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BIGresearch China Quarterly: Gas Price Woes Grow for 78% of Young Chinese Car Owners

Online Shopping Could Be Saving Grace

With the Chinese government changing their fuel subsidy, it is no surprise more Chinese Car Owners 18 to 34 years old are feeling the pinch from prices at the pump. Coupled with a fast growing auto market, the number of Chinese Car Owners feeling a major impact on their spending from gas prices has increased for the third quarter in a row, according to an analysis of BIGresearch's (http://www.bigresearch.com) most recent China Quarterly (4,321 participants).

How have fluctuating gas prices impacted your spending?

                              18-34 Chinese Car Owners
                                     Q3 2008
Delayed major purchase                33.9%
I will be driving less                52.9%
No major impact                       21.8%
  % Feeling major impact              78.2%

Source: BIGresearch, China Quarterly (Q3 2008), N=877

For complimentary data and charts: www.bigresearch.com/chinaq.htm

"Rising gas prices are likely to cause 18-34 Chinese Consumers to turn to the Internet for comparison shopping and product research," said Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch. "Given that China is already well on its way to becoming one of the largest online shopping markets in the world, global marketers would be smart to allocate more budget dollars to improving their online presence in China."

Case in point: 90% of 18-34 Chinese Consumers already head to the Internet to regularly or occasionally purchase products online, and 59.2% plan to do more online shopping in coming months than they did this time last year. The young Chinese are also likely to search online before making purchases in traditional brick and mortar stores, though the types of products researched vary by gender.

Over the last 90 days, which types of products did you research online
before buying them in person? - TOP FIVE

18-34 Chinese Males                    18-34 Chinese Females
Electronics (49.1%)                    Beauty Care & Cosmetics (58.0%)
Appliances (33.8%)                     Apparel (54.5%)
Apparel (33.1%)                        Electronics (36.6%)
Shoes (28.7%)                          Shoes (35.9%)
Sporting Goods (24.5%)                 Appliances (29.9%)

Source: BIGresearch, China Quarterly (Q3 2008) N=3,874

About BIGresearch

BIGresearch is a consumer intelligence firm providing analysis of behavior in areas of products and services, retail, financial services, automotive, and media. The China Quarterly monitors the purchasing behavior and media consumption of more than 4,000 Chinese consumers, focusing on consumers between the ages of 18-34 years old. The China Quarterly is available through BIGresearch in report or database format.

BIGresearch conducts the biggest surveys with sample sizes from 4,000 to 15,000 and employs unique computer intensive statistical methods to give the most accurate insights available with an average margin of error of +/- 1 percent. http://www.bigresearch.com