Urban women in their late teens and early 20s look likely to become the most ambitious Chinese demographic segment over the next decade, according to recent ethnographic research, in what may be a key indicator of future consumer behavior.
The potential spending power of young, wealthy city-dwellers is well-documented. Eighty percent of wealthy Chinese are under age 45, according to a recent McKinsey report entitled The Coming of Age: China’s New Class of Wealthy Consumers. That’s compared with 30% in the US and 19% in Japan.
The economic crisis has shaken the assumptions of the Chinese middle class like anyone else. They are less likely to take risks, spend unnecessarily, or change jobs on a whim than they were a year ago. However, individual confidence – belief in oneself – remains remarkably high, especially among females.
Female consumers in their late teens and early 20s interviewed for the research have clear plans for their futures, which involve 1) early 20s: marriage, 2) mid-20s: having a child, and 3) late 20s: returning to work.
Rather than being a hindrance to a career, the young marriage age increases the opportunities for urban women, who expect to have their child (only one child) by their late 20s. The presence, normally, of four sets of grandparents mean that childcare is free and easy to find, so women don’t have to give up their careers, and most don’t want to. Unlike for previous generations, or for people living in rural areas, these women see work not only as a right they are not willing to give up, but also an escape from the pressures of home and family.
With these social/familial obligations taken care of at a relatively young age, but both men and women retain a sense of adventure and personal belief that might for people in the West or Japan peak in their 20s. This enthusiasm is often channeled into a career, the primary means of achieving money, status, friends and personal freedom.
More details of this and nine other consumer shifts are available in Five by Fifty’s China Shifts 2009 report. For a sample, contact us.
