The Internet will soon likely become one of the more important
communication tools among marketers for brand building and advertising
activities across China.
Speaking at the China Brand Seminar in Shanghai, Iamasia chief operating
officer Louis Boswell said China was now experiencing a rapid emergence
of Internet brands, products and services.
These all directly stem from the fact that there are now a sizeable and
significant number of people surfing the Internet and using mobile
phones with the best technology the world has to offer to date.
These numbers are expected to continue growing into the foreseeable
future.
Although Chinese consumers are still perceived to lack the
sophistication of their counterparts in Europe or the United States,
they are taking to new technologies in a big way compared with the
West.
This is underlined by the fact that wireless application protocol
telephones - the latest in telecommunication technology - has been
adopted with such speed, especially in the more affluent coastal cities
such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, that it is one of the main
factors which is accelerating Internet development in the country.
Meanwhile, Chinese consumers mostly use the Internet at home for
emailing friends and family, and reading news articles including sports
and financial information, which is similar to trends in Western
countries.
Another similarity is the age group of the Internet early adopters and
how this group of people use the 'Net in their every day life.
Internet users in China are generally affluent and their ages range
between 20 and 35 years old.
It is also this group of people which are more likely to try to shop for
products and services through cyberspace, according to Mr Boswell.
