Through a Singaporean’s lens: Why China is a Market of Fantasy
How different is the idea of ‘convenience’ in China and back home?
Written by: Lim Ying Xuan (NUS Business School Y3)
Today, the Asian Giant stands second as the largest consumer market in the world, right after the United States. Home to the tech trinity BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent), and to a massive market with promising growth opportunities, foreign MNCs are moving aggressively in efforts to take a foothold in the Chinese Market.
Context. I’m a Singaporean on a NUS Overseas Colleges Programme (NOC) in Shanghai. While we have our student exchange at Fudan University, our primary focus is our internship in various companies here. NOC provides students with the opportunity to intern in 9 cities globally with a heavy focus on tech startups. While everyone may be in awe at the glitz and glamour of the City of Dreams New York, or the tech valley of the San Francisco Bay area, here is my attempt at showing you how opportunistic China is with 3 of its most attractive features.
1. Cashless Payments
Back in Singapore, the closest I got to cashless payments was when my friend used Apple pay to redeem our 1–1 free drink at Starbucks while I waited awkwardly with my Android. Before I came to Shanghai, I have noticed sparks of mobile payment initiatives across the country such as Liquid Pay, DBS Paylah and OCBC Paynow disrupting traditional forms of transactions in Singapore. Yet, the effects of adoption and use of mobile payment technology are still hardly felt back home because of the slow adoption rates.
On the other hand, cashless payment is a major part of life here. Since the explosion of smartphone usage in China, Fintech has revolutionised local consumer behaviour and payment processes despite increased awareness of cybersecurity. Most people in China do not even head out with wallets anymore. Alibaba and Tencent combined takes 92% of total market share in China’s mobile payments market. Their large presence has led to physical retail stores, taxi drivers and even potato sellers by the roadside accepting mobile payments in lieu of cash. Here, we can simply scan a QR code, pay and go, bringing the convenience of transactions to a whole new level.
Since the explosion of smartphone usage in China, Fintech has revolutionised local consumer behaviour and payment processes despite increased awareness of cybersecurity.
One amazing feature about cashless payments is also the instant and fuss-free transferal of money to friends. I’m sure many of you would understand the pain of paying for everyone first after supper at Swee Choon and having to chase people for payment after. Hearing excuses such as “I lost my token so I can’t bank transfer you” and “I don’t have exact change,” could possibly be the most cringe-worthy and frustrating thing ever. WeChat pay allows users to not only transfer money to one another but also allows users to ‘split bill’ — a function to split the total bill equally.
2. Convenience at your fingertips: Mobile APPs
I was just over at a friend’s house for dinner and I asked her how her day was. It came to my surprise when she declared, “I did everything I needed to do today all within a 5m radium of this couch.” Turns out, she managed to order lunch, shop for her CNY clothes and settle her groceries on her phone all while lazing at home.
In China, convenience comes in the form of Mobile APPs. For every need you have, there will almost always be an APP for it. Some APPs I couldn’t possibly live without after staying here for 5 months include Food delivery APPs like Ele.me, E-commerce APP Taobao, Bike sharing APPs like Mobike, and On demand car service APP DiDi Chuxing.
Literally everything you need comes at just a few clicks on your smartphone. Ordering takeout for lunch for example, is a very strong culture I noticed in the Chinese workplace. Many of my local colleagues love ordering in for lunch because of the wide variety of food available on Ele.me and how affordable it is compared to eating out. It also saves the hassle of battling the cold outside when we can have a hot bowl of 麻辣烫 in the warmth of the office pantry.
Literally everything you need comes at just a few clicks on your smartphone.
Taobao, as everyone knows is the epitome of e-commerce in China. Driven by a largely C-C (consumer to consumer) retail model, there are many vendors on the platform selling a wide variety of things. From large household furnitures, to clothes to snacks, you can basically find anything there. Moreover, logistic delivery services in China are extremely efficient. For every time I ordered on Taobao, the longest I had to wait for the parcel to arrive was only about a week. With how affordable and easy e-commerce is, no wonder we all fall prey to consumerism here in China.
One of the most attractive things about China is also the ease of transportation. The idea of a sharing economy boomed when bike sharing giants Mobike and ofo planted their distinctive yellow and orange bikes all around China. With a scan of a QR code, people now have the choice of an alternative mode of transportation. Made easier by allocated bike lanes and parking spaces, bike sharing is an essential part of lifestyle in China. I will always have my trusty Mobike to thank on the mornings I have to rush for work.
Convenience, made possible by technology is a major draw factor of China. Feels like my whole life can be settled on a digital screen, and that, is pretty amazing.
Convenience, made possible by technology is a major draw factor of China.
3. Hustling, Bustling city full of life and opportunities
Lastly, if you are looking to immerse yourself in the hustling startup culture, China — is the place to be. Facilitated by a strong presence of co-working spaces and accelerators here, there are events happening almost everyday.
From panel discussions about blockchain technology to sharing sessions by founders to free coding classes. These are great opportunities to learn about entrepreneurship and to network with passionate people in the space. Furthermore, there are many Hackathons that we can take part in as well that gives us the space to pick up new skills and push ourselves out of our comfort zones.
If you are afraid that everything will be in Chinese here, don’t worry. The expat community in Shanghai is surprisingly strong. Being here, I can feel an increasingly open and international mindset that people possess. At my workplace alone, I got to work with people from all over the world like England, Germany and New Zealand. How people managed to gather in a place that is seemingly ‘closed’ never fails to surprise me.
How people managed to gather in a place that is seemingly ‘closed’ never fails to surprise me.
All in all, I am just blown away by all that China has to offer, and I have only managed to cover 3 points. Keep a look out for this space for more content on life in China and about our internship experiences at our companies!
Till next time,
X.
Photo credits: SHEN Media team
Edit: SHEN Creative team
