Multinationals rush to court China’s consumers

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has vowed to create an economy driven by consumption.

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The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai forecasts that China will be the No. 2 consumer market behind the U.S. by 2015, thanks in part to a fast-growing middle class. Here, customers shop at a mobile phone dealership center in Beijing.

Ricky Wong / Bloomberg News

James McGregor, author of "One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China,” said in an interview with NPR that business is so good for Ikea in China that the company no longer advertises there.

Doug Kanter / Bloomberg News

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. announced in August 2011 that it plans to invest $4 billion in China over three years, beginning in 2012. CEO Muhtar Kent said in a statement that Coca-Cola’s sales volume in China for the first half of 2011 was double that of the same period five years ago.

Raul Vasquez / Bloomberg

The market for foods like chocolate, once seen as a luxury in China, is now booming. The country's first chocolate theme park opened in Beijing in February 2010 and the largest chocolate store in the world opened in Shanghai two months later. Here, chefs demonstrate their skills with chocolate during a press preview of the Chocolate Wonderland theme park.

Ng Han Guan / AP

Profits at KFC-owned Yum Brands jumped 10 percent in the second quarter of 2011 thanks to a rise in sales in China. Yum is the largest Western fast food company in China with 4,000 outlets.

Qilai Shen / Bloomberg News

While the luxury goods market is shrinking worldwide, it’s growing in China. According to Bain & Co., a management consulting firm based in Boston, China is predicted to become the world’s third-largest luxury goods market in five years.

Keith Bedford / Bloomberg News

Not every multinational venture in China has been a success. In March 2011, Mattel said it was closing its only store in China dedicated to selling its best-selling doll, Barbie. While the company did not cite a reason for the store’s closing, it had lowered its sales target for the store — which featured a spa and café, in addition to Barbie products for both children and adults — by at least 30 percent since its March 2009 opening.

Qilai Shen / Bloomberg News

Carl-Peter Forster, CEO of Tata Motors, said China is the No. 1 growth market for Jaguars, one of the models of cars the company manufactures. Pictured here is the Jaguar C-X75 Hybrid Supercar.

/ PRNewsFoto/Jaguar

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