INTERNATIONAL. Swiss research agency m1nd-set has published a report revealing changes in the travel trends and shopper behaviour among outbound Chinese travellers.
Drawing on traffic data from the agency’s analytics tool Business 1ntelligence Service (B1S), the report reveals outbound air traffic has grown by more than +9% in the past 12 months, with no sign of growth relenting.
According to B1S, key growth markets for the next few months will be Latin America and Africa, with more than +10% projected growth on the same period last year. However, these are the smallest markets with less than 1% of Chinese travellers visiting these regions.
Europe follows with +7% projected growth, followed by Asia with +4%. Asia remains the key market for outbound travel but this trend is set to change as an increasing number of Chinese tourists plan to travel further afield.
The report also says recent civil unrest in Hong Kong will impact travel to the territory from mainland China.
According to m1nd-set, Chinese travellers have a significantly higher conversion rate than other nationalities with 51% of travellers shopping in travel retail stores – more than double the global average.
The proportion of millennial shoppers among Chinese travellers has increased by +7% over the past three years from 51% to 58%, while the percentage of middle-aged shoppers has dropped from 47% to 40% over the same period.
While category preferences have not changed significantly over the past three years, the share of wallet and average spend on beauty products have both increased significantly. The share of wallet dedicated to the beauty category has increased from 42% in 2016 to 60% in 2019.
Chinese shoppers are also more brand and price sensitive. In 2016 the Emotional Brand Image Shopper segment – using m1nd-set’s customer segmentation modelling – represented 23% of all shoppers while today, this segment accounts for 28%.
This segment, according to m1nd-set, is defined by their affinity and desire for well-known brands, exclusive products and offers as well as special editions. They are high spenders who also seek international products with a local touch.
The Rational Pre-Planner segment comprises shoppers who buy their usual products to stock up or as a gift. They are price sensitive and do not seek novelties or exclusivity. This segment has seen a more moderate increase from 23% to 26% in the past three years.
“This fast-growing, fast-evolving nationality segment requires constant attention and ongoing analysis of the shopper behaviour to understand today’s reality and tomorrow’s potential,” said m1nd-set owner and CEO Peter Mohn.
“China is a country where only just over 10% of the population have passports. Despite this, it ranks as the world’s leading outbound travel market.”
