Consumer Reaction to Global Economic Qownturn: Changes in Consumer Purchasing Behaviour in China

There are rumors (or facts?) that consumers have changed their consumer behavior during the recent global economic downturn. Reports by major consumer research groups have indicated that consumer behavior has been altered in many markets, such as United States, EU, Japan, South Korea, etc. However,...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Li, Kai
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2010
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24589/
_version_ 1848792814410792960
author Li, Kai
author_facet Li, Kai
author_sort Li, Kai
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description There are rumors (or facts?) that consumers have changed their consumer behavior during the recent global economic downturn. Reports by major consumer research groups have indicated that consumer behavior has been altered in many markets, such as United States, EU, Japan, South Korea, etc. However, there are currently no any researches about Chinese consumers‟ individual purchasing behavior during the global economic downturn have been undertaken. Therefore, this research is going to fill up the gap to investigate whether or if any, how Chinese consumer‟s individual purchasing behavior has been altered during the current global economic downturn. Due to the limited time length, this research will focus on the changes of individual consumers‟ purchasing behavior on food sector. In light of individual‟s food purchasing behavior, five indicators: purchasing frequency, brand loyalty, retail preference, type of product, and volume of product have been arranged as five research questions to lead the research. In attempting, a qualitative-based research is employed. Four focus-group interviews comprise of civil servants, middle class managers, rural-urban migrant workers, and also blue-collar workers and private entrepreneurs, was conducted in Changchun City, which located in Northeast of China. Results indicate that consumers in China are less likely to alter their individual food purchasing behavior during the current global economic downturn. However, the result might be bothered by three main reasons such as rising CPI in 2008, government‟ efforts-stimulus packages, and geographic issues. On the other hand, despite the insipid result, data shows some trends about Chinese consumer‟s food purchasing behavior: if their income were declining or prices of food increasing sharply, blue-collar and middle class workers are more likely to change their purchasing frequency and type of product; blue-collar workers are more likely to switch to other brands; purchasing channel is the least factor that China‟s consumer to change; rural-urban migrant workers and private entrepreneurs are the two groups of people with a relatively stable food purchasing behavior.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T18:50:23Z
format Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-24589
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T18:50:23Z
publishDate 2010
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-245892018-04-11T10:56:08Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24589/ Consumer Reaction to Global Economic Qownturn: Changes in Consumer Purchasing Behaviour in China Li, Kai There are rumors (or facts?) that consumers have changed their consumer behavior during the recent global economic downturn. Reports by major consumer research groups have indicated that consumer behavior has been altered in many markets, such as United States, EU, Japan, South Korea, etc. However, there are currently no any researches about Chinese consumers‟ individual purchasing behavior during the global economic downturn have been undertaken. Therefore, this research is going to fill up the gap to investigate whether or if any, how Chinese consumer‟s individual purchasing behavior has been altered during the current global economic downturn. Due to the limited time length, this research will focus on the changes of individual consumers‟ purchasing behavior on food sector. In light of individual‟s food purchasing behavior, five indicators: purchasing frequency, brand loyalty, retail preference, type of product, and volume of product have been arranged as five research questions to lead the research. In attempting, a qualitative-based research is employed. Four focus-group interviews comprise of civil servants, middle class managers, rural-urban migrant workers, and also blue-collar workers and private entrepreneurs, was conducted in Changchun City, which located in Northeast of China. Results indicate that consumers in China are less likely to alter their individual food purchasing behavior during the current global economic downturn. However, the result might be bothered by three main reasons such as rising CPI in 2008, government‟ efforts-stimulus packages, and geographic issues. On the other hand, despite the insipid result, data shows some trends about Chinese consumer‟s food purchasing behavior: if their income were declining or prices of food increasing sharply, blue-collar and middle class workers are more likely to change their purchasing frequency and type of product; blue-collar workers are more likely to switch to other brands; purchasing channel is the least factor that China‟s consumer to change; rural-urban migrant workers and private entrepreneurs are the two groups of people with a relatively stable food purchasing behavior. 2010 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24589/1/KaiLi.pdf Li, Kai (2010) Consumer Reaction to Global Economic Qownturn: Changes in Consumer Purchasing Behaviour in China. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] (Unpublished)
spellingShingle Li, Kai
Consumer Reaction to Global Economic Qownturn: Changes in Consumer Purchasing Behaviour in China
title Consumer Reaction to Global Economic Qownturn: Changes in Consumer Purchasing Behaviour in China
title_full Consumer Reaction to Global Economic Qownturn: Changes in Consumer Purchasing Behaviour in China
title_fullStr Consumer Reaction to Global Economic Qownturn: Changes in Consumer Purchasing Behaviour in China
title_full_unstemmed Consumer Reaction to Global Economic Qownturn: Changes in Consumer Purchasing Behaviour in China
title_short Consumer Reaction to Global Economic Qownturn: Changes in Consumer Purchasing Behaviour in China
title_sort consumer reaction to global economic qownturn: changes in consumer purchasing behaviour in china
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24589/