Websites offer insight into Chinese shopping trends

The top-ranked e-commerce Japanese-made product selling like hotcakes, as Americans say was the unexpected Mitsubishi Corp. Uni -branded color ball-pen set for 3.1 yuan/US$.50. I tried a Uni pen in a Tokyo stationary shop and found it a smooth writing instrument: a Tungsten Carbide ball, strong plastic and rubber grip, nice bright colors.

The pen is refillable with various waterproof, quick-drying ink. Perhaps Chinese students and businessmen use this pen for university exams and contract signings from Harbin to Kunming. Why is this Japanese pen continuing to sell without Chinese copycat products? One reason is that the materials and manufacturing are quite advanced for such a cheaply priced product, and a Chinese firm would have to invest much in product design and sourcing the right materials for manufacturing, and end up losing much time and funds.

Recalling the terrible fall 2008 mass poisoning incident when six Chinese babies died and hundreds of thousands of children were sickened by melamine-tainted milk, it is no surprise that Japanese-made infant powdered milk is among the top-selling products. Some Chinese believe that direct Internet sales and home deliveries of powdered milk products would ensure that the contents had not been altered.

The top Japanese powdered milk product is the Meiji Smile brand at 218 yuan/$32 which is a steep price given that local brands are much less expensive, but emotion sways buying decisions, since even the thought of infant kidney failure due to contaminated milk must give nightmares to Chinese parents.

Marketed by different Japanese manufacturers, there are several anti-insect repellent stick-on patches (20 yuan/US$3) listed as best-sellers among Chinese. I have used anti-mosquito repellent sprays, but I never heard of an anti-insect patch, presumably on exposed skin. Chinese consumers may have had collective successful experiences with the product near canals or swampy areas or there are suspicions with ingredients in anti-bug spray cans (which are often inhaled by children).

It may be useful to investigate how Chinese consumers hear and learn about such an unusual product, and how viral campaigns are conducted among product evangelists in cyberspace or among friends and neighbors.

Due to the decline of smoking in Japan (two decades ago all my Japanese uncles and cousins were chain-smokers, and now only one cousin, heavily stressed, smokes), there is a fresh market in China for the Tokai Tobacco Filter bio-pipe at an affordable 4 yuan/US$.60 (if you multiple this by 600 million Chinese smokers, you are talking real money, to paraphrase the late Senator Everett Dirksen statement about the U.

S. government budget). Due to the absence of conclusive health studies for this wonder filter-pipe, I hope that the Chinese review their smoking habits, or else foresee the Chinese economy being dragged down by medical costs in the future.

Finally, a word to the wise: according to the Japanese Ministry for Economy, Trade and Industry, counterfeit Japanese goods are proliferating on Chinese online shopping sites. In a recent sting operation the Ministry bought 10 Japanese products on several Chinese online sites and discovered that on one site, all the Japanese cosmetics sold were fakes, while on another site, over half of Japanese-brand watches and majority of clothes were counterfeits.

Even the Shukan Economist pointed out that although many Japanese goods become best sellers, in a short period copycat low-quality products appear on Chinese e-commerce sites and eventually kill interest in the original real product among Chinese consumers. Ultimately, Chinese consumers deserve to receive and use the real product of any country of origin for their hard-earned yuan.