If you want to know what China used to be, there’s the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.
To understand the country today, I’d start with the supermarket.
That’s what I did while visiting my wife’s family in China over the summer. Why not see what’s actually for sale in the world’s fastest-growing consumer market? I kept an eye out for products by Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) and other international firms.
The chain-style stores are something like a Kroger or Wal-Mart (some of them are Wal-Marts), but with a lot more food items I can’t identify. I could spend a half-day on Wikipedia just figuring out the produce section.
The seafood area looked like a nature documentary I watched on Netflix last week — stingrays and stuff. Quite a bit of it was still alive.
In the candy and snack aisles I saw how American brands are adapting to Chinese tastes. Ever tried sour plum and melon flavor Lay’s?
In categories such as toothpaste, laundry detergent and disposable diapers, P&G and its global competitors are in an epic battle for the loyalty of Chinese consumers. China is P&G’s second-largest market worldwide.
The many familiar logos on the shelves were like a taste of home. They were common in China’s smaller, grittier convenience stores, too.
You always hear about the opportunities that await U.S. companies in China, with its population of 1.36 billion and rapidly growing middle class. But Chinese consumers are not that easy to impress with products developed for the U.S. market.
P&G and other global companies have succeeded by tailoring their marketing messages — and, often, their products — to local needs and wants.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll see when you go shopping in China. Click on the image above to get started.