Partners Seek Wisdom in Chinese Cafes

Research providers Online Testing eXchange (OTX) and Market China, Inc. (MCI) have announced they will collaborate to offer surveys via 120,000+ Internet cafes in urban and suburban areas throughout mainland China.

The partnership will combine MCI's online consumer reach and OTX's online research technologies and methods. The first surveys will be conducted this summer.

OTX CEO Shelley Zalis points out that China 'will soon have the largest Internet population in the world. The more than 300 million 18-35 year olds in mainland China represent one of the most important emerging global markets. This new online market research capability will give businesses accurate and thorough visibility into this market that has never before been possible.'

In 2005, global and local brands conducted approximately $773 million in consumer research within China's borders, around 11% of that spent each year on similar research in the US.

The partners say Internet cafes are 'wildly popular' in China, with an environment set up to promote social interaction between young adults while surfing the net, playing video games and watching online entertainment content. Averaging 70 computers each, the cafes attract an estimated 50 million users per month, including more than half the 18-25 year old population of mainland China's urban markets, according to the 2004 China Media & Marketing Survey (CMMS) by Sinomonitor International.

Victoria Stull, President of Market China, Inc., comments: 'Until now market research in mainland China has been mostly face-to-face, making it nearly impossible to gather timely and large-scale data on this huge and important group of consumers.'

A recent study of 2,676 online respondents found that the young demographic that frequents these Internet cafes is well educated with high spending power, tech-savvy. 59% hold a bachelor or graduate degree, and they report spending approximately 25 hours online on average in a typical week. One of OTX/MCI's first joint initiatives will be to launch an Internet research commerce site to provide the latest research and market overviews about various aspects of China.

OTX is based in Culver City, California and online at www.otxresearch.com . Market China, Inc. is based in Los Angeles and its web site is at www.marketchinainc.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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