Why Survey Online in China?


In the midst of the enormous changes that have taken place in China over the past ten years, the Internet has emerged as the most effective method of gathering information about China's booming consumer market.

China's rapid movement from a developing country to one of the world's largest consumer markets forced a quickened evolution of internal infrastructure. Many of the traditional methods of surveying employed in the West are not practical in China. For example, official telephone directories are not available, complicating the use of telephone surveys. The number of mobile phone users increases by an average of 5 million subscribers per month, and these new users, too, have unlisted numbers.

Traditional mail surveys also face significant obstacles. The rapid pace of change in China and the comparatively long time required for mail surveys work against the relevance of survey results. Furthermore, as with phone numbers, the absence of a central registry makes it very difficult to get basic details, including business or resident names. There is no one place, for example, to find all the dentists currently doing business in Beijing.

Geographical income disparities present further difficulties for those conducting surveys. The various regions of China have large differences in income levels, preventing face-to-face surveys from providing comprehensive sample sizes. In China's cities, such differences are distinct from one block to the next.

China's Internet market, with more than 90 million weekly users from all of China's major cities, provides the most balanced, complete, and accurate representation of the citizens of the world's most populous country. These 90 million users represent the current and future decision-makers in the emerging economic power.