China Skinny looking to demystify ‘size and scale’ of China’s cities

newzealandinc.com talks to the businessman behind one of China”s fastest growing marketing and research agencies, Shanghai-based Kiwi Mark Tanner, as his business China Skinny focuses on telling the “size and scale” story of China”s cities.

The ?majority of foreign businesses tend to focus on China?s mega-cities. Shanghai and Beijing not surprisingly top the agenda when China is being considered, but with more than 160 cities boasting a population in excess of one million people, getting beyond the two principal megalopolises is a challenging prospect.?

China Skinny”s Mark Tanner says businesses across the world are looking to the huge opportunities in China. But he cautions the prospect of doing business here can be daunting, Make new friends by chatting with other players on Pogo!Get a special sign-upbonus of 10,000 TokensA new way to find your favorite Free Games © 2014 Electronic Arts Inc. even for those familiar with the country.

“Our new City-Nator tool offers a quick and compelling insight into the depth and potential of the Chinese consumer market that they might not otherwise have been aware of,” says Tanner.

The City-Nator demonstrates the size and scale of China?s cities by inviting users to compare their own city?s population with the number of Chinese cities that have more people.? The cities are illustrated on a map of China, listing the combined value of retail consumption and number of workers.

“It was only after moving to China and discovering that 114 Mainland Chinese cities had more people than New Zealand, that I got a true appreciation of the opportunities that these cities present to exporters,” adds Tanner.

China?s middle class is forecast to soar 275% to 630 million consumers (China Daily) and McKinsey predicts 84% of those people will live outside of the Tier-1 cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.?Boston Consulting Group expects China?s affluent consumers will grow to 220 million consumers by 2020 of whom 75% will live in ?smaller? cities.

“These are the consumers with the means and inclination to buy imported goods, so foreign businesses should take note,? said Tanner.

?We also know that consumers from smaller cities can now be effectively reached through websites and social media, and spend significantly more while shopping online than those in the larger cities.”

You can try the City-Nator at the China Skinny website.