A Time of Resilience: Greater China Consumer & Retail Practice
Following years of heady economic growth and rising consumer spending, recent macroeconomic pressures have sapped Chinese consumer sentiment.
Stock market sell-offs, declining property transactions, and mobility restrictions designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 clouded consumers’ outlook.
Consumer companies in China are consequently scrutinizing their strategies. Will the economy—and consumer sentiment—get worse? Or will they improve? If, and when, consumers bounce back, they will certainly have a lot of money to spend.
To help shed light on these critical questions, McKinsey recently conducted an extensive analysis of the state of play of the Chinese consumer. In this report, we highlight five trends that are shaping consumer behaviour.
The analysis draws on an extensive nationwide survey of over 6,700 Chinese consumers conducted in July 2022, a separate “Pulse” survey of consumer attitudes in China and several other markets, online transaction data for more than 1,000 product categories across most1 major Chinese eCommerce platforms, and economic modelling conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI).
