0.065 1. Fast-Food Spending and Visits: Of critical
importance to fast-food operators is how often consumers visit restaurants and how much they spend per visit. The figures from the CQS and SIMM5 databases are quite surprising. According to fourth-quarter 2010 data, consumers report visiting fast-food restaurants on average 5.4 times per month in both China and the U.S. In other words, even though fast foods are fairly new in China, the number of visits per month is the same in
No Preference Competitive Index Source: ProsperChina™, ProsperChina™ Quarterly Survey, Q42010; Simultaneous Media Usage® Survey, December 2010
both countries. The average growth rate (AGR), however, is 3.1% in China but only 1.7% for the U.S. for the five-year 2006-2010 period. In terms of the average amount spent per visit, when converted to U.S. dollars, the Chinese spend $9.44 vs. $8.91 for U.S. consumers. It is obvious from these numbers that fast food is growing fast in China. 2. Fast-Food Restaurant Patronage: As shown in Table 7-3, the largest percentage of market share is
5 The Chinese responses are compared to similar U.S. data found in the Simultaneous Media Usage® Studies (SIMM®), developed by Prosper’s BIGinsight.com. These data have been gathered online, twice yearly in the U.S., since 2002. Sample respondents are recruited in a similar manner to that described for the CQS. The studies are conducted online, but are based on a replication of the methodology used by the U.S. Census to obtain a scientific sample of the entire U.S. population each time it is conducted. That database now contains approximately 400,000 consumer responses. SIMM® questions revolve around the respondent’s past and future purchase behaviors, media consumption and influence in nine basic product categories, i.e., apparel, automotive, eating out, electronics, financial products and services, grocery, health and beauty aids, medicines, telecommunication. A key element in the SIMM® studies is that respondents provide their media usage in day parts (which are then converted to minutes) for each of the 31 media forms (both outbound and inbound), which media forms are used together or in combination (simultaneous usage) and a host of other media and marketing-related questions. Respondents reflect the quite different make-up of the populations in each country.
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