Despite fierce competition between the United States and China, American companies such as Apple, Tesla, and Starbucks are popular in the Chinese market. Canada’s Lululemon, which is in conflict with China, is also doing well in the Chinese market. Despite political and diplomatic conflicts, top companies in each field are increasing their presence in the Chinese market based on the response of young people.
When Apple’s new smartphone, the iPhone 15, was launched in the Chinese market on the 22nd, Apple stores in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou were crowded with Chinese people trying to buy the iPhone 15. Taiwanese media such as TVBS cited data from China’s largest delivery platform ‘Meituan’ and said, “It was found that the iPhone 15 released in China on the 22nd (Meituan) sold 13 times more than the iPhone 14 released last year.” It was reported that Initially, at the end of last month, China’s Huawei released a new smartphone ‘Mate 60 Pro’ with 7 nanometer (nm, 100 millionth of a meter) technology, bypassing US technology sanctions, and there were concerns that the new iPhone would not be as popular in China as its predecessor. There were many views. First of all, this prediction appears to have been wrong.
The popularity of Apple iPhone in the Chinese market is absolute. Despite the high price compared to China’s national income, the preference among Chinese youth is very high. Coincidentally, since 2020, when the U.S. government began imposing sanctions on Huawei, Apple has maintained its first and second positions in the Chinese market with a market share of around 20%. Apple CEO Tim Cook attended the Boao Forum, also known as China’s Davos Forum, in late March and said, “Apple and China have a symbiotic relationship. ”
The Chinese authorities, who forcibly blocked American online platforms such as Google, YouTube, and Facebook from advancing into China, are limited to implicitly encouraging ‘patriotic consumption’ of American smartphones or banning the use of iPhones in some public institutions. This is because the country that manufactures the iPhone is China, so there is a conflict of interest with Apple. There is also an analysis that the iPhone, the world’s best product, is opening its doors to China in order to raise the level of Chinese manufacturing.
A representative example of adopting advanced American companies to raise China’s industrial level is Tesla, an American electric vehicle company.
Tesla’s position in the electric vehicle field, a strategic industry in China, is strong. As the number of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, which reached 500 in 2019, has been reduced to about 100 this year, the Chinese electric vehicle market is solidifying into a two-power system between Chinese company BYD and American Tesla . BWD, with its relatively low price, increased its market share in China to 36% as of March this year, and during the same period, Tesla ranked second with a market share of 11.2%. Although the gap in market share is large, Tesla’s sales in the Chinese market are also steadily increasing as the Chinese market itself grows. Last June, Tesla sold about 93,000 units in China, an 18.7% increase over the same period last year.
The relationship between Tesla and China is very deep. China, which was building an electric vehicle ecosystem, lifted the 50% foreign ownership limit in 2018 to use Tesla as a ‘model’ and attracted the Tesla factory to Shanghai by providing various preferential treatment, such as reducing corporate tax from 25% to 15%. . Since then, China has become a key market, accounting for a quarter (22.3%, last year) of Tesla’s total sales. Tesla also leapt to No. 1 in market capitalization among global automobile companies in July 2020 based on stable growth in China. China’s electric vehicle industry has also achieved remarkable growth in terms of design and manufacturing technology as well as parts supply chain since hosting the Shanghai Tesla factory. Last year, 59% of the world’s electric vehicles were produced and sold in China, making China the leading country in the electric vehicle field.
Starbucks, almost the only foreign coffee company doing well in the Chinese market, entered China and took root before the conflict between the US and China intensified.
China has a strong tea culture, making it difficult for coffee culture to take root, but Starbucks alone currently operates about 6,400 stores throughout China. The coffee company with more stores than Starbucks in China is Luckin Coffee, a Chinese company, with about 10,800 stores.
Starbucks, which entered China in 1999, succeeded in localization by creating a coffee culture in the barren Chinese market. Chinese media analyzes that people born in the 1980s and 1990s adopted Western coffee culture as part of the youth lifestyle through Starbucks. Starbucks not only sells coffee, but also sells Western culture to young people.
Currently, coffee culture has become quite established among메이저사이트 Chinese youth. Guizhou Moutai, China’s largest liquor company, joined forces with coffee company Luckin Coffee to launch the ‘Moutai Latte’ to appeal to the younger generation for its premium white liquor, Moutai.
Canadian sportswear company Lululemon is growing rapidly in China, with Chinese sales in the first quarter of this year increasing 79% compared to the same period last year. It is analyzed that this phenomenon occurred when young people studying abroad returned to China in large numbers in the wake of the COVID-19 incident, and they began wearing leggings, a popular Western sportswear.
Lululemon recently increased its stores in China to 100. The company’s sales in China were only 8% of its total sales last year, but it expects that 22% of its total sales will come from China in 2027, five years later.
Currently, diplomatic relations between Canada and China are quite uncomfortable, but this is not a major problem. Canada is actively participating in the United States’ blockade of China, including arresting Huawei Vice Chairman Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, at the request of the United States in late 2018. was excluded. Likewise, the Chinese government, which continues to keep a check on Canada, appears to be unable to go against the tastes of young people.
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