ROBUST DEMAND FOR HIGH-END GOODS

Riding on the success of robust economic growth over the past four decades, Chinese consumers have shown burgeoning demand for quality goods and comfortable lifestyles.

Retail sales, a main gauge of consumption, increased 8 percent year on year in the first 11 months of last year.

"Affluent consumers are willing to spend," said Gan Chunhui, vice president of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Some consumers perceive foreign goods as being higher in quality than those produced domestically, a main reason behind the soaring demand for imported products.

"In the short term, boosting imports is an effective way to close the gap between domestic demand for high-end goods and the country's actual supply capacity," Gan added.

LUCRATIVE MARKET

China's increasingly prosperous market of 1.4 billion and greater opening-up steps present invaluable opportunities to global businesses.

Danish toymaker Lego registered low single-digit growth in the European and American markets in 2018, but its sales were most notable in the Chinese market with strong double-digit growth.

The toymaker opened its 100th retail brand store in Xi'an in July 2019, its first certified store in northwest China, in a move to expand its footprint in the country's inland cities.

A slew of international companies including Adidas and Nike opened new flagship stores in major Chinese cities last year, while German supermarket chain ALDI entered the Chinese mainland market and Lawson convenience stores swept across third- and fourth-tier cities.

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