"一口气,从雅典横渡到北京/让每一个人都拥有世界级的竞技舞台。/中国网通,以先进的宽带技术,构建通达世界的通信网络,全力支持北京2008年奥运会。/中国网 宽天下"
(中国网通形象广告)

"In one breath, from Athens to Beijing/Let everyone have a global competition stage./China Unicom, thanks to an advanced broadband technology, creates a world communication network, and fully supports Beijing 2008 Olympics./China network broadens the Tianxia"
(China Unicom corporate advertisement)

"In un respiro, da Atene a Pechino/In modo che tutti possano stare su un palcoscenico mondiale./China Unicom, grazie ad un'avanzata tecnologia broadband, crea una rete di comunicazione globale e supporta le Olimpiadi di Pechino 2008./China Unicom amplia il Tianxia"
(pubblicità corporate di China Unicom)

2016-11-05

Understanding the Chinese Consumers - a Taster


This year, the second edition of the Leicester Business Festival took place from 24 October to 4 November.

I had the honour to be invited by Sarah Harrison, Leicester City Centre Director at the Leicester City Council, to  present a session entitled "Understanding the Chinese Consumers - a Taster", for the Hospitality and Tourism sector. Clare Hudson, from the University RED (Research and Enterprise Division) played a crucial role in facilitating our initial conversations.

The event sold out very quickly. In one of the meeting rooms located at the third floor of Highcross (the biggest Shopping Centre in Leicester), some of the major local business owners and members of the general public encountered their new customers: the Chinese students. 


The session began with an overview of why it is important to talk about this topic right here, right now. 


The city of Leicester is home to two prestigious universities: the University of Leicester and DeMontfort University. China is the  top sending country in terms of international students to the UK (according to the HESA). The University of Leicester (only) hosts 2,127 students, who are currently enrolled for the academic year 2016/2017. 

A simple stroll down to the city centre is sufficient to realise this growing presence, despite the Chinese students still constitute a sort of an "enigma" for the city. At the same time, as it appeared from the initial findings of some informal conversations with the Chinese students/consumers in Leicester, the city is still not communicating itself well enough. 

This lack of communication (and consequently knowledge) between the Chinese students and the businesses in the city explains why the event was so important and successful: now more than ever, Leicester-based shops and retailers are curious and eager to get to know better China (first and foremost) and the Chinese young generations. 


A feedback form was distributed among participants, with the objective of understanding more in-depth their needs and offering appropriate support and consultancy as part of our enterprise activities.

This Taster intends to be the first of a series of events, that aim at facilitating this process of communication, promotion and integration.


The event was supported by the University of Leicester and also by Chisra (China Studies Research Alliance).


Waiting for everybody to grab a seat!


 Introducing myself and getting started with the Taster


Who are the "new" Chinese consumers and what do they want?


With my PhD student, Dian (Wendy) Wang during the Q&A session

Our audience