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China Consumer Behavior Trend Watching

Living in China: Beijing ranked as most expensive city for expatriates

A recent survey by ECA International, a London-based human resources consultant, ranked Beijing as the 31st most expensive city for expatriates in the world, surpassing Hong Kong to become the most expensive city in China […]

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China Consumer Behavior Economics Trend Watching

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: Imported luxury cars to face possible consumption tax rise

Gas-guzzling imported luxury cars with heavy emissions are to face a possible car consumption tax rise in China, industry insiders predict. The Chinese State Council — China’s Cabinet — held an executive meeting earlier this year noting the significance of energy savings and made a special call on the country’s auto industry to cut back on gas consumption […]

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Consumer Behavior Design

“Help Me! A New Approach to Support Interactions”: Doug Bolin’s talk at IxDA | Interaction ‘08 Conference

In his talk at IxDA | Interaction ‘08 Conference, Doug Bolin briefly introduces a new conceptual framework for designing and delivering dynamic, personalized support interactions. Then a case study will concretely illustrate how the framework can be applied in an online setting […]

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China Consumer Behavior Economics Trend Watching

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: auto prices to fall in Q4/2008 on slowing demand

Auto prices in China were expected to fall in the fourth quarter led by slowing demand, the price monitoring center under the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a report on recently. Prices fell 2.09 percent in the first nine months due to excessive output and oversupply of new models in the second and third quarters, it said…

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Consumer Behavior Design Information Technology Innovation Trend Watching

Genevieve Bell’s lecture “The many futures of our digital lives”

We all live in a digital world, although it means different things to different people. In her inaugural public lecture as Adelaide’s Thinker in Residence, Intel’s Genevieve Bell will explore how digital technology is shaping our lives, our culture, and our future. Dr Genevieve Bell is an anthropologist and ethnographer with both an academic and industry background. Her research has provided considerable insight to the importance of culture in the adoption and adaptation of technology. She is currently the Director of User Experience in Intel Corporation’s Digital Home Group in the United States…

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China Consumer Behavior Economics Trend Watching

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: luxury buying power emerging trend

China’s emerging middle-class buyers were set to generate significant spending power in coming years as more people wanted to buy “affordable luxuries,” according to marketing advisers in Hong Kong. The trend would be seen in not only first-tier cities like Shanghai and Beijing, but also their satellite towns and second-tier cities, the advisers told a recent business forum […]

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China Consumer Behavior Information Technology Trend Watching

Internet in China: digital advertising spend to rocket

The Chinese love affair with the internet will see digital ad spend increase 40% to $5.2bn (£3.07bn) next year, making the booming Asian online economy roughly the same size as the current UK market, according to a report. The study by KPMG, to be unveiled today at the MediaGuardian Create in China conference in central London, estimates that the total ad spend on all media in the Chinese market will grow by 22% this year and 19.5% next year. By the end of next year, the Chinese ad market will be worth $37.85bn, a year-on-year increase of more than $6bn on 2007 […]

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China Consumer Behavior Trend Watching

Internet in China: over 80 million chinese access internet through mobile phone

There are 84.5 million users of mobile internet in China, which means 30 per cent of Chinese internet users surf the internet by mobile phone, said Yang Zemin, official from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently. Yang said the number of phone subscribers was 354 million by the end of August, 2008, decreased for the first time by 11 million. However, the number of subscriber of mobile phone was 616 million, up by 68.7 million from January to August this year […]

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Consumer Behavior Design Innovation

“People Can’t Tell You What They Want”, and nine other design research myths

Chris Rockwell’s (Lextant) IDSA conference presentation ‘People Can’t Tell You What They Want‘ on design research myths is available via SlideShare. Rockwell goes on challenging the now cliche notion that ‘people can’t tell you what they want’ (Myth #2), which has been used as a rallying cry for observational research over interviews and focus groups. In fact both interviews and observations are effective and have their place when done appropriately (and in most cases, co-exist) […]

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China Consumer Behavior Trend Watching

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: 168 million motor vehicles on China’s roads, up 5% year-on-year

China had 168.03 million motor vehicles through September, up 8.26 million, or 5.17 percent, from last year’s figure for the same period, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said on recently. The figures cover automobiles, motorcycles, tractors, trailers and other motor vehicles […]