Chinese consumers’ confidence continued to rise in 2016 according to Mastercard Index of Consumer Confidence. The outlook in China (80.8, +4.8) continues to increase due to improvement across all five components, with Stock Market (+9.1) contributing the most to the increase.

Hong Kong saw more than 10 point improvements while Taiwan saw more than 10 point decreases.

India tops the index as the most optimistic market in Asia Pacific, followed by Myanmar, Vietnam, Philippines and Bangladesh. Overall, consumer confidence in Asia Pacific continues to hold steady, showing stability (within +/- 5 points from the last survey) in nine out of 17 markets.

Mastercard Index of Consumer Confidence Data – H2 2016

Related: Social, mobile the key driving forces of Chinese post-90s

Chinese Consumer Confidence measured at 105 in Q1 2016, a decrease of two points from Q4 2015 but still the sixth most confident country in the world, according to the latest Nielsen survey.

Confidence in East China increased from 115 to 117, boosted by local consumers’ promising personal finance prospects. Consumers in East China are more optimistic regarding their personal finances, with 76% respondents saying they have good or very good expectations for their personal finances in the coming 12 months.

The stronger demands for high quality products have pushed forward the trend of consumption upgrading in China. China’s regions have developed at different speeds and consumer trends vary greatly among different groups and regions. Understanding the preferences and mindset of consumer groups is the key to successfully expanding a business in China, according to Yan Xuan, president of Nielsen Greater China.

Willingness to spend remains strong across cities, especially in lower tier cities, which drives sales growth. But in tier 1 cities, expectation of rising real estate prices drive down people’s willingness to spend.

In towns and rural China, with the rising disposable income, people’s willingness to spend keeps increasing, which ultimate boosted people’s intension to travel, although the number is still fewer compared to upper tier cities.

The results offer further evidence of a trend toward rising consumer spending power in the country’s less-developed rural areas.

Men’s willingness to spend hit 54 in the first quarter, higher than female consumers at 49. Men’s rising enthusiasm for spending is mainly derived from their promising expectations on employment prospects and personal financial situation.

Some 38% of the female respondents said they would stock up on goods taking advantage of sales, discounts or promotions. By contrast, only 32% of male respondents said they would do the same. Male consumers are also less likely to make impulsive purchases affected by the promotional activities, with 46% saying they only buy things they need. Only 39% of the women surveyed said they will do so.

The survey also found that male consumers tend to put more of their discretionary money into savings or family improvement while female consumers prefer new clothes and skin care and cosmetics, both online and offline.

There are other differences between men and women when it comes to online shopping behavior as well. Men prefer to buy electronic and gaming products (26.09%), while women spend more money on cosmetics and personal care products (26.96%). The survey also found that both male and female consumers spend the most discretionary spending money on clothing (70% vs 80.47), household goods (33.75% vs 36.88%) and food, beverage and health products (14.37% vs 12.91%).

Also read: Chinese Consumers More Selective on Spending Habits

Chinese consumers become more selective about where they spend their money, shifting from products to services, and from mass to premium segments; and they seeking a more balanced life, where health, family, and experiences take priority according to a recent McKinsey’s 2016 China consumer report.

55% of Chinese consumers were confident their incomes would increase significantly over the next 5 years, comparing with 32% of Americans and 30% of UK consumers 2011.

Chinese consumers are allocating more of their income to lifestyle services and experiences such as spas,
travel, and entertainment according to McKinsey. More than a quarter are planning to spend more on leisure and entertainment.

Chinese consumers are increasingly focusing their spending on trading up for premium products
over mass products; and, 50% seek the best and most expensive product.

Recommended reading:

• China Consumer Trends 2016
• China Digital Consumer View 2015

China has fallen from top place to fourth in Credit Suisse consumer confidence scorecard, with most barometers slipping closer to mid-range among emerging market countries.

Chinese middle-class earner with income in the range of RMB 5,500–9,000 showed the greatest change, with optimism declining 7%–16%.

China’s anti-corruption measures have had a significant impact on “grey income” and related expenditures, resulting in the declining optimism from personal finance improvement over the next six months according to Credit Suisse Emerging Consumer Survey 2015.

Implicit “hidden welfare” like expenditure coupons, holiday allowances and other subsidies has been largely removed, especially in the state-owned enterprises, which account for over 20% of retail sales

The expenditure on automobiles in 2014 was rising with 37% respondents having bought or owned automobiles according to Credit Suisse survey.

Also read: China Economy Statistics for 2014

The post-90s generation in China is the young generation who were born in 1990s, a time for Internet booming and rapid economy development. Post-90s are becoming the main consumer force and economy driver in China.

Post-90s’ expectation index on personal finance was 72 in the first half of 2014, which was higher than the country’s overall confidence. The willingness index to spend is increasing year by year, and it is higher than the whole country’s average.

Consumer confidence index of post-90s was going up continuously from 2012 to the first half of 2014, which indicates their consumption power in consumer market is rising. The reason can be growth of expectation on personal finance and willingness to spend.

Chinese consumer confidence remained at an historic high in the second quarter this year according to Nielsen’s latest China Consumer Confidence Survey report. And, both male and younger consumers (less than 30 years old) are more confident the same as in global scale. Chinese consumers’ willingness to spend also rose in Q2 2014.

More post-90s tend to love mobile shopping and use mobile payment. The percentage of group buying, tickets buying, hotel booking and taxi fare are obvious much higher than average Chinese people. You can find out Post-90s Chinese mobile internet user characteristics here.

Also read: Rise of the China Outbound Tourism

Chinese consumer confidence remained at an historic high in the second quarter this year according to Nielsen’s latest China Consumer Confidence Survey report. And, both male and younger consumers (less than 30 years old) are more confident the same as in global scale. Chinese consumers’ willingness to spend also rose in Q2 2014.

Offline FMCG retail sales growth slowed down in q2, despite rising willingness to spend:

Income and health have consistently ranked as the biggest concerns for Chinese consumers since 2010. Some categories related to health and life quality saw double-digit growth in offline sales:

Nielsen found that market dynamics are becoming increasing challenging due to diverse consumers, numerous new products, huge advertising investment and evolving retail landscape, but 217 winning brands achieved four times of market growth among 3,995 brands analyzed due to four key drivers:

1. Unlock target consumer demand
2. Innovation for business expansion
3. Investment in effective communication
4. Superior retail execution in expansion

Chinese young consumers, who are less than 30 y-o, are more confident; and, the brands they prefer have a story and can echo their personality. Post-90s are the main target group.

Find out more on about Chinese post-90s.

Nielsen also found that FMCG sales in the Chinese market rebounded back to 8% growth in Q1, two percentage points’ increase compared with the same period of last year. Nielsen’s survey indicates that for Chinese consumers across the country, personal digital appliance tops their shopping lists, and is closely followed by home appliances.

Lower tier cities and West China (in particular, mid-west China which includes Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Chongqing and Guangxi) consumer confidence is rising.

Health has become the top concern for all-tier city consumers in Q1, which is closely followed by their concern for income, according to Nielsen.

After Chinese confidence levels fell to 104 and 105 index points in Q2 and Q3, Chinese consumer confidence in Q4 returned to Q1 levels, ranked the sixth most optimistic country last quarter, according to Nielsen’s China Consumer Confidence Report.

China and the U.S. posted two of the strongest gains of 108 and 83 points respectively, while 60 percent of global markets measured posted confidence declines. Year-on-year, Chinese consumers spent more on out of home entertainment (+8), new technology purchases (+5), clothes (+5), dining out (+4) and vacations (+4) according to Nielsen.

At the end of last year, Chinese consumers topped global rankings for discretionary spend on out-of-home entertainment, technology spend and investing in the stock market and were the second biggest discretionary spenders on new clothes (after Russian consumers).

Rural consumers in China remained the most optimistic region with a four index point confidence gain 110 to 114, its highest level in the last three quarters and six points above the national average of 108. Consumer in rural areas enjoyed the highest confidence on employment (89%) and income (73%) prospects followed by consumers in lower tier cities.

Consumers in tier one were the most willing to spend (44%) compared to 33% a year ago, followed by consumers in tier two (43%).

Income, health and increasing food prices to be the top concerns for Chinese consumers nationwide. Differences in concerns prevailed across tier cities and rural areas. Income (72%) was the main concern for rural consumers, followed by health (32%) while in tiers 1 to 4 cities, consumers maintained similar concern levels for income and health.

According to Nielsen, total fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales for 2010 increased by 17 percent year-on-year, with non food FMCG sales accelerating at a faster pace than food sales. Other foods (mainly edible oil +24%), Personal Care (+23%) and Impulse Foods (19%) showed growth in 2011. FMCG sales increased 19 percent year on year in the latest quarter.

Consumer confidence also fell by one point last quarter in China from 105 to 104 according to third quarter global online consumer confidence findings from Nielsen, a leading global provider of insights and analytics into what consumers watch and buy.

According to the same Nielsen survey, Global online consumer confidence fell for the seventh consecutive quarter as confidence in 31 of 56 global markets measured declined. Top concerns of online consumers in Asia Pacific are economy, job security and work/life balance.

Asia Pacific continues to dominate the list of most optimistic countries with seven of the top 10 highest consumer confidence scores hailing from this region. India, despite a decline of five points, retains the top spot with an index of 121, followed by Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

On the contrary, Taiwan scored only 87 points, down by two points.