Is it too late to market your goods or services to China? If internet marketing in Portland and Seattle is part of your overall marketing plan the enormous potential to sell into China still exists.
It is also no secret that China’s economy is slowing. Property prices are falling in many major centers, raising concerns of a real estate crash.Even China’s exports, one of its traditional drivers of growth, are shrinking. In the latest U.S. trade statistics for November, imports from China were down 2.6% to $36.81 billion.
It’s enough to send U.S. businesses looking for new markets into the arms of Brazil and elsewhere. But seeing the forest through the trees, there are plenty of opportunities for American companies in China over the long term.
“There is an extreme amount of volatility in the global market. But if you take the long-term view, the potential for companies to grow their revenue is going to be in markets like China,” said Chris Lewis, executive vice president, head of trade and supply chain North America, for HSBC Bank USA, N.A.
China’s 20-year growth record — it hasn’t had a contraction since 1992 — isn’t in danger just yet. The Economist Intelligence Unit is forecasting that growth will slow from 9.1% in 2011 to 8.2% in 2012. “China in a bad year drops to 8.2% GDP growth,” said Leo Abruzzese, director, global forecasting, Economist Intelligence Unit. While he didn’t rule out a crash at some point down the road, China will get back on track quickly, he said.
What U.S. companies can’t afford to ignore is that China’s consumer story has only just begun. According to The World in 2050, a forecast by the global economics research team at HSBC, China’s per capita income will grow 800% over the next four decades. Even with this gigantic leap, the per capita income in China will still be only 32% of that in the United States.
“You haven’t missed the boat on China,” said Karen Ward, U.K.-based senior economist at HSBC, and author of The World in 2050report.
China is undergoing a mass urbanization movement. Currently, 40% of China’s workforce labors in the fields. As these workers migrate to the cities — 15 cities will have 25 million-plus people over next decade or so — they also move up the value chain in terms of the products they consume.
This bodes well not only for American suppliers of infrastructure and commodities needed to build cities, but also for suppliers of consumer goods and services. Companies have to stop looking at China as a cheap labor story and start looking at it as consumer story, Ward said.
The opportunities are there for commodity and infrastructure based companies that provide value. Internet marketing for companies in Portland and Seattle and beyond are an effective and efficient way for exposure to China markets.