China is a giant magnet attracting world-famous brands and services. It is always necessary for companies to experience the tests of Chinese markets no matter how mature that market may have been. That’s why we are still doing research about this country in a comprehensive way. Your knowledge about the country should be complete, involving active market status, changeable consumption behaviors and different aesthetic tastes. In order to broaden your knowledge, you need a guide and that’s what we can do for you. UDRC will provide you with chances to get a close look into Chinese life. Valuable information from various perspectives will be attained afterwards while Edition 2.0 and 3.0 will ensure you fair channels of participation.

Preparation

As soon as you step off the plane, you will be immersed into the Chinese way of life.

Your traffic choices will include taxis, the metro, bus lines or high speed maglev train from the airport, just like most Chinese people use, as no chauffer driven vehicles will be available.

Hotels will also be excluded in your trip. You will live in an ordinary Chinese house for a month with different kinds of house styles considered. During that period, you can cook your own food using the amazing variety of produce available, just like ordinary Chinese people, or you may choose to go to restaurants to taste the authentic and wonderful Chinese cuisine.

Sedans are no longer a remote ownership concept to Chinese people. However, the metro and bus remain the usual transportation facilities for the vast majority. You will be part of this transport spectacle and soon, you will find how convenient, quick and inexpensive it is to travel around this great city. Advertising on public transport in Shanghai is very advanced and interesting to both newly arrived consumers and business people.

After two days’ preliminary experience, the UDRC which lasts 4 weeks will be on the stage.

Week 1:  Radar Week

You will receive two one-off cameras with 40 films to shoot different pictures.

A transparent bag or box will be provided for each one to collect whatever you get like bus tickets. After the activity, you may take the collection back to your country.

Billboards and Street advertisements of different quality are everywhere. You will be asked to find the 10 best and 10 worst of them with related reasons.

Marketing is important in China with many different modes like street-performances, shopping mall sales promotion, etc included. You will be asked to select the three most effective ways of marketing with your reasons.

Week 2:  Consumption Week

Shopping is one of the favorite activities of Chinese people and you will find legions of people doing shopping everywhere. We will enlist you as one of them to experience the shopping in China. However, you will not be brought to the places like Shanghai Hongqiao Friendship Shopping City or Hang Lung Plaza which are not part of the daily life of ordinary Chinese people. Instead, you will be brought to the Prodi in People’s Square, Pakson Shopping centre and Financial Year Plaza. Afterwards, you will also have the opportunity to witness those street stores which are the favorites of young girls.

The consumers in China are critical. They are sensitive about the price and they have little faith in certain brands. Would you like to know more about their characters? We will bring you to places like 4s (vehicle shop), Xujiahui Digital Square (digital products), Xujiahui Computer Square (IT products), Zhongshan Park Electrical Appliances Centre (household electrical appliances) and Carrefour (general merchandise), etc. to see how Chinese people do their shopping.

Is your design going to be recognized and appreciated by Chinese customers? You may try it on the Chinese market. We will arrange a salesroom for your design in the busiest places to assess the reaction of Chinese people to your design. Do they like it? If not, then why? Are they going to buy and why? How much are they going to pay for this? We believe this is information you’d love to know.

Week 3: User Week

You will have the chance to stay with an ordinary Chinese family for one day to see how they use their electrical appliances, kitchen or bath room, during which, you will notice the combination of European IKEA furniture and traditional Chinese house fitments. Those concealed elements of ordinary Chinese life will be revealed to you even including the clothes ordinary Chinese people put in their wardrobes. We advise you to keep a record of items and events of interest.

We organize two interactive activities for you to understand how Chinese people accept new products. In one case, you will have the chance to provide the invited customers with your own products from abroad and they will reflect upon the products promptly. In the other case, certain products in the Chinese market will be available for you to do creative activities like brainstorming, and preliminary innovative design.

Week 4:  Business Week

To set up a business relationship, first of all, you need to show your competitiveness. We will organize occasions for you to communicate with Chinese enterprises which is a real brainstorming and creativity session between Chinese and Western cultures. Functionaries and designers from Chinese companies will attend the meeting to interact with you so that you can show your innovative design idea in a better or more suitable way. It is also an opportunity for you to understand the cultural and design discrepancy between China and Western countries.

China is now regarded as a powerful global factory. So you will sure to visit some famous manufacturers while some medium or small size manufacturers will also be available if you are ready to try your design in the Chinese market.