Hasta La Creative!

When a local zoo in China’s central Henan province advertised its new star attraction — an African lion — kids came from far and wide last summer to see the real-life Lion King. On the first morning, as children surrounded the enclosure, the “lion” started barking. It turned out to be a Tibetan Mastiff.

From a young age, Chinese consumers are exposed to fakes. From phony lions, to rat meat being sold as beef and lamb, to bogus Apple stores that fooled even the floor staff, it’s with good reason that Chinese shoppers have trust issues.

Although the market is maturing rapidly, many shoppers are nonetheless making purchases such as appliances, cars and overseas holidays for the first time. Many of them lack the confidence of seasoned consumers. Coupled with the lack of trust, this means Chinese shoppers do significantly more research, across many more channels, than their counterparts in the West. Accenture research in 2012 found that more than 90% of Chinese consumers did research online before buying.

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