China Market Watch: Sales of Domestic Brands Excel, While China Box Office Performs Badly in Q2 2016

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China Expected to Become World’s Main Cruise Liner Market

China is already the second largest cruise liner market for Royal Caribbean International, and the company’s chief executive, Michael Bayley, has predicted that China will soon overtake the U.S. to become the world’s largest. In a bid to preempt this growing demand, Royal Caribbean International’s newest ship, Ovation of the Seas, has been stationed in China’s northern port city Tianjin. Weighing in at 168,666 tons and measuring 348 meters long, the new liner can accommodate up to 4,900 passengers and 1,500 crew, offering cruises to South Korea and Japan from RMB 700-1,300 per night. According to the cruise economy research institute of the Shanghai International Shipping Institute, China is expected to deliver 4.5 million passengers by 2020.

Chinese Everyday Product Brands Gain Ground Against Foreign Rivals

According to a joint report made by Bain & Co. and Kantar Worldpanel, domestic brands sales within China continued to excel compared to foreign counterparts. The report observed that domestic companies held a greater market share in 16 out of 26 categories of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs), with greatest advances made in toiletries such as skin care products, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and disposable baby diapers, whereas foreign brands excelled with products such as infant milk formula, fabric softeners, beer and instant noodles. Multinationals have been able to succeed by investing heavily in marketing, or by taking advantage of health and safety concerns of domestic products. Local brands focus on Chinese ­consumers and local needs, ­and are better able to make use of online sales and heavier investment in social and traditional media branding to boost sales. The 26 categories covered by the report account for around 80 percent of FMCG sales.

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China Box Office Sales Down for First Time in Five Years

China’s box office saw a quarterly sales decline for the first time in more than five years, with second quarter revenue falling by 4.6 percent, according to figures from EntGroup Inc. Ticket sales totaled US$1.51 billion, down from US$1.58 billion in the same period in 2015. However, this year’s first quarter witnessed huge sales of nearly US$1 billion, with domestic films such as The Mermaid, Monkey King 2 and From Vegas to Macao 3 all big sellers. In the second quarter of last year, Hollywood films such as Furious 7, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic Park performed well at the box office.

China’s Mobile Manufacturers Quickly Catching up with Big Names

Statistics published by Counterpoint Research show that sales of domestic Chinese telephone brands have overtaken those of multinationals.  China’s leading smartphone company, Huawei, held 17.3 percent of sales in May, with Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi in second, third and fourth place respectively. Apple, coming in at fifth place, held 10.8 percent market share. Three years ago, Samsung was the largest mobile vendor in China with 18.8 percent of market share.


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