Why you should be paying attention to the empowered female drinker – China 2021

8th March 2021

Dale Breheny, Global Graduate Shanghai, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board

With rising education and financial independence, women in China are an increasingly empowered consumer group with diversifying tastes and lifestyles that are challenging gender norms. In 2017, almost two-thirds of the self-made female billionaires in the world were Chinese (Rapp, 2017). Today, female consumers account for three out of four purchases in China and 60 per cent consumption of the multibillion dollar food and drink industry (Meyer, 2021). In 2019, female consumers in China were estimated to have spent $700 billion on luxury items globally, including 40 per cent of luxury car sales in China. During the pandemic, online female shoppers peaked at 226 million in China, spending an average of 7 hours on e-commerce apps like Taobao and Pinduoduo at this time (Meyer, 2021).

Brands in the food and drink space are increasingly tailoring their products and marketing to attract this powerful consumer group. Recently dairy brand Jindian partnered up with Zhihu platform to release a video ad with the slogan ‘Women are the answer’. The ad celebrates the modern woman’s lifestyle choices, featuring women with different occupations, personalities and social roles (Mintel, 2021). Another example is local RTD (ready to drink) alcopop brand Rio with their ‘Small drink for one’ campaign. When they launched their ‘micro-indulgence’ series of small format canned RTD beverages, each flavour had a corresponding ad and theme: secret, investigation, fantasy, temptation, and eloquence (Sohu, 2019). The ads targeted millennial women who show preference for lower-ABV options, showing a young woman who lives alone in a busy city choosing to stay home and relax with a drink (Mintel, 2020).

Women in China were not traditionally large consumers of alcohol, but in recent times are increasingly interested across several categories including Western spirits, beer and wine. Between July 2019 and August 2020 alone, beer consumption increased by 27 percent amongst female consumers in China (Meyer, 2021). Younger generations in particular are an important consumer for Western spirits like whiskey and gin, with females in their twenties found to drink more Western spirits than their male counterparts (Mintel, 2018). Therefore, understanding this key consumer group is key to the success of foreign brands entering the market.

 

Understanding the female drinker in China:

• Behaviour

Female drinkers in China are less brand loyal (Mintel, 2020) and more open to trying new things. 43% of surveyed female consumers aged 25-29 have purchased new alcoholic drinks to try out new products, which is considerably higher than the average of 33% amongst all demographics (Mintel, 2019).

They are also very engaged with brands online and want to learn more about Western spirits. 40% of female consumers follow Western spirits related brand official accounts and KOLs (key opinion leaders) to learn more about them. Female consumers aged 18-24 are more likely to follow spirits related information compared to males of the same age group (Mintel, 2020).

Recommendation: Female drinkers in China are open-minded about trying new things and eager to learn about Western spirits online. Small formats and a strong online presence including e-commerce and localized marketing can help acquire new female drinkers for your brand.

 

• Usage Occasions

Although at-home consumption has grown during the pandemic, out-of-home consumption is still the most popular channel for women to enjoy Western spirits in China. Female drinkers in China are more likely (34%) to drink spirits when attending special events compared to males (27%). Additionally, 45% of females drink spirits at Western-style restaurants compared to 38% for males (Mintel, 2020).

Recommendation: Experiential consumption appeals to this consumer segment, making engaging off-line events an important marketing element. Pairing Western spirits with food and culture can attract female drinkers in China who want to engage in interesting experiences as part of their social life.

• Motivation

Being fashionable is closely associated with all types of Western spirits in China (Mintel, 2020). Affluent young consumers and women of all ages drink Western spirits because they fit into their lifestyle and image and help them to be perceived as trendy amongst their peers. With fashion brands having a strong influence in China, many food and drink brands have done cross-over collaborations with clothing houses in order to engage consumers. The cocktail and bar culture in Tier 1 cities is booming also, and female consumers will often visit trendy bars that have curated their menus and interiors to be picture-worthy in order to be shared online.

Recommendation: Leverage the fashionable perception of Western spirits by partaking in interesting cross-category collaborations and keeping visual appeal front of mind when designing events. Integrate online communications into offline events to engage female consumers who like to share their lives online.

 

 

References:

Meyer. (2021). The Most Important Consumer Group in the World: Chinese Females https://www.chinaskinny.com/blog/chinese-female-consumers/

Mintel. (2020). China - Western spirits.

Mintel. (2018). China - Western spirits.

Mintel (2019) Consumption Habits of Alcoholic Drinks – China, December 2019.

Mintel. (2020). Trend Observation: Alone but not Lonely. (https://reports.mintel.com/trends/#/observation/1034087?fromSearch=%3Ffilters.consumer-segment%3D2%26filters.region%3D7%26last_filter%3Dconsumer-segment

Mintel. (2021). Trend Observation: We are the Answer. https://reports.mintel.com/trends/#/observation/1065835?fromSearch=%3Ffilters.consumer-segment%3D2%26filters.region%3D7%26last_filter%3Dconsumer-segment

Rapp. (2017) https://jingdaily.com/hurun-china-produces-most-self-made-female-billionaires/

Sohu. (2019). 品牌RIO微醺：定位一个人的小酒时光 https://www.sohu.com/a/330842505_100070042

Xinpianchang. (2021). 伊利金典✖知乎《women就是答案》 https://www.xinpianchang.com/a11139593