Insight from China's 2020 Economic Reports and Inspiration for Business Owners for your 2021 China Strategy Building.

China’s GDP Exceeds 100 Trillion Yuan in 2020

2020 marked a disturbing year for the global economy with slow recovery due to the prolonged COVID-19 cases. Along this time, many nations race to distribute vaccines in an effort to alleviate the current situation. Despite having its slowest growth in 40 years, China was able to make a quick V-shaped recovery over 2020 starting at -6.8% GDP growth in Q1 and ending at 6.5% in Q4 with a GDP exceeding 100 trillion yuan. The World Bank reports that the reduced worldwide output and halt of economic activities allowed China to swiftly take on a greater share of the world’s markets. Furthermore, the IMF predicts that China will overtake the United States as the largest economy by the year 2028 with a strong lead in GDP growth due to quicker economic recovery and highly coordinated vaccination efforts.

Consumption and Trade Remains Strong

According to China’s State Tax Administration, the total value of China's import and export trade in 2020 was up to 32.16 trillion yuan with an average of 60 million yuan worth of goods entering and leaving the country per minute. China ramped up industrial production while consumption fell by 4% after adjusting to inflation. Although consumption fell due to reduced spending, the travel and mobility restrictions drove up the scale of delivery services that are easily accessible through the web and smartphones all throughout the country. There were about 83 billion packages delivered in 2020 which marks a 30.8% year on increase. Meanwhile, total retail sales of consumer goods reached 40 trillion yuan with final consumption expenditure exceeding 55 trillion yuan.

Chinese Firms Pushing New Boundaries

In line with China’s plans for socialist modernization by the year 2035, China has always been pushing out strategies to become a global leader in innovation. In 2020, China’s placement in the Global Innovation Index jumped from 29th place in 2015 to 14th place in 2020 with 133 Chinese companies listed under the world’s top 500 companies list. This is significant as the number of Chinese firms overtakes the number of American firms in the same list for the first time. Also focal to this statistic is the increase of tech-based SME and higher-paying technological companies which together exceeded 200,000. Approximately 11.86 million new jobs were created and resident incomes increased from -3.9% to 2.1% throughout the year, providing a better record for economic recovery.

While the recent resurgence of the virus adds uncertainty to projected economic growth, the current experiences and guidelines that are being developed will surely help to lessen any major impact on businesses and consumers around the world. China’s projected growth has already passed expert projections and their efficient implementation of a viable vaccine and controls will help to determine a long-awaited return to normalcy. With these datasets in mind, China is making new plans to improve domestic consumption, wealth equality, as well as sustainable development within industries while also introducing better systems for international business and investment on a mutual level.

If not China, where? If not now, when?

China's GDP grew 6.5% in the final quarter of 2020, making it the only major economy to expand last year. The market will continue to grow, and it is the best timing ever for brands to think about the strategy for China market expansion. Shake to Win (www.shaketowin.net) is a digital SaaS platform built for SMEs brands who would love to target young Chinese audiences online. Over 4000+ B2B partners used STW platform directly approach young consumers and get exposure around the world. 

"Shake to win is a perfect bridge that will help us have an effective presence in China; since it will be the most important tourism market in the medium term in Colombia. I am in love with Chinese culture, and I know that they will fall in love with the Colombian culture. It will be a nice exchange of all the beautiful and authentic experiences that we offer in Colombia. The perfect tool we've been waiting for finally arrived in our country, and it's Shake to win, without a doubt." General Manager of The True Colombian Experience, Fredy Alberto Calderón Pitre.

"The opportunity to work with a segment of the Chinese tourism market is fascinating, big and new. Shake to Win brings the benefit of mixing national and international cultures, sharing stories and experiences, exchanging an understanding between cultures and producing more tolerant travellers". General Manager of "The Cranky Croc Hostel", Andrew Farrington.

We welcome any cultural brands and tourism brands who want to leverage our expertise to enter China market to join our global community network and become a part of our SaaS platform users. If you are interested to know more, welcome to drop me a note and I am happy to chat with you. Hope the article can be inspiring for you to consider your future businesses move. 

Sources: Japan Times, TelleReport, State Council of People’s Republic of China, Hellenic Shipping News, China Daily