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(0:30) - First Hand Experience of Chinese Trends
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(2:20) - Mobile Phone Use, Top Phone Brands and VPN's
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(8:00) - Mobile Payments On The Rise In China: Is the U.S. Behind?
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(12:00) - Delivery Services and Ride Sharing
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(16:20) - Fast Food Trends In China
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(22:00) - China's Tiered Cities: Construction and Transportation
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(26:00) - Alibaba and JD.com
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(29:45) - Episode Roundup: Podcast@Zacks.com
Welcome to Episode #94 of the Zacks Market Edge Podcast.
Every week, host and Zacks stock strategist, Tracey Ryniec, will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life.
In this episode, Tracey is joined by Afree Mian, a former Zacks intern and college student, who just returned from a year of studying in Beijing China. He shares his insights into what Millennials are up to in China.
Social media is everywhere among urban Millennials in China but instead of Facebook and Twitter, they have Weibo WB, Tencent’s TCEHY WeChat, which is an instant messaging mobile app, and Baidu’s Tieba, an online discussion forum.
Like other Millennials worldwide, Chinese Millennials do everything on their phone, including getting their laundry done, ordering food, and checking messages from friends. Their phone is their life line.
Delivery Is King
Everything is delivered in Beijing, even McDonald’s and Burger King. And it’s delivered cheaply and quickly.
Western brands have been in the country for decades, with YumChina YUMC leading the way. Both KFC and Pizza Hut have large market share. Pizza Hut, by the way, serves breakfast in China.
And while Amazon is a small player in China, JD.com JD is not. If you are among those who think JD.com is just a smaller Alibaba BABA, you’re not correct. Afree says that’s the site where Millennials go when they want something delivered quickly. They don’t go to Alibaba.
Who Needs a Credit Card?
Online payments are ubiquitous in China. Many have jumped from cash all the way to online payments, without getting a credit card in between.
That means the online payment operators are seeing big rewards.
Two of the biggest are Tencent’s WeChatPay and Alibaba’s Alipay. Alipay isn’t a one hit wonder either. The company has launched it in other Southeast Asia countries including India, Malaysia and Thailand.
China’s Growth Story is Intact
There’s been a lot of discussion about a possible bust in the Chinese growth bubble, but construction continues at a quick pace.
Even second and third tier cities are seeing the building of subways and airports now.