016, of 77 brands with revenues above reporting level, 14 have launched e-commerce businesses, selling products from foodstuffs and medicines through shoes and books and earning 470 million yuan (US$69.9 million) in revenue from online sources, an increase of 43.7% over 2015. In the first half of the year, another brand has joined those 14, and they have collectively earned 320 million yuan (US$ 47.6 million) through e-commerce.

The number of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWI) in China reached 1.34 million, an additional 130,000 compared to 2015 as of May 2016 according to Hurun Research.

The number of UHNWIs in China whose total assets worth exceed RMB 100 million reached 89,000, with an growth rate of 14.1%.

Guangdong province replaced Beijing as the top region with the most number of UHNWIs (240,000) with a growth rate of 17.65%. Beijing ranks second with 238,000 UHNWIs, followed by Shanghai (205,000) and Zhejiang province (160,000). The combined UHNWIs of this four regions reached 843,000, accounting for 63% of total.

China’s UHNWIs are mainly comprised of four groups: business owners (55%), gold collar (20%), real estate investors (15%), and professional stock traders (10%).

Continue to read China’s HNWIs outbound travel trends »

Alipay is the largest third-payment online payment platform in China. And, Alipay is not satisfied to be only an online payment solution and made great attempts expanding offline in 2015.

Nanjing Alipay Street

Alipay set up the first “Alipay Street” in Nanjing with all restaurants in that street accepting electronic payment through Alipay. Simply by scanning the code could customers finish payments which improves the payment efficiency and avoids the circulation of counterfeit money.

WenZhou Alipay Food Fair

After entering supermarkets, convenience stores, hospitals and taxi-calling industries, Alipay began to enter the food fair markets in 2015. Wenzhou, a city in Zhejiang province, had the first “Alipay Smart Food Fair” in September 2015 where the smart weighing scales could generate the QR code for customer payments.

Beijing Alipay Transportation Card Service

Alipay launched the self-serving machine that citizens could withdraw cash from their transportation cards to their Alipay accounts. Citizens just needs to insert the card in the machine and then scan the QR code. Citizens could also buy cards and top up balance on these machines. About one hundred these machines have been put into use in Beijing and Shanghai.

Shanghai Alipay Breakfast Car

Alipay launched “Alipay Breakfast Car” in Shanghai with QR codes. Customers could pay on Alipay when buying breakfast in the hush morning eliminating the need for getting the change. Shanghai currently has 600 breakfast cars and another 1,000 will be available later.

Lijiang Alipay City Service

Lijiang, a city in Yunnan province, was a famous travel destination city in China. Alipay cooperated with Lijiang government that the city would be fully connected with Alipay payment. At present, Lijiang traffic violations, tourist attractions and other functions could be enquired on Alipay and in the future travelers will be able to use Alipay to buy attractions tickets, tour guide, map guide, and book transportation tickets.

Hong Kong Alipay Offline Shops

Hong Kong had more than 5,000 retails stores covering all fields from beauty make-up, electronics, gold, and jewelry to clothing, department stores, food and so on supporting payment by ALipay. On the basis of payment in the scan code, Alipay promised to support exclusive discounts for customers for the arrival of the new year.

Guangdong Alipay City Service Province

21 cities of Guangdong province had fully connected Alipay urban services in 2015. Citizens could enquire vehicle violation query, buy attractions tickets, renew Hong Kong and Macao Entry Permits, and etc.

Beijing Alipay Parking Lot

Alipay has announced a strategic partnership with smart parking platform ETCP and 500 parking lots in Beijing with nearly 100,000 parking spaces connected with Alipay. After following the “ETCP stop” service to bind their license plates on Alipay, car owners could park cars easily. ETCP license plate recognition technology would automatically photograph and calculate the license plate parking time, and get deductions from Alipay.

This service would also be available in Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Foshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Xi’an, Nanjing, and Shenzhen.

Also read:China Offline Mobile Payment Insights in 2015

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached 67.6708 trillion yuan (US$10.2872 trillion) with an increase of 6.9% YoY in 2015. The growth rate hit a record low since 1990 according to National Bureau of Statistics.

Related: China GDP grew faster than expected in Q1 2017, Top China Provinces/Municipalities by GDP in 2016

Shanghai ranked top city in China in 2015 with GDP of 2.5 trillion yuan (US$0.38 trillion), followed by Beijing (US$0.35 trillion) and Guangzhou (US$0.28 trillion). Hangzhou reached over 1 trillion yuan becoming the tenth largest GDP city in China.

Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu province, ranked top 11th top GDP city in China in 2015 and it was expected to reach 1 trillion yuan (US$0.15 trillion) in 2016.

Jinan, the capital city of Shandong province,  ranked the 21st largest GDP city in China in 2015. Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Zhejiang provinces were the four strongest provinces in economy in China in 2015.

Also read: China Retail V.S. Online Shopping 2015

Top 10 provinces with the highest average online shopping spends on Taobao are Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Tianjin, Beijing and Liaoning according to Taobao based on data from October 2014 to September 2015. Provinces with the lowest average spends are Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet.

Regional economic level influenced the development level of the online shopping market. The top five provinces with the highest online consumption located in the southeast coastal provinces where citizens got a higher income level than the average.

E-commerce in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong has entered an advanced stage. These five regions received and delivered most online order packages in China.

Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai in total account for 15% national delivery packages on Double 11 shopping festival in 2015. Packages the three provinces received on Double 11 accounted for 25% of total and packages sent from these provinces accounted for half of total. High population concentration, a large volume of e-business companies (such as Alibaba in Hangzhou, Zhejiang) and low delivery fees led to busy logistic transportation here.

Well-developed transport and logistics system further stimulated online shopping. The purchasing power is relatively strong in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong provinces. Many were new demands stimulated by online shopping market.

Xinjiang and Sichuan ranked sixth and seventh respectively surpassing Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong and other provinces which mainly resulted from various good categories and low costs in online shopping. Traditional commerce in Xinjiang wasn’t as developed as other regions in China; thus online shopping became an essential channel to buy products unavailable or expensive locally.

Taobao data also showed that Shanghai, Guangdong, Beijing, Tianjin, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang ranked top for being the most diversified online shopping consumption regions. Regions with advanced economic level tends to be more diversified in online consumption. Tianjin, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu also ranked in the top.

Also read: China Retail V.S. Online Shopping 2015

Female online shoppers, which contributed to over half of the domestic consumption revenue, have always been seen as the great driving force of e-commerce in China. However, men sometimes had even more purchasing power over some products, such as clothes, digital products, sports equipment and so on.

Data of Nanfang Metropolis Daily and Gome showed that clothes of male online shopping consumption in Shanghai accounted for the highest proportion of total transaction value, followed by Nanjing and Suzhou.

Beijing ranked first of male online shopping spend of digital products, followed by Shenzhen and Guangzhou. On one hand, Beijing is crowded by many universities, and the large demand of campus students for 3C digital products led the category online consumption surged; on the other hand, Beijing has many young consumers who came from other cities or countries; and the younger generally liked to try new technology products.

Chongqing’s male sports equipment consumption was in the leading position, followed by Tianjin and Chengdu.

China Top 9 Cities by Male Consumption in H1 2015

	3C Digital Product	Apperal	Sports Equipment
1	Beijing	Shanghai	Chengdu
2	Shenzhen	Nanjing	Tianjin
3	Guangzhou	Suzhou	Chongqing

In terms of top romantic cities in China, Beijing ranked the top by consumption of adult products in H1 2015. Besides, Shanghai male ones would be the romantic ones since they bought the most flowers and chocolate online.

Also read: China Online Shopping Accounted for over 10% of Total Retail in Q1 2015

One week’s Chinese New Year 2015 holiday just ended on 24 February. During this period, over 60% purchased on mobile device. And, the most popular product category is mothercare according to Tmall.

Major home appliance sales value grew by over 265% during this period; Tmall Superstore jumped 42 times. Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing were the top 3 online shopping cities during Chinese New Year 2015.

Also read: 80% Willing to Travel During Chinese New Year Holidays 2015

The total number of fans of China e-commerce websites on Weibo reached 24 million by the end of July 2014, becoming a large online community for online retailers.

The post-80s are the primary group of the e-commerce sites fans on Weibo. 20% are from Guangdong province, followed by Beijing (11%), Zhejiang (9%), Shanghai (8%) and Jiangsu (6%).

Women of 26, 27 years old in Guangzhou represent the biggest fan group of China’s e-commerce websites..

China e-commerce total transactions reached RMB2.83 trillion (US$460 billion) in the second quarter this year, a QoQ growth rate of 7.1% and YoY growth rate of 19.9%.

Alibaba Ali Institute and Chinese Academy of Information Technology jointly started “E-Commerce Development Index” research in 2010. This year, Ali Institute studies 294 cities and released “China’s Top 100 Best E-Commerce Cities 2013” report.

1. Shenzhen
2. Guangzhou
3. Hangzhou
4. Beijing
5. Shanghai
6. Jinhua
7. Zhuhai
8. Xiamen
9. Suzhou
10. Nanjing

Among the top 100 e-commerce cities, 11 are from Zhejiang and Jiangsu province respectively, followed by Guangdong (10 cities) and Fujian province (9 cities).

796 million products are published on Taobao by over 8 million sellers by end 2013.

E-commerce is huge in China and online shopping has even become part of some China internet users’ life. According to data from Taobao, there were 5,758 Taobao users who spent over one million shopping on Taobao in 2013, 1,053 of which are from Guangdong province.

2013 was gone in a flash. Social share still enjoyed a strong momentum in the past year. JiaThis, the biggest social share tool in China, released its data-based Report of China Social Share Tools in 2013. Overall social sharing times reached 1.4 billion in 2013.

While login to social media accounts such as QQ and Sina Weibo, users also shared content on different platforms. One-click share accounted for 5.6% in all sharing methods.

According to sharing period statistics, the peak period in a day was from 13 to 16, accounted for about 24.8%.

Video websites drove most social visits by social sharing, accounted for 27.39%.

Hot sharing words included Haze, Tuhao and Bit coin in 2013.

The number of male users was significantly higher than female users, almost twice the number.

Top 5 regions of sharing were: Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Beijing. Guangdong remained on the first place, with a proportion of 16.28%.

Sina tech news released on December 18 2013, that Amazon Web Service (AWS) achieved strategic cooperation with cloud valley belonged to China Broadband Capital (CBC). AWS finally was ready to launch AWS in Chinese market.

It’s very likely that AWS and CBC would build data base in Ningxia province and locate operating center in Beijing. The specific cooperation between AWS and CBC was still unclear, but it might refer to Microsoft’s Windows Azure model.

On November 1 2012, Microsoft agreed with 21Vianet Group, a carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China to launch Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Services Office 365 and Windows Azure in China. Microsoft offered technology support, and 21Vianet Group operated these two cloud services in China. Microsoft successfully avoided telecom value-added services license issues.

Word had been spreading that AWS to enter Chinese market so many times. The most recent rumor was in the beginning of 2013, actually, Amazon did made several preparations for entering Chinese market. Amazon launched Chinese website by the end of 2012 and began recruiting Chinese staff. Seemingly, Amazon was about to enter Chinese market very soon, but then the cooperation negotiation was dominated by Amazon American company and it didn’t end well.

Amazon chose CBC this time probably because the latter’s success in helping Evernote enter Chinese market. AWS had developed over 10 years, in 2001, Amazon global began offering web technology support and operation for offline retailers which was the predecessor of AWS. In 2002, Amazon offered AWS paid services to third parties. Now, AWS was one of the fastest growing business of Amazon, Evercore Partners analysts predicted that Amazon’s market value would surpass USD 50 billion in 2015.

AWS was invincible in the U.S. market, but it faced fierce competition in Chinese market with Alibaba Cloud Computing, Baidu Cloud Storage, Sina Cloud and Ucloud. Ucloud CEO told media that AWS entering Chinese market would be a good thing for Chinese cloud services companies, because of its high-profile in cloud services could help developing Chinese market.

AWS still faced localized operation difficulties, Ucloud CEO said that if AWS want to win Chinese market, they need to focus on product development, technology support and sales. Kaifu Lee once told media in May 2013, that the era of global enterprises operating their businesses in China through its subsidiary coporations had failed, AWS could only had the chance to compete in Chinese market by authorizing its technology to a single Chinese company.

Recently, Beijing police cracked down six Chinese online PR companies, which colluded with agents and web workers to delete online content illegally for cash. More than ten suspects were involved and arrested for the crime of illegal business operation, bribing non-government workers and non-government workers accepting bribes. 19 suspects had been approved to arrest, involving over 10 million yuan (USD 1.63 million).

This case was another typical work of Chinese police cracking down organized online rumor fabrication, as well as the biggest online PR company arrested after Supreme People’s Procuratorate and Supreme People’s Court announced new judicial interpretation about online cases.

After investigation of IWOM CEO and corporate representative, IWOM offered public opinion monitor and positive brand image maintenaince services for more than 50 big companies since 2007, one of the most important business was to remove content for cash. IWOM annual revenue reached 70 million yuan (USD 11.44 million).

IWOM PR director said that once monitoring department of the company found negative information about its client, they would report it to the client and decide whether to remove it or not, then settle the price. If the client want to remove the information, IWOM would ask a web worker or agents to remove the content. The price was settled according to websites and difficulty of removing, ranging from hundreds to two or three thousand yuan. IWOM PR department spent 470,000 yuan (USD 76,788) in 9 months to pay agents and bribe websites editors.

Agents all had connections with websites editors who were authorized to remove content from websites. Dozens of websites editors were involved in IWOM crime network. One editor admitted that he was just making extra money by helping “friends”, he could earn 200 yuan (USD 33) for deleting one post. He made about 30,000 yuan (USD 4,901) for working with IWOM agent.

These online PR companies usually contacted agents and web workers/editors via QQ.

IWOM PR director confessed that she removed a video exposure of private villa belonged to a person in charge of a Qingdao company. It cost 1,500 yuan (USD 245) for deleting the video on a website, in total it added up to about 30,000 yuan (USD 4,901).

Another staff at IWOM confessed, in August 2013, a real estate company’s project in Qingdao was exposed online for misleading advertisement. IWOM contacted about 10 websites then, spending 12,000 yuan (USD 1,961) in total.

Mobile transaction occupied 20% of total on Double 11, and the transaction grew 560% compared to 2012. This was regarded as the omen of mobile shopping outbreak. Nearly half of post-90s used mobile phone to purchase on Double 11, 2013. It means that online shopping began to transfer from PC to mobile.

Taobao data showed that mobile transaction reached 5.35 billion yuan (USD 872 million), and mobile Taobao daily active accounts hit 127 million. The number of Taobao mobile transaction on Double 11 was 35.9 million, 21% of total transaction. At present, mobile Taobao users reached 320 million.

Different from PC-end online shopping, mobile shopping showed personalized, fragmented and information push features.

30% Middle and Western China Consumers Did Mobile Shopping

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province consumers are the main force for online shopping, however, data showed that consumers from middle and western China surpassed tier one cities in mobile shopping.

Tibetan mobile transaction occupied 29.1% of its total transaction, ranking the first in mobile shopping. Followed by Shaanxi and Jiangsu with 27.3%, Shanxi ranked fourth with 27.3%, and Zhejiang ranked the fifth with 27.2%.

Post 90s Love Mobile Shopping

Young people below 25 years old seem to prefer mobile shopping, especially young women. Data showed that 46% young female below 25 purchased via mobile on Double 11 2013, and male consumers below 25 who purchased via mobile occupied 37%. Mobile shopping had become the life-style of post 90s. If PC represents the post 80s, then mobile represents post 90s.

Mobile Shoppers Love to Purchase on Bed

During 4am-7am on November 11 2013, mobile-end transaction surpassed PC-end. Data showed that most people closed their computer at 4:40 am, while most mobile shoppers were still active. Mobile transaction during the period occupied 63%.

Mobile Taobao allows users to check product information and purchase without limit on location and time. Newly mothers loved to shop in the midnight, milk powder, diapers and other babies products sales went up in the midnight.

 Product Information Sharing

Mobile shopping is not only about shopping, it includes getting information and sharing it. Maybe consumers gain information about products through multiple channels, such as Sina Weibo, SNS, advertising, but the purchasing process is more and more centered on mobile. At the same time, the percentage of adding favorite product pages in PC and pay it on mobile is increasing.

Mobile Taobao is more suitable for users to share purchasing experience. One hour after the beginning of Double 11, millions of consumers shared their shopping information on mobile Taobao.

Hurun Research Institute last week released the GroupM Knowledge-Hurun Wealth Report 2013 that analyses China’s wealthy people broken down according to their regional distribution across China, as well as their investment, consumption preferences, and how they use the media.

This report will help marketers to better understand the lifestyle of China’s wealthy population and to communicate and engage with them more effectively.

The number of millionaires grew (defined as individuals with personal wealth of CNY 10 million, equivalent to US$1.6 million and GBP 1 million) by 3% in 2012 to 1.05 million, while the number of the super-rich (defined as individuals with personal wealth of CNY 100 million, equivalent to US$16 million and GBP 10 million) reached 64,500, up 2% from the previous year. The growth, the slowest one in five years, has decelerated for the second consecutive year.

As of the end of 2012, in all the 31 autonomous regions, cities and provinces excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the number of millionaires has increased by 30,000 from last year to 1.05 million, while the number of the super-rich has increased by 1,000 to 64,500 – an increase of 3% and 2% respectively. The growth, the slowest one in five years, has decelerated for the second consecutive year. At present, one out of every 1,300 people in China is a millionaire, and one out of every 20,000 people in China belongs to the super-rich class.

Beijing remains in the first place, followed by Guangdong and Shanghai. Tianjin saw the fastest growth rate in the country, while Zhejiang Province and Inner Mongolia dropped the most.

Beijing remains in the first place with an increase of 5,000 to 184,000 millionaires, and with an increase of 200 to 10,700 super rich. Guangdong ranks the second with 172,000 millionaires and 9,600 super rich. It is followed by Shanghai with 147,000 millionaires and 8,500 super rich. Tianjin rose to the tenth place, with 19,000 millionaires, up 11% from the previous year, as well as 1,400 super rich, up 12% from the previous year – the fastest increase in all the cities. Other fast-growing provinces include Shandong, Henan, Yunan, Guizhou, Qinghai and Tibet. About 60% of China’s wealthy population are located in the second and third tier cities such as Hangzhou, Ningbo and Foshan where the number of millionaires exceed 20,000. The research indicates that, although the number of China’s millionaires is growing generally, the number of some areas decreased slightly among which Zhejiang Province and Inner Mongolia dropped the most.

A quarter of millionaires say they are very confident about China’s economy in the coming two years, a decline of 3% from the previous year. The confidence level of the year before was 54%. 66% of the millionaires say they are fairly confident – a 2 percentage point increases from a year earlier, while 9% of millionaires say they are not confident – a 2 percentage point increase from a year earlier and this is the highest one in last three years.

The Hurun Millionaires’ Happiness Index has reached 7.8 out of 10. What millionaires want most of all is to have good health. A quarter are dissatisfied with their state of health.

73% of millionaires think they are happier than the previous generation; the happiness they get from their family is greater than that from their jobs; female millionaires’ happiness index has reached 8, slightly higher than that for men; the under 30s’ sense of happiness is notably lower than that of older people, particularly where their work is concerned.

Other interesting findings include:

• There are currently 8,100 Renminbi billionaires and 280 individuals with personal assets of 10 billion RMB in China.
• China’s millionaires fall into four categories: private business owners, stock market gurus, property speculators and high-salaried executives, in which the number of stock market guru dropped by 5% from the previous year, and the number of high-salaried executives grew by 5% from the previous year. The Chinese super-rich fall into three categories: private business owners, stock market gurus, and property speculators.
• Real estate remains the first choice when it comes to personal investment in spite of the macro-adjustment measures, accounting for 64% of all investments. However, a certain proportion of Chinese millionaires also start seeking new investment opportunities.
• The wealthy population spent 3% of their average wealth of 59 million RMB last year. A great 3% of their spending went to travel. Wealthy people are also more and more interested in seeking out unique travel experiences, and exotic destinations such as Africa or the polar areas are gaining popularity
• On average, millionaires and the super-rich are away on business trips for fewer days a month than last year, a slight reduction of half a day and 3 days respectively. On average, millionaires leave China 2.8 times a year, down from 3 times last year and the super-rich leave China 3.4 times a year, down from 4.2 times last year.
• Following the craze for studying abroad, there is now also an increasingly clear tendency to purchase overseas property. The U.S. is the top destination for overseas property purchase.
• About 80% of wealthy people now use WeChat than using microblogs (70%), most of whom use it primarily for interacting with their friends.

Shanghai-based Stenvall Skoeld & Company calculated the iOS penetration rate (Apple’s iPhone and iPad, not including iPod touch) in all Chinese provinces and municipalities; and, their estimate puts the total number of iPhones and iPads in China at end of 2011 at 21 million active devices, distributed as shown above.

More than half of all iOS devices are found in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and the Yangtze Delta Region. In Beijing and Shanghai there is one iOS device for every nine and eleven people, in the rest of China penetration is still very low.