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Growth of China consumer market slows in 1st quarter

GROWTH of China's fast moving consumer market continued to decelerate in the first quarter of this year due to the slowdown of the economy and stiff market competition, a latest study shows.

Spending of China's consumer market increased 4.3 percent for the last 12 weeks ended March 20, lower from that of 6.1 percent over the same period a year ago, with lower tier cities leading with a 4.6 percent increase, consumer research firm Kantar Worldpanel said in its quarterly release yesterday.

Last year, total expenditure increase was 5.4 percent, down from that of 7.4 percent in 2013 as China was reshaping its economic structure. The study tracks 40,000 domestic households in 20 provinces and four municipalities over their purchasing behavior of more than 100 product categories.

In the first quarter, spending in key cities and provincial capitals added 4 percent, edging up 0.1 percentage points from the same period a year ago, and expenditure through channels like small supermarkets and convenience stores is expected to climb with more retailers opening new chain stores in lower tier cites.

International retailers continued to lose ground in the face of local competitors with their combined market share falling to 13.5 percent from 15.1 percent in a year ago.

Local players like Vanguard Group, Lianhua and Yonghui have actively expanded their footprint in first and second tier cities while overseas retailers have slowed their expansion.

Online retailers continued to attract new buyers, driven not only by e-commerce giants like Alibaba and JD.com, but by the e-commerce offerings of brick and mortar retailers like Suning, RT-Mart and Carrefour, with all major players eager to embrace the explosive online shopping sector.

Those attempts are likely to further accelerate the adoption of e-commerce channels by Chinese shoppers and make the competition in the sector tougher.




 

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