Did social networking make Chinese users more emotional? Do the male and the female behave the same in social networking? A recent survey, conducted by Tencent’s Penguin Intelligence, shed some lights.

46% male users leave negative comments online compared to only 30% female according to data of Tencent.

74.2% people will leave negative comments online when it is related to livelihood issues such as real estate price and career. Corruption is also the content that easily gain people’s negative comments. Violence ranked the third with 51.3%.

Over 75% people leave negative comments due to their feeling disgusted about what happened. About 56% netizens have the patriotic mind that leads them to put negative comments on the internet.

With regard to commenting online, about half users think they are more rational. 35% people often follow the event development in social media while most China social media users (58%) only sometimes follow the event.

56.7% users think the maturity of overall China social media users needs to be improved. Over 40% people think there are too much bias comments. Also, 42.5% people think it is good to get public opinion through online comments.

Read more: The Psychology of online comments

For 18 out of the 22 categories, China sees the highest percentage of respondents who are willing to buy online compared with the remaining 59 countries and regions covered in a survey conducted by Nielsen.

It also found out that China sees the highest intent for both online-shopping and online-purchase for categories including clothing, cosmetics, personal care, toys and alcohol drinks.

By one account, China has more than 600 million Internet users and an annual E-commerce growth rate of 120% – making it the fastest growing, and soon to be the largest, E-commerce market in the world,

says Patrick Dodd, Managing Director of Nielsen China.

The deep penetration of smartphones and internet, combined with the comprehensive build-up of shipping logistics infrastructure, are quickly transforming the shopping habits and mindsets of Chinese consumers on E-commerce.

Related: Top 4 Trending in Chinese E-Commerce Market

Strong Intention for Online Purchase in China

More than half of Chinese respondents intend to make an online purchase within the next six months In 13 out of 22 different product categories surveyed by Nielsen. These categories are primarily durable and entertainment-related categories like clothing (74% vs. 64% in 2011), airline tickets (69% vs. 47% in 2011) and hardcopy books (64% vs. 50% in 2011).

Online purchase intention for categories like E-books (51% vs. 26% in 2011), computer software (38% vs. 11% in 2011), toys/dolls (54% vs. 21% in 2011), doubled or even tripled over the past three years.

Chinese online purchase intentions for baby supplies jumped 25 percentage points to 38% since 2011, and both cosmetic and food & beverage categories increased 14 percentage points  to 56% and 57% respectively, and alcoholic drinks rose to 34%.

Strong Growth for Online Sales in China Top-tier Cities

The top-tier cities are seeing stronger growth for online sales in China.

Online sales in food category grew by 37% during period from Nov 2013 to May 2014 compared with the same period in 2013. In contrast, offline channels achieved sales value of about RMB 60 billion (US$9.78 billion) while online sales was RMB 2.5 billion (US$410 million) by May 2014 in tier one cities.

Related: Top Shopping Keywords on Taobao in 2013

Online Buying Rates Exceed Browsing Rates

Chinese consumers are enthusiastic about both browsing and buying online. Electronics, mobile phones and sporting goods are examples of categories that Chinese consumers often purchase online, while many other consumers around the globe prefer to buy offline.

For more than half of the 22 categories surveyed by Nielsen, online buying rates among Chinese respondents well exceed browsing rates, especially in the categories like clothing (57% browse online vs. 74% buy online), airline tickets (48% browse online vs. 69% buy online), hardcopy books (45% browse online vs. 64% buy online) and even cosmetics (45% browse online vs. 56% buy online).

According to Nielsen, the category that sees the largest surplus of online browsing versus online purchasing is car, motorcycle and accessories. 30% of respondents said they would love to shop online, while only 24% plan to purchase online in the following six months.

Chinese Online Shoppers Spent Much Time Researching Products

Chinese online shoppers like to spend a considerable amount of time researching products before buying (72%), while 86% of online shoppers prefer  to read online reviews prior to purchase.

In a separate report by Nielsen on the online-shopping behaviors of Chinese consumers, social media (36%) is one of the Top 3 online information channels used by consumers to help make purchase decisions. Search engines (52%) and category specific websites (42%) were also within the Top 3.

Search engines, category specific websites, and social media are the top 3 channels to help Chinese consumers make purchase decisions according to a separate survey by Nielsen.

In order to increase digital engagement with Chinese online shoppers, retailers need to deliver on multiple shopper needs such as low price, wide selection, and high quality products. Moreover, consumers want to shop on easy-to-navigate websites that offer a number of unique products with plenty of images, accurate descriptions and a history of good e-reputation on social media. These points are a must for brands that hope to convert more Chinese online browsers in to online buyers.

Recommended by Nielsen.

Total transactions of China’s online shopping market, a combination of B2C and C2C markets, reached RMB6,28.76 billion (US$101.58 billion), 10.1% of total retail transactions in China, according to iResearch data.

Also read: Chinese Cross-border Online Shoppers Insights

There are often distinct differences for almost everything between China and the rest of Asia and Oceania and there’s no exception for luxury travel industry. Here are some insights Brand Karma study revealed.

Luxury travellers from China place higher value on helpfulness and efficiency of service while the other APAC travellers prioritise breakfasts and peacefulness in their travel reviews, according to research from Brand Karma.

The Chinese prefer to post on Ctrip and Weibo while the others use TripAdvisor and Facebook most.

Google+ has 100 million users in China, Twitter has 80 million, and YouTube has 60 million. LinkedIn has over 20 million users according to Business Insider. China does not have a strong Facebook presence and the luxury hotels participate in Weibo.

Top Hotel Review Sites

In 2013, 88% of all traveler reviews were posted on OTA sites. The category’s share of reviews peaked at 91% in Q1 2013.

China sees only 16.8% of luxury reviews posted on TripAdvisor compared with 48% in the rest of Asia Pacific. And Chinese booking and review websites such as Ctrip, Qunar, Dao Dao, and Dian Ping
continue to gain shares of luxury hotel reviews globally.

In China, Ctrip receives most positive reviews (71%) and Dao Dao with least positive reviews (19%).

Chinese travelers are increasingly posting reviews via their phones, and average review length (number of words) is declining.

The Guest Experience

Chinese families strongly appreciate when hotels offer a luxury experience that includes great childcare. Being friendly and staying up-to-date with all the hotel and surrounding location have to offer are important to delight guests.

As the largest population in the world, the Chinese are used to crowds, but they are disappointed when
hotels feel crowded, especially in swimming areas and at breakfast. Chinese guests are as connected as ever and expect to remain so while travelling. As such Internet access costs disappoint many luxury travellers who feel complimentary and fast Wi-Fi should be available.

In addition to business needs, they want to share their experiences and pictures with friends and family on Weibo.

Top Performing Luxury Hotels in China

• The Puli Hotel And Spa
• Golden Gulf Hotel Yantai
• Crowne Plaza Hotel Suzhou
• Sheraton Guangzhou Hotel
• Glenview ITC Plaza Chongqing
• Crowne Plaza Hotel Lijiang Ancient Town
• Le Meridien Chongqing Nan’an
• InterContinental Suzhou
• Intercontinental Tangshan
• Hyatt on the Bund, Shanghai

It’s important for marketers to understand the uniqueness of Chinese travelers, the preferred social networks and features of each.

One example is Wechat; it now offers payment solutions and we have seen airlines like Spring Airlines to utilize the feature to provide convenience and high conversions.

Source: Brand Karma

China Tourism Academy estimates total revenue generated from China’s travel industry is going to reach RMB 3.3 trillion (USD 530 billion) this year with 3.76 billion person trips.