Many brands miss opportunities in China by not understanding how to adapt their global DNA to a very different local culture.
China, is now forecast to become the world’s biggest economy, overtaking the US in 2028, according to a recent report in the BBC. Having said this, its commercial hub, Shanghai, has already become the preferred commercial hub for many Western businesses, with the city having the sixth largest concentration of billionaires.
Shanghai is unlike any other city in China. Its modern outlook with familiar brands from back home coupled with the surrounding of many affluent Chinese who speak proficient, if not, native English, can cause short-term travellers to have a false impression about how little Western brands need to adapt in order to be successful in the Middle Kingdom.
Shanghai does not represent the whole of China. However, if you have been booked for a business trip to China — in pre-Covid times of course — it would have most likely been to Shanghai, where many Western businesses have their China commercial headquarters.
Visitors, very quickly after arriving, will notice that in Shanghai there’s a Starbucks on every street: it’s a great example of how a global tier-one brand that has been hugely successful in China, continues to adapt to the needs of the local consumer.
Read here.