bored at work, she has a way out

The new target group: the older woman – the WTO-column

The internet as a marketing tool in China has been a limited success. Although about 120 million people are online now, getting money out of their pockets was pretty tough. First, because the payment tools were not there to transfer money. But even more important was that – apart from the first generation IT-nerds – internet users often did not have too much to spend.

The internet might have been concentrating in the more wealthy parts of the China; it did not bring together necessarily the consumers companies were looking for.

Most of them were under 25 years old, often poor students. Just an occasional look into the smoky internet cafes made clear that apart from the internet café only tobacco companies made some money out of those guys. There was always this silent believe that after some years to development those poor starters at the internet would have money to spend and would be willing to do so.

Very slowly that seems to be happening now. Slowly, in the eyes of marketing experts, a new target group is emerging: the urban women of over thirty years old. They are often online because they are bored to death at their day-jobs (yes, employers, you do read this correctly) or sitting at home. Unlike the slightly younger generation, they have more money at hand, the time to spend it and the need to spend it.

Just like their male counterparts they have two favorite online activities: chatting and gaming, but both in a very different way. The newly opened gaming site www.game.com.cn is exactly focusing at that target group and some of their games for women have been an instant success. Barbie-like puppets, with a waist those women had ten years ago, can be dressed up and changed according to your own mood.

The bloody shoot-to-kill games are also still out there in full force, but this second target group in increasingly winning momentum. Fashion, cosmetics, cars, life-insurances: for the first time the internet can become a tool to get to this increasingly affluent group of consumers.

Figures of the internet users in China are becoming more useful, especially those of the official CNNIC. The results of the commercial research organizations tend to be focused on a maximum of media effect combined with a bare minimum – or even less – of research. CNNIC for example noted that domestic search engine Baidu might be a market leader in terms of eyeballs, but that Google – the number two – is attracting the more interesting internet users: more wealthy and more educated. That is a useful bit of information.

Just like elsewhere in the world, the expectations of what the internet could do where running far ahead of what it did deliver. Now, after half a decade of reducing our expectations, delivery is catching up. Better pay attention to it.

Fons Tuinstra