Hard Liquor Helps E-Commerce Titans Take China’s Consumer Pulse
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Predicting the changing tastes of China’s consumers is becoming easier thanks to the country’s e-commerce giants, who monitor sales that can exceed US$17 billion in a single day.
The country’s second-biggest web-based retail platform, JD.com Inc, already has dozens of new indexes tracking sales of products from liquor to appliances. Larger rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plans to publish its own spending gauges in coming months.
Their data is vital to large global companies like Starbucks Corp and Wal-Mart Stores Inc that are looking for insights into what’s hot among China’s billion-plus consumers. Online shopping indexes reflect millions of transactions daily, whereas traditional consumer surveys can only test a tiny sample.
“The ability to analyse and understand trends in online consumption has never been more important or more valuable,” said James Huang, big-data analytics director for the finance unit of Beijing-based JD.
Questions & Answers
Q.Which companies are leading the development of these consumer spending indexes in China?
Which companies are leading the development of these consumer spending indexes in China?
JD.com Inc, the country's second-biggest web-based retail platform, already has numerous indexes. Its larger rival, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, is also developing its own spending gauges for publication soon.
Q.How are these e-commerce indexes more effective than traditional consumer surveys?
How are these e-commerce indexes more effective than traditional consumer surveys?
These online shopping indexes reflect millions of transactions every day. In contrast, traditional consumer surveys can only gather data from a very small sample size, limiting their accuracy and scope.
Q.What kind of products are being tracked by JD.com's new indexes?
What kind of products are being tracked by JD.com's new indexes?
JD.com's new indexes track a wide range of products, including liquor and appliances. These indexes help predict changing consumer tastes across various categories for China's large consumer market.
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