Guest Column

China's consumer market - the new Promised Land?

  • Published 14 May 2009

"The Chinese consumer sector currently looks attractive from the top-down sales figures," says Fortis Investments' Eugene So, "but you can only find the gems if you truly understand the evolution of the landscape"

China's nominal retail sales reached Rmb 10,000bn ($1,466bn, €1,088bn, £969bn) in 2008 with an annualised growth rate of 17.8% per year over the last five years. China will surpass Japan to become the second-largest retail market after the US, according to a new forecast from TNS Retail Forward. No one contests the long-term consumption story in China given the existence of structural growth drivers for the Chinese consumer: ongoing urbanisation, supportive government policy and a rapidly evolving consumer culture.

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