Consumer Discovery Lab for Asia

In a massive shift, Asia is becoming the backbone of the global economy driven by Asia's new upper middle class. It is predicted that by 2030 two-thirds of the global middle class will be living in Asia.

Asia's upper-middle-class

The fastest-growing consumer group in Asia is the upper-middle class, who is more willing to pay for premium quality goods and services (84%). These are consumers with different values, cultural references and attitudes to consumption that western brands need to tap into and empathize with to stay relevant.

By 2030, China is expected to be a middle-class society, with 52% of the adults in the top income class, followed by 33% in the middle-income group.

Source: CEIC forecast

Power to choose identities and brands

Asia's emerging middle-class consumers are for the first time able to define their own identities through the power of a disposable income and digital connectivity, while still maintaining strong ties to their cultural backgrounds.

These blended identities allow them to express and shape new points of view regarding their preferred consumption. That said, renowned global brands could suffer as competition flourishes from local designers and entertainers.

Strong brands can also take advantage of the increasingly sophisticated pockets of demand for high-end products. Some reports suggest that Chinese consumers’ recent dominance of the global luxury industry to grow by up to 20 percent a year.

Factors Propelling Asian Consumers

Two factors have driven the rise of the Asian consumer. The first is an increasing standard of living across the region. Naturally, as incomes increase, rising standards of living eventually give way to higher levels of consumption.

Now, layer in the fact that China reports 1.2 billion of its citizens using 4G mobile phones. India crossed the billion-user threshold back in 2015. And 95 percent of South Korean adults have smartphones.

Consumer behaviour is mostly learned behaviour, and mobile technology has been a prolific teacher. Mobile phones give consumers the chance for global cultural awareness. Through her phone, a Thai shop owner can easily listen to music from Berlin, buy the latest fashions from Paris, and watch movies from Hollywood.

With a rising middle class armed with technology, Asian consumers are turning into a driving force in the global economy.

Lastly, as Asia’s households redefine consumption, they will push Asian businesses to redefine investment markets. Market indicators will broaden to include Asian companies that fulfil consumer needs, rather than just manufacturers and commodity producers.

The user experience needs to take a central role in all new development in the coming decade.

C'monde Studios is a strategy, design and innovation consultancy that has been active in Asia for the past 15 years and working and a supporting a range of top tier brands and Government bodies from both Hong Kong and Sweden.

As more of our products become connected, designers need to be better understand the river of data streaming through these products: to understand how the data created will be used for other product-service hybrids.

Our new Consumer Discovery Lab has been developed to address the growing demand for UX and consumer insight in Asia. Our lab has been developed to be user-centred and provide access, and knowledge of new markets in Asia, enabling companies to make the right business decisions for innovation and expansion. 

We identify, measure and test consumer drivers in a structured and scientific way using tools from Design Thinking and User-centred Design toolbox.

WE OFFER

In our Customer Discovery Lab, we offer our clients a comprehensive suite of services focusing on Customer Empathy, Technology Consumption and Innovation

1. Discover - Qualitative Research

We have a long experience conducting interviews in India, China and Japan and have built up a network of collaborators spanning from fieldwork to interview moderation and translation. Screenings, Interview questionnaire, Moderating, Analysis and Translation.

Field Research - This is conducted in the user’s context and location. Learn the unexpected by leaving the office and observing people in their natural/work environment.

Mapping - Is a collaborative workshop used to articulate a particular type of user or group. It externalises knowledge about users in order to aid decision making.

Competitor analysis - This can be done in a variety of ways. Secret shopper, desktop research, customer reviews and product specifications are all ways to analyse competitors.

2. Define - Prioritising Insight

Hypothesis & Prioritisation Canvas - A tactical, testable statement used to help us frame our ideas in a way that encourages experimentation, learning and discovery.

Seeking stakeholder consensus - This information is used to assess how the interests of stakeholders should be addressed in a project plan, policy, program, or other action.

Identifying consumer segments - In our interviews we can map personality for bigger and more targeted surveys. It also helps to better analyse the response collected in our interviews

Problem Definitions - Build, Buy or Partner

When moving from Discover to Develop, companies usually have three options and each choice comes with its own set of challenges. Whether you choose to build In-house, buy or partner, we equip you with the access to take the right step.

Build: We co-create and prototype your innovation through our in-house design team and with access to Shenzhen’s best supply networks.

Buy: We facilitate access to startup collaborations in Asia’s start-up ecosystem.

Partner: Together we assess your design needs and provide access to collaborations with suppliers in Hong Kong and Shenzhen and the rest of Asia.

3. Developp - Co-Creation & Ideation

Idea Canvas - aims is to generate a large number of ideas that the team can then filter and cut down into the best, most practical or most innovative ones in order to inspire new and better design solutions and products.

Sketch & Visualise - To help participants more easily prototype situated visualisations for small displays, we test several different types of sketching media across the workshops.

Early prototypes/hacks - A hack is a quick, often a throwaway, rapid prototype. It’s a way of demonstrating the very first part of an idea in a short space of time. We build to test how we think something could or should work and share with others.

4. Deliver - Build, Test & Learn iteration loops

The best way to really get really good insight is by iterating a quick succession of prototypes that you continue to test with users, stakeholders or customers to learn what works. We can't stress enough how good method is to quickly get

Test before you invest!

One-on-one testing - Our process starts with conducting qualitative research with a small group of carefully selected people across Asia. We listen to them to define attitudes, needs, values & behaviours.

A-B Testing - A/B testing is a user experience research methodology. A/B tests consist of a randomised experiment with two variants, A & B where we let users select their favourite.

Focus groups - A focus group is a small group of people whose reactions are studied to determine the reactions that can be expected from a larger population.

Startup Ecosystem Safari.

The increasing speed in which technology is developed requires companies to get innovations to market quickly. Our Startup Ecosystem Safari gives companies opportunities to understand potential collaboration, competitors and buy-out option.

Business Value Chain Mapping.

This is a collaborative workshop with curated employees of your company to understand Business Targets, limitations, customer journeys, and strengths. 

Let us help you make the right business decisions for innovation and change. Businesses who don't spend enough time empathizing with the needs of this new consumer risk being left behind.

CONTACT

We would be happy to send you an introduction deck to our services.

Johan M Persson / Founder/Creative Director

[email protected]

Or, if you prefer to read about our various services please visiting

cmonde.com

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C’monde is a Research Driven Strategy, Design & Innovation Agency located in the heart of Hong Kong. We offer services in Customer Discovery, Design and Innovation for global consumer brands active in China and South East Asia