by China is undergoing a seismic shift from an export-oriented economy to one based on domestic consumption. But what do we know about the generation of domestic consumers who will drive that change forward? Young China – those born between 1990 and 1999 – saw economic growth accelerate rapidly during their formative years, and Chinese wealth per capita has quadrupled since 2000. They were also quite likely to have been their family’s only child, thus often receiving the lion’s share of their parents’ resources and attention. Though the one-child policy became official in 1980, the number of babies born each year began to decline in earnest in the 1990s. As a result, 90s babies are better educated than their predecessors – more than 85 percent of them have graduated high school, and nearly 40 percent have some form of higher education. Accustomed to relative prosperity, Chinese youth are more willing to spend money on leisure activities such as eating out, going to the movies, and traveling than previous generations. Finally, and like youth all over the planet, young China has grown up in the digital era, and some 60 percent of them spend more than three hours a day using the Internet on their smartphones.
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China is undergoing a seismic shift from an export-oriented economy to one based on domestic consumption. But what do we know about the generation of domestic consumers who will drive that change forward? Young China – those born between 1990 and 1999 – saw economic growth accelerate rapidly during their formative years, and Chinese wealth per capita has quadrupled since 2000. They were also quite likely to have been their family’s only child, thus often receiving the lion’s share of their parents’ resources and attention. Though the one-child policy became official in 1980, the number of babies born each year began to decline in earnest in the 1990s. As a result, 90s babies are better educated than their predecessors – more than 85 percent of them have graduated high school, and nearly 40 percent have some form of higher education. Accustomed to relative prosperity, Chinese youth are more willing to spend money on leisure activities such as eating out, going to the movies, and traveling than previous generations. Finally, and like youth all over the planet, young China has grown up in the digital era, and some 60 percent of them spend more than three hours a day using the Internet on their smartphones. The companies that will benefit as Young China’s spending power increases are those with top-notch e-commerce sites, strong digital brands, quality products, and those that specialize in providing the most compelling ways to spend disposable income, whether through food, apparel, or travel.