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The penetration of credit cards is directly related to consumers’ affluence, says Ivy Cheung, a Hong Kong-based executive director for Synovate, a market-research firm. So as Chinese consumers’ spending power grows, so will the size of the card market, she predicts.

Source: China Internet Watch

With the news of growing affluence, it was also revealed by the Shukan Economist that the Chinese consumers' desire to spend disposable income on importing goods from e-commerce sites such as Taobao was particularly high.

The top Japanese products imported were:

“Uni” branded color ball-pen set for 3.1 yuan/US$.50 - smooth writing instrument. (lack of Chinese copycat products due to heavy investment for such a cheap product.

Meiji brand “Smile” - Top Japanese powdered milk product for 218 yuan/$32. ~ much more expensive than local products, but 2008 milk powder mass poisoning incident and the recent 'baby breast' reports have damaged China-owned brand.

Kao “Merry” / Unicharm “Moony” brands - best-selling Japanese diapers for 128 yuan/US$19. ~ Chinese parents believe that the diapers contain no harmful chemicals that cause allergies or rash, and the materials are top-notch, preventing spillage.

Anti-insect repellent stick-on patches for 20 yuan/US$3. ~ perhaps safer option to anti-bug spray cans which are often inhaled by children.

Tokai Tobacco Filter “bio-pipe” for 4 yuan/US$.60. ~ driven by a fresh market of 600 million Chinese smokers.

Lion brand “herbal cleansing action” shampoo - supposedly thickens hair during washing, as Chinese buying power increases, vanity product spending also rises.

Source: Forbes

No information was released for western products, but as you can see the potential is there to carve out plenty more e-commerce niches for western brands and products; we are already seeing this with western luxury brands in China.

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