CHINAS WIRED

WOMEN AND THE

FUTURE OF GLOBAL
CONSUMPTION
EVELINA LYE, PADMINI PANDYA & SUE SU

Women are fast becoming one of the

largest economic forces in the world.
Its estimated that women control $20
trillion in annual consumer spending,
a figure that could climb to $28 trillion
by 2020.1
Within this group, there is a growing
percentage of highly influential,
digitally-empowered women shaping
trends for online behavior. We call
them Wired Women. And nowhere
are these women more digitally savvy
than in China, where a staggering 15
percent said they would rather give up
seeing their families for a month than
their mobile phones.2
The Chinese Wired Woman embodies
a growing female demographic who
is educated, financially independent,
successful, connected, opinionated,
and sociable. She is deeply digital,
and the new arbiter of cool and
influence. On the other hand, she
is also profoundly involved in the
management of familial matters and
turns to digital platforms for the benefit
of others as much as she does for
personal purposes.

Chinas Wired Women comprise

18 percent of the female Chinese
population: Thats about 115 million
women who are at the forefront of
digital adaptation, evolution, and trendsetting for the rest of China.3 Social
media has given them the ability to stay
connected with their friends, family, and
colleagues on a daily basis, all while
tapping into the collective intelligence
of the broader online population. The
countrys tech scene is hastily trying to
meet their voracious digital appetites,
and the size of the market means that
where Chinese Wired Women go, so
does Chinese innovation.

Wired Woman [adjectival noun]

Digitally confident, hyper-connected,
socially influential, and device-laden
ber online shopper.

Harvard Business Review. The Female Economy. https://hbr.org/2009/09/the-female-economy.

MSLGROUP. Women Online: The Social Wisdom of Wired Women Around the World. 2013.

Warc. How to Reach Digital Divas in China. 2013.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

WHO ARE CHINAS WIRED WOMEN?

WHO ARE CHINAS WIRED WOMEN?
DEMOGRAPHICS4
DEMOGRAPHICS4

25-34
25-34

Years old (majority)

Years old (majority)

57%
57%
Mothers
Mothers

73%
73%

Graduated
from
Graduated
university
from
university

EMPLOYMENT & INCOME

EMPLOYMENT & INCOME

87%
87%

Employed full-time
Employed full-time

19,635
Average
income
$
19,635
$

CONNECTED LIFESTYLE5
CONNECTED LIFESTYLE5

4.6
4.6

Connected devices
Connected devices

79%
79%

Turn to the
Internet
Turn to the
first
for
Internet
information
first for
information

imagine in real life

120,180
43%120,180
higher
RMB
RMB

than the average

43% higher
Chinese female
than the average
Chinese female

Warc. How to Reach Digital Divas in China. 2013.

MSLGROUP. Women Online: The Social Wisdom of Wired Women Around the World. 2013.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

What global, Wired Women

wouldglobal,
rather Wired
give upWomen
What
than
their
mobile
would rather give phones
up
than their mobile phones

73%
73%
55%
55%

wine for
a
month
wine
for
a month
coffee/tea
for
a month
coffee/tea
for a month

Online romance is
BIGGER
in Chinais
Online romance

to their
BIGGER in China
89% connect
colleagues on social
44
%
21
% 13% 12%
networksto their
89% connect
colleagues on social
China
Brazil
U.K. % 12
U.S. %
44% 21% 13
networks
connect to their
China Brazil U.K.
U.S.
46% children
on social
connect
to
their
46% networks
children on social
networks
taken on
45
%
82% have
a secret, online
taken on
45
% Wired
82% have
of Chinas
identity
a secret, online
are
able
to
express
Women
would
rather
of Chinas
Wired
themselves online in
94% identity
give
up
sex
for
one
able
to could
express
Women would rather
ways
they
not
themselves
online
in
month
than
their
94% are
imagine in real life
give up sex for one
ways they could not

Average income

BOND WITH THEIR MOBILE PHONES

BOND WITH THEIR MOBILE PHONES

mobile than
phones
month
their
mobile phones

According to research done by Microsoft, Chinese Wired Women are early

tech adopters and more comfortable
sharing information online than any
other nationality. Consequently, the
rest of the world will be playing digital
catch-up if it doesnt pay attention.
Savvy brands that understand Chinas
Wired Women are set to take advantage of one of the biggest opportunities.
For example, Alibaba (Chinas largest
e-commerce company) made sales
worth $9.3 billion in 24 hours on Singles Day, the worlds biggest online
discount shopping event, in 2014. To
put that into perspective, American
consumers spent a total of $2.9 billion
over Black Friday and Cyber Mondays
two-day online sales bonanzas (see
Figure 1) roughly what China spent
in eight hours. Jack Ma, Alibabas
Chairman, went on national television
the next day to personally thank
Chinese women for their patronage.
I havent looked at the data yet, but I
can guarantee that many women [made]
purchases for their children, husbands,
and dads and moms, he said.6

With so much spending power,

how can brands access Chinas
Wired Women?
The Chinese Wired Woman cares
about her family, the community, and
how the rest of the world sees her.

She wants to be beautiful; financially

successful and independent; and a
good daughter, wife, and mother. And
the Internet has become an important
perhaps the most important way for
her to achieve this.
Brands that want to find success with
Chinas Wired Women need to understand what it is this audience is looking
for. To start, weve identified three of its
key consumer behaviors: self-education,
demonstration, and management.

Self-Education
Chinas Wired Women want it all, and
that requires a lot of input, from goods
and services to the provision of advice.
The Internet has become the most
important channel for them to selfeducate. More than half (57 percent)
will compare products and prices
on social media before they buy (a
percentage that soars even higher for
highly involved categories), and 60
percent of Chinese women consult
online reviews at least once a month.8
For example, the biggest beauty Internet Word of Mouth (iWOM) platform
in China, kimiss.com, has 2.2 billion
views and 95 million users.9
The beauty industry and the Internet
seem to go hand-in-hand, and Chinese
Wired Women are especially review
hungry: 60 percent will consult a
beauty review each month.

6
Forbes. $9.3 Billion Sales Recorded In Alibabas 24-Hour Online Sale, Beating Target By 15%. http://www.forbes.com/
sites/hengshao/2014/11/11/9-3-billion-sales-recorded-in-alibabas-24-hour-online-sale-beating-target-by-15/.
7
The Guardian. Alibabas Singles Day Sale in China Breaks Online Records. http://www.theguardian.com/business/
2014/nov/11/alibaba-singles-day-sales-china-break-records.
8
MSLGROUP. Women Online: The Social Wisdom of Wired Women Around the World. 2013; McCann Truth Central.
Truth about Beauty. 2012.

Kimiss.com. Home page. http://www.kimiss.com.

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

FIGURE01

Singles day

The worlds biggest online discount

shopping event is (mostly) Chinese.
$9.34 bn

$5.75 bn
$4.16 bn
$3.49 bn

$2.65

$2.29
$1.51

$1.20

2013
Cyber Monday
Black Friday
Singles Day

2014

Furthermore, two-thirds of Chinese

Wired Women rely on online recommendations to purchase a beauty
product, compared to just 40 percent
in America.10

discuss experiences and results on

impartial social media and third-party
beauty sites, brands can earn more
credibility than they do with paid
celebrity endorsements.

That means that China is now the

largest online beauty market in the
world, with a record number of sales on
mobile devices. Mobile now accounts
for 49 percent of beauty brand term
searches on Baidu, and Este Lauder
reported that over 70 percent of its
online sales in China come from cities
with no brick-and-mortar distribution.

Indeed, brands that have been able

to engage with the real concerns of
Chinese Wired Women have found
great success. For example, the
effects of pollution on ones health
and skin is a real concern for Chinese
women. Dior recognized this and built
a campaign site that gave product
recommendations based on the pollution index. In just two months, the site
received 200million impressions and 4
million clicks.14

E-commerce and mobile-optimized sites,

therefore, are a must for brands wishing
to capture this enormous opportunity
and extend their reach to tier 3 and 4
cities across China.
But its more than just choosing what
to buy. Chinas Wired Women also use
the Internet to modify their behaviors.
Brands must therefore recognize Wired
Womens desire for knowledge and
help curate the conversation online. By
encouraging their customers to honestly

Similarly, Lancme created an extremely successful social forum for its

fragrance, Rosebeauty. With 4 million
users, the platform allows for self-education about the brands products
through a mix of conversation, virtual
testing, and professional advice. Both
Lancme and Dior prove that if you can
adapt and customize your information,
then Wired Women will follow.

McCann Truth Central. Truth about Beauty. 2012. http://truthcentral.mccann.com/portfolio/truth-about-beauty/.

10

MSLGROUP. Women Online: The Social Wisdom of Wired Women Around the World. 2013. http://mslgroup.com/
news/2013/20131112-wired-women.aspx.
11

McCann Truth Central. Truth about Beauty. 2012. http://truthcentral.mccann.com/portfolio/truth-about-beauty/.

12

Babytree. New Mom Generation Survey. 2014.

13

Advertiser Network (China). Dior Intensive Repair Cream. http://www.advertiser.cn/i/2578.html.

14

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

56%
consult health tips
through the Internet.11

63%
change their beauty
routines at least every
two months based on
information online.12

69%
of mothers take parenting
advice from parents and
experts online.13

Demonstration
Chinas Wired Women are keen to
portray idealized versions of themselves
online, so dont be surprised if you see
a woman in a coffee shop arrange herself and her food for the perfect picture
before eating. And that photos need
for retouching before being uploaded
probably explains the 100 million
users on the countrys most popular
photo editing app, Meitu-xiuxiu, and the
subsequent 600,000 retouched photos
shared online each day.15
This demonstrative, best self trend
extends far beyond selfies. Management consultants Bain & Co report
that female shoppers now make up
over half of all Chinese luxury buyers,
representing an enormous growth
from 1995 when 90 percent of luxury
buyers were male.16
The luxury e-commerce site, Vipshop,
reports that more than 80 percent of its
customers are female, accounting for
90 percent of sales. And 60 percent of
those purchases are made on mobile
devices (see Figure 2). Even the choice
of mobile is an important statement:
According to the newest results of
Hurun Reports Chinese Luxury
Consumer Survey, the gift of an iPhone
or iPad is now preferable to a Louis
Vuitton bag or Herms belt for wealthy
Chinese women.17
Recognizing this desire for self-demonstration, Burberry has brought its VIP
customization service to China through a
partnership with mobile platform, WeChat.

15
199IT. Meitu-xiuxiu official data: In late January 2013,
the mobile terminal Meitu-xiuxiu showed 5.6 million daily
active users. http://www.199it.com/archives/92739.html.
16
Bain & Co. Luxury Goods China Market Study. 2013.
http://www.bain.com/offices/middleeast/en_us/press/
press-releases/2013-luxury-market-study-release-bainmiddle-east.aspx.

Jing Daily. Apple ascends to top of gift list for Chinas

rich in austerity age. http://jingdaily.com/apple-ascendsto-top-of-gift-list-for-chinas-rich-in-austerity-age/.
17

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

Wired Women
are constantly
multitasking,
and brands can
make this easier
by offering
experiences and
tools that simplify
these womens lives.

FIGURE02
Luxury e-commerce site, Vipshop, reports that 80% of its customers are female,
a far cry from 1995 when 90% of the Chinese markets luxury buyers were male.
In addition, more than 60% of Vipshops purchases are made on mobile devices.

By allowing customers to watch

fashion shows in real time and buy
items through their mobile devices,
Burberry proves that integration can
fully engage and satisfy Wired Womens always-on needs.

Apps targeted to women, such as Meet

You or Dayima (which have over 100
million downloads between them), are
treading on a similar path. Originally
just cycle trackers, they now provide an
abundance of health information and
have become full biology trackers.19

Management

In addition, LMBang (which literally

means hot mom) started as a social
networking site for moms, but has
expanded into fashion, health, and
lifestyle tips to keep Wired Women
engaged past the baby conversations.20
O2O, on the other hand, lets them
browse beauty photos for makeup,
nails, and other services; read reviews;
and book appointments all within the
app. While that keeps them perfectly
coiffed, Shao Fan Fan connects them
to personal chefs who come to their
homes to cook for them no time in
the kitchen necessary.21

Chinese Wired Women may have it all,

but having it all often means doing it
all. Professional, wife, mother, elderly
caretaker, friend, unique individual a
Wired Woman has to maintain multiple
personalities both on- and offline. That
makes her smartphone her most
valuable asset, with apps and additional functionalities popping up to give
her access to the goods, services,
and information she needs most. Is it
any wonder that the productivity apps
flooding the Chinese market are also
some of the most prolific advertisers?18
Wired Women are constantly multitasking, and brands can make this easier
by offering experiences and tools that
simplify these womens lives. Apps,
such as WeChat, have recognized the
opportunity this provides. WeChat is far
more than just a messaging app, now
allowing users to video call, share files,
shop, find friends, split bills, and book
appointments from one digital location.
In some ways, WeChat has become
its own operating system, combining
Facebook, chat, Apple Pay, Twitter,
credit card payments, and more into
one app (see Figure 3).

As these examples show, the opportunity for brands goes beyond beckoning
Wired Women to buy, buy, buy! By
presenting these women with real value,
making their lives easier, and saving
them time, brands are reaping the
devotion and patronage of an everexpanding market.

FIGURE03

WeChat activities conducted

by WeChat users in China,
(% of respondents)
22

WeChat is far more than just a messaging app, now allowing users to
video call, share files, find friends,
and book appointments.
Voice messaging
84.5%
Text messaging
83.3%
Moment*
77%
Group messaging
61.7%
Shake-shake
51.2%
Search people nearby
48.7%
Games (free)
39.4%
Subscribe to official accounts
of brands/products/services
22.3%
Shopping
21.7%
Payment via WeChat
19%
Games (paid)
12.9%
Purchasing stickers
10.5%
*A photo-sharing feature.

TechNode. Productivity Apps among the Biggest Chinese Ad Spenders in Overseas Markets. http://technode.com/2014/07/17/q2-2014/.

18

Tech In Asia. Womb wars in China? Womens health app Meet You nets another US$30M in funding. https://www.techinasia.com/womb-wars-in-china-womens-health-calendarmeet-you-nets-another-us30m-in-funding/.
19

Tech In Asia. Mothers Id like to fund: Chinese social network for moms gets $20 million. https://www.techinasia.com/chinese-social-network-app-for-moms-gets-20-million-funding/.

20

SmartShanghai. [Tested]: The Personal Chef iPhone App. http://www.smartshanghai.com/articles/dining/tested-the-personal-chef-iphone-app.

21

eMarketer and China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). 2014 China Social Media Users Behavior Report. July 1, 2014.

22

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

Conclusion
Theres little doubt that Chinas
Wired Women are among the worlds
most important digital consumers.
And their numbers are growing: 115
million women accounting for online
spending in the region of $2.2 trillion.23
Wired Women are increasingly sophisticated and demand more than just a
tactical sale. Brands must tap into their
key desires, acting as conversation
curators, self-demonstration facilitators,
and time management enablers. And,
while Chinese women stand at the
forefront of these trends, they are far
from alone.

Warc. How to Reach Digital Divas in China. 2013.

23

INDUSTRY VOICES & GAME CHANGERS

Wired Women can be found all over

the world, with their desires further
shaping the way the Internet works.
While entering the Chinese market is
an intricate step in terms of management and supply, multinational and international brands alike can apply these
learnings from Chinas Wired Women
to their strategies in preparation for
the future.
Globally, the potential rewards are
huge, but to take advantage of this
enormous opportunity, brands must
understand Chinese Wired Women
first. Is your organization ready to
transform digitally in response to the
Chinese Wired Woman and others
to come?

Evelina Lye
Regional Marketing Lead,
SapientNitro Asia Pacific
elye@sapient.com
Evelina leads the marketing efforts for APAC and is at the
forefront of building the agency brand in China, Singapore,
Hong Kong, and Australia. Evelina has worked for some of
the best global agencies in Asia, UK, and Australia. Evelina
spoke at SXSW 2015 on the same subject of her piece.

Padmini Pandya
Strategic Business, Planning,
SapientNitro Asia Pacific
ppandya@sapient.com
As an industrial/organizational psychologist and founder
of two American startups, Padmini now oversees Corporate
Strategy for APAC, focusing on change management,
organizational design, integration, and expanding
SapientNitros footprint across Asia.

Sue Su
Manager, Marketing Strategy & Analysis,
SapientNitro China
sue.su@sapientnitro.com
Sue is a hybrid of brand planning and digital planning,
with strong passion and determination to break the boundary where story and technology meet in this digital era
(to make a difference in marketing and communication).

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