Consumers In Shanghai Research Articles

Quality Evaluation and Optimization of Idle Goods Swap Platform Based on Grounded Theory and Importance–Performance Analysis

Given economic downturns and environmental concerns, promoting innovative consumption patterns is urgently needed. Swap is a promising collaborative consumption pattern that redistributes ownership of goods without using money. In the past, no research has focused on swap platform quality due to a lack of empirical resources. Therefore, this study aims to construct theoretical methods for evaluating and optimizing the quality of swap platforms. Analyzing consumer characteristics and motivations, the study creates a user profile that guides swap platforms’ market positioning. Then a quality evaluation model for swap platforms is constructed to identify areas for improvement. Data were collected from core users of a start-up swap platform in Shanghai, including 20 in-depth interviews and 180 survey questionnaires. The findings reveal that the main consumers in Shanghai’s swap market are highly educated women aged 20 to 40, with upper-middle incomes. They are motivated by functional, charitable, economic, and hedonic factors. Using grounded theory and the IPA method, this study developed a quality evaluation model for swap platforms, consisting of 18 indicators that clearly distinguish areas of weakness and strengths. This study provides valuable insights into the methodological research of quality evaluation for swap platforms and offers practical suggestions for their optimization.

Consumer Preference and Willingness to Pay for Rice Attributes in China: Results of a Choice Experiment.

Understanding urban consumers' preferences for rice attributes is crucial for rice breeders, producers, and retailers to meet diverse and evolving market demands. Based on the sample data of 629 rice consumers in Shanghai, China, obtained through the choice experiment (CE) approach, this study uses the mixed logit (ML) model to analyze consumers' preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for food safety labels, brands, nutritional quality, and taste quality. Furthermore, the latent class (LC) model examines the heterogeneity in consumer group preferences. The research findings highlight that consumers prioritize taste quality as the most crucial attribute, followed by nutritional quality, food safety labels, and brand attributes. The premium rates for superior taste quality, organic certification labels, and green certification labels exceeded 100%. Interestingly, while combining organic certification with well-known international or domestic brands does not uniformly boost consumer preferences, incorporating green certification alongside well-known international or domestic brands significantly elevates those preference levels. Factors such as the external environment, consumption habits, and personal characteristics significantly influence individuals' preferences for rice attributes. Based on these insights, the study puts forth policy recommendations for rice breeders, producers, and retailers.

Exploring the Trends and Reasons for Chinese Mainland Consumers' Extra Consumption of Western Festivals Take Christmas in Shanghai as an Example

This study focuses on the consumption patterns of Chinese mainland consumers during Western festivals, using the Christmas shopping habits of Shanghai residents as a case study. The aim is to explore the impact of Western festivals on consumer spending trends and habits and identify the factors driving these changes. Drawing on a comprehensive review of relevant literature and employing a questionnaire analysis method, the findings reveal that some Shanghai consumers significantly increase their spending in comparison to everyday life during Western holidays, exemplified by Christmas. However, a considerable number of consumers choose to allocate minimal or no funds for expenditures during the holiday season, with no significant difference between the two groups. Consumers are more willing to allocate their funds towards cultural products, including holiday-related items. In the context of cultural exchange, the influence of new cultural elements and commercial marketing strategies play a crucial role in shaping the consumption trends associated with Christmas.

Research on consumers understanding and attitudes to food additives Taking Shanghai as an example

Nowadays, there are a variety of food additives on the market, and the use of food additives is becoming increasingly frequent. However, most consumers are not very familiar with some common food additives, and there is a common misconception about food additives, believing that they will definitely pose a threat to human health. According to previous studies, the legitimate and reasonable use of food additives does not affect health. Therefore, this study uses a questionnaire survey to study consumers' awareness and attitudes towards common food additives, taking Shanghai as an example. It can be concluded that consumers in Shanghai generally have a low level of understanding of food additives, so this paper analyzes the survey data and proposes some relevant suggestions to address this situation. For instance, the government can eliminate public misunderstandings through extensive publicity.

The Development of Golf in Shanghai: Present Situation, Problems and Implementation Path

Into the new era, to explore the development of golf in Shanghai, the existing problems and countermeasures. Around the development of golf in the three aspects of the theoretical issues, namely, how the development of golf in Shanghai, what are the remaining problems, and how to achieve the development of golf. On the basis of current research, this paper analyzes the rules and reference paths of the positive interaction between golf and Shanghai's urban development, so as to provide theoretical guidance and decision-making reference for the healthy development of golf in Shanghai. The research shows that: (1) there are a large number of potential golf consumers in Shanghai, and golf course construction, education and training and event operation are relatively mature. However, in terms of market fit, continuous exploration is still needed to achieve standardization, scale and collaboration development; (2) Compared with the status quo of golf development in the United States, the remaining problems in the development of golf in Shanghai mainly revolve around four aspects: population, courses, education and training and events; (3) The implementation path of the high-quality development of golf in Shanghai includes clarifying the value orientation of golf and pursuing the unity of three-dimensional interests; The implementation of golf industry autonomy and legislation, strict market access mechanism; Existing golf events to do fine and strong, the competition that has not been launched should be introduced and innovated; Develop the whole population golf education, standardize the whole process of education system.

Expectation and Complaint: Online Consumer Complaint Behavior in COVID-19 Isolation.

PurposeThis study aims to articulate the nature of consumer complaining behavior (CCB) by analyzing the mechanism and characteristics of online CCB in COVID-19 isolated environment.Patients and MethodsFor the purpose, this study collected data via a web-based questionnaire survey from 408 consumers in Shanghai, China during COVID-19 isolation. Through building and analyzing a structural equation model that consists of six latent variables such as perceived service quality, perceived product quality, customer satisfaction, negative emotion, customer complaint; the study analyzed the basic characteristics of CCB, and focused on the moderation test of consumer expectation to validate its important role in consumer decision-making behavior.ResultsFirst, compared to perceived service quality, perceived product quality has a stronger influence on customer satisfaction and has a weaker influence on negative emotions in the COVID-19 isolated environment. Second, the total influence of perceived product quality on customer complaints is stronger than that of perceived service quality. Third, the direct impact of negative emotions on customer complaints was much stronger than the effect of customer satisfaction on customer complaints. Meanwhile, it can also act as a mediating variable to make customer satisfaction have an additional indirect effect on complaints. Finally, the study also found that consumer expectation can reinforce the influences of customer satisfaction on negative emotions and customer complaints, while it weakens the effect of negative emotions on customer complaints.ConclusionThis study suggests that the classic CCB factors still exert a stable influence on customer complaints through cognitive and emotional response pathways, but the influence difference is obvious in the COVID-19 isolated environment. And the influence processes are significantly moderated by consumer expectation level. Enterprises should conduct more targeted marketing interactions, according to these CCB characteristics.

Research on Chinese Consumers’ Preferences and Characteristics Regarding Scalp Care Shampoo Products

This study aims to explore consumers’ preferences on different types of shampoo products among women aged 20s and 30s from Beijing and Shanghai. 100 women who have scalp troubles were selected as respondents. By conducting HUT blind test, we compared the consumers’ feedbacks on 3 scalp care shampoo products but with 3 different formulations, i.e., 2 products with silicone-free formula and 1 product containing silicone oil. We adopted quantitative methodology through the whole analysis, and evaluation results of different groups were obtained by PCA analysis. The results of the study are recapped as follows: (1) Although there is no obvious difference in consumers’ preference among different ages, there are obvious differences in different regions. (2) Beijing consumers are satisfied with the sensory efficacy of the 3 products while Shanghai consumers are less satisfied with any of them. It is speculated that Shanghai consumers have a higher expectation for scalp care products; (3) Products containing silicone oil shows higher usage satisfaction when compared with silicone- free formula. It is better to emphasize long-term efficacy for silicone-free formula when planning GTM strategy, so that it could guide consumers to achieve their post-purchase rationalization. (4) Although the tested products all have scalp care function, consumers are more concerned about the effects on the health status of the hair than the scalp care effects.

Double ‘in-process’ identity project: An ethno-semiotic study of the transformation of New Chinese young consumers in Shanghai

This study examines the identity transformation among the Chinese young consumers who resided in Shanghai, China. The living environment has heralded an era of multiple market ideologies infusing western cosmopolitanism into Chinese traditions. Thus, in this article, we examine how the Chinese youngsters deal with a diversity of symbols to construct the ‘New Chinese’ cosmopolitan identity by (1) redefining their modern and cosmopolitan selves through the exploitation of new market symbols; (2) resisting stereotypical Chinese imageries through consistent or temporal rebellious acts; and (3) reforming the ‘Chinese’ selves through collective efforts. The findings yielded contribute to the current discussions of global consumer culture and symbolic consumption by illustrating the ethnocentric symbolic interaction among young Chinese consumers and market symbols in emerging economies like China.

Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Imported Milk: Based on Shanghai, China

Against the backdrop of the continuous large-scale growth of imported milk in China, in this research 310 consumers in Shanghai were used as a sample, and a choice experiment was conducted to study consumer preference and willingness to pay for imported milk. The following product attributes were included: nutrition claim, fat content, flavor, country of origin, and price. Our results show that, excepting price, consumers consider flavor the most important attribute, followed by nutrition claim, fat content, and country of origin. Consumers can be delineated into four segments based on consumer preference for the attributes of imported milk: “nutrition claim seekers” are willing to pay the highest price for imported milk with nutrition claims, “indifferent” consumers pay little attention to imported milk attributes, “flavor-oriented” consumers have a strong preference for strawberry-flavored imported milk, and “price-sensitive” consumers weigh the price when choosing imported milk.

Urban energy-water nexus: Spatial and inter-sectoral analysis in a multi-scale economy

Large scale urbanization and industrial development has resulted in serious environmental challenges for China. Both energy and water are considered key to urban sustainability and for that matter resource accounting and tracing are drawing growing attention in the economy. This paper focuses on energy-water nexus of urban sectors in Shanghai (referred to year 2010) using multi-regional input-output (MRIO) analysis. This study outcome revealed that overall Shanghai is a net consumer city mainly imports embodied energy and water from domestic and developing regions of the world and exports little to developed regions. In depth analysis indicated that, except S17, S7, S10, S15 and S8 all other industrial sectors were net inflows of energy in Shanghai. Similarly, except S15, all other industrial sectors were net water consumers in Shanghai. The S16 (18.96 Mtce), S20 (11.06 Mtce) and S12 (7.71 Mtce) were ranked highest as net importer making up about 60.48% of total net inflows of embodied energy, whereas S1 (18053.48 Mt), S3 (6865.16 Mt) and S19 (2320.62 Mt) were ranked highest as net importer making up about 74.99% of total net inflows of embodied water. The developed nexus strength indicator uncovered the sectoral energy-water linkages. From a production perspective, the S15 exhibited high nexus strength level up to 1 with 50% contribution by each resource to the nexus. While from a consumption perspective, the S1 revealed high nexus strength level and water was the most frequent resource node contributing about 84% to the energy-water nexus. The energy-water nexus characteristics of industrial sectors can offer different ways to tackle environmental challenges. This study can provide a reference to policy makers in identifying key sectors that requires more focus in terms of easing environmental stress to achieve sustainability in urban development. In addition, called for coordination and regulating urban industrial trade structure in the future.

한식당 경험품질이 고객 가치, 태도, 그리고 충성도에 미치는 영향: 중국 상해 소비자를 대상으로

한식당 경험품질이 고객 가치, 태도, 그리고 충성도에 미치는 영향: 중국 상해 소비자를 대상으로

The Impact of Time-of-Use (TOU) Rate Structure on Consumption Patterns of the Residential Customers

Load participation is vital for the smart grid development. As an effective tool to improve reliability, stability, and financial efficiency of the power grids, demand response (DR) has brought significant financial and technical benefits to power systems. As one of the price-based DR programs with less control costs, the time-of-use (TOU) program has been applied as the default rate structure by many utility companies. To avoid financial risks and make the most profit from the market, utility companies treat TOU as an effective strategy to change customers’ electricity consumption patterns. As reported in many literature, existing TOU programs are not as effective as expected in many developed countries due to the complexity of human behaviors and disparities of residential customers. To examine whether to obtain different outcomes of TOU on the residential customers in developing countries, actual utility usage data from residential consumers in Shanghai, China, are analyzed in this paper. The result shows current TOU in Shanghai, China, has similar trends as TOU in developed countries. With high penetration level of renewable energy, an effective TOU program is urgently needed in the utility industry. In recent years, a creative TOU pricing structure has been introduced at the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas deregulated market, and it shows that the introduced “zero pricing” strategy has a significant impact on customers’ consumption patterns. The purpose of this research is to examine the key reasons that underlie ineffectiveness/effectiveness of TOU programs at residential level.

Perceptions of food quality: Evidence from a survey in Shanghai

AbstractRecent food scandals in China significantly decreased the level of consumer trust toward the food chain, and, at the same time, increased the demand for food quality and safety. This paper investigated perceptions and determinants of food quality among a sample of households in Shanghai. Survey questionnaires were collected between June and December 2014, and a total of 509 interviews were completed. Questions asked about food purchasing behaviours, dietary habits, and the importance of food quality when food shopping. Socio‐demographic and socio‐economic variables were also collected. We used ordered logit regressions to investigate the most significant factors associated with food quality. We found that respondents who frequently bought vegetables were 31% more likely to look for quality attributes (p < .1) and respondents who often bought rice 28% more (p < .01). Branding was also positively associated with the demand for food quality. In particular, consumers considering brand an important element were 25% more likely to believe that the product was of high quality (p < .05). Among socio‐economic variables, higher income and education were significantly associated with food quality demand. Our results indicated that consumers in Shanghai paid increasing attention to food quality, and they especially associated it with traditional foods and brand. We suggested that policy makers and stakeholders in the food chain should strengthen food quality certification systems, and help consumers make better and more informed choices.

중국 상해 패션 시장의 특성과 한국 패션 브랜드의 경쟁력 분석

This paper aims to analyze the characteristics of the contemporary Chinese fashion market and the competitiveness of Korean fashion brands in China. Fashion professionals experienced in both the Korean and Chinese fashion markets participated to investigate the Shanghai market and consumers. The results of in-depth interviews show that Shanghai is the most favorable city among Tier 1 cities for Korean fashion brands planning on entering into the Chinese market. Shanghai consumers are open to international brands and highly prefer newness in fashion. Contemporary menswear was selected as a potentially big market due to the increase of unique, young, upper-middle-class male consumers. The Korean fashion brands` strength is that they are capable of satisfying Shanghai consumers with excellent product planning and sensory design capabilities. Their disadvantage is that their brand recognition is weaker than that of global and international brands, and their ability to localize to the Chinese market is weak. The opportunity comes is from the Korean Wave, which is a positive for Korea`s products and has good geographical access. The threat is that the Shanghai market is fiercely competitive; having access to many worldwide brands, and the competitiveness of Chinese brands is on the rise. To enter the Shanghai market, creative design ability, trendy product development, skill, and appropriate PR methods such as using Korean culture contents would be required to satisfy the young, powerful consumers in Shanghai.

A concept mapping study on organic food consumers in Shanghai, China

Despite some similarities with developed countries, the growth of organic market in China seems to follow a different path. Thus, important questions are how Chinese urban consumers perceive organic food, and what are the main concepts associated to the organic attribute.We aimed at representing in graphic form the network of mental associations with the organic concept. We used an adapted version of the “Brand concept mapping” method to acquire, process, and draw individual concept networks perceived by 50 organic food consumers in Shanghai. We then analyzed the data using network and cluster analysis to create aggregated maps for two distinct groups of consumers.Similarly to their peers in developed countries, Chinese consumers perceive organic food as healthy, safe and expensive. However, organic is not necessarily synonymous with natural produce in China, also due to a translation of the term that conveys the idea of a “technology advanced” product. Organic overlaps with the green food label in terms of image and positioning in the market, since they are easily associated and often confused. The two groups we identified show clear differences in the way the organic concept is associated to other concepts and features.The study provides useful information for practitioners: marketers of organic products in China should invest in communication to emphasize the differences with Green Food products and they should consider the possibility of segmenting organic consumers; Chinese policy makers should consider implementing information campaigns aimed at achieving a better understanding of the features of these quality labels among consumers. For researchers, the study confirms that the BCM method is effective and its integration with network and cluster analysis improves the interpretation of individual and aggregated maps.

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes as solid-phase extraction sorbents for simultaneous determination of type A trichothecenes in maize, wheat and rice by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as sorbents coupled with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was developed for simultaneous determination of four type A trichothecenes in maize, wheat and rice for the first time. Several key parameters including the composition of sample loading solutions, washing and elution solvents were thoroughly investigated to achieve optimal SPE recoveries and efficiency. Performance of the MWCNTs materials was significantly affected by pH, and after optimization, n-hexane and 5% methanol aqueous solution as the washing solutions and methanol containing 1% formic acid as the elution solvent presented an excellent purification efficiency for the four targets in the different matrices. The method was validated by determining the linearity (R2≥0.992), recovery (73.4–113.7%), precision (1.2–17.1%) and sensitivity (limit of quantification in the range of 0.02–0.10μg/kg), and was further applied for simultaneous determination of type A trichothecenes in 30 samples. Although low contamination levels of type A trichothecenes in wheat, maize and rice were observed revealing mitigated risks to consumers in Shanghai, China, the developed method has proven to be a valuable tool for type A trichothecenes monitoring in complex crop matrices.

Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from retail shellfish in Shanghai

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a marine and estuarine bacterium that poses the greatest threat to human health worldwide. It has been the leading bacterial cause of seafood-borne illness. This study investigated the prevalence and drug resistance of V. parahaemolyticus isolated from retail shellfish in Shanghai. A total of 140 shellfish samples were collected from February 2014 to February 2015. The occurrence of V. parahaemolyticus in shellfish was 34.3%, which has increased compared to previous reports. In addition, discernible differences of total presumptive V. parahaemolyticus counts (TPVPC) were also observed in shellfish between market A and B. The results from PCR assays indicated that thermostable direct hemolysin (tdh) gene was positive in two isolates (2.1%), and the thermostable direct hemolysin-related hemolysin (trh) gene was not detected in all isolates. Antibiotic resistance profiles of those isolates were as follows: ampicillin (87.5%), cephazolin (31.3%), cephalothin (6.3%), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (6.3%), piperacillin (6.3%), and amikacin (3.2%). Thirty-three out of 96 isolates were resistant to two or more antimicrobial agents. It is suggested that V. parahaemolyticus in retail shellfish could be a potential risk to consumers in Shanghai.

Choosing celebrity endorsers for advertising campaigns in cosmopolitan China: Does their ethnicity matter?

This study asks if endorsers function as surrogates for country-of-origin, and if the effectiveness of the tactic varies with the perceived ethnicity (Western versus Chinese) of the celebrities. It finds no significant influence on the country-oforiginperception, brand attitudes or product quality evaluations in the reactions of 797 consumers in Shanghai to magazine advertisements featuring celebrities of Chinese vs. Western ethnicity. The lack of any significant effect of the ethnicity of celebrities on a brand’s perceived country of origin precludes country image having any effect on those variables for the case of the cosmopolitan Chinese consumer.

A Study of Green Purchase Intention Comparing with Collectivistic (Chinese) and Individualistic (American) Consumers in Shanghai, China

This study examines the influence of four factors on the green purchase intention of American and Chinese consumers as well as the relationship between these factors. To this end, a conceptual model has been proposed and subjected to empirical verification with the use of a survey. The survey results obtained in one major Chinese city provide reasonable support for the validity of the proposed model. Specifically, the findings from the structural-equation modeling confirm the influence of environmental knowledge, attitudes, environmental concern, and social influence, on the green purchase intention. Although the present findings provide a better understanding of the process and significant antecedents of green purchase intention, the researcher also highlight two areas for more thorough investigation. They are collectivism and individualism. This study also discusses how the present findings may help the Chinese government and green marketers to fine-tune their environmental programs.

The Impact of Green Advertising on Consumer Purchase Intention of Green Products

Chinese advertising industry has dramatically developed as consumers’ concerns over the impact of environmental degradation on their lives and interests increase, which results in a significant sale of green products. This study aims to explore how green advertising affect consumers purchase intention of green products. The data were collected from 313 consumers in Shanghai, China. The research findings reveal that credibility of claim (β=0.847, p