With today’s Chinese women bigger spenders than in years past, it is no wonder the She-economy remains a hot topic of conversation. The women-targeted market continues to expand to more sectors in China and brands are eager to better engage with women through more targeted strategies.
When we look at spending for Chinese families, we can’t avoid discussing Chinese mums. Mintel has identified four types of mums in China that brands should be aware of. Here, Alina Ma, Lifestyle Associate Director at Mintel, shares her insights on one very interesting mum segment—the Peacock Mum.
Modern Parents Typology
There’s no such thing as a perfect consumer. To resonate with and win different types of parent shoppers, brands should first understand the uniqueness of each typology—life priority, parenting style, desire and unmet needs. Taking a deep dive into mums, Mintel predicts that we will see more Peacock Mums in China in the future.
Compared to other mums, the Peacock Mum tends to be more confident in her knowledge of parenting, her physical appearance and the control she has over family matters, partly because she is exposed to a broader social network (including foreign information channels that most people do not have access to).
According to Mintel research, 96% of Peacock Mums believe that they play a leading role in determining family matters. What’s more, well over half of Peacock Mums have travelled overseas in the last 6 months and one in five has purchased baby products when travelling.
Peacock Mums like to share their experience and expertise, for example, contributing to product development for brands or making product recommendations to peers. Such involvement gives them a sense of achievement. Essentially, Peacock Mums tend to see ‘motherhood’ as a business and winning people’s recognition for their competency as a mum is important.
Mintel research reveals that 84% of Peacock Mums say that they prefer being a housewife to being a career woman, while three in 10 say they find celebrity endorsement an important feature to improve brand image.
Peacock Mums tend to gain happiness from working hard to earn the best mum title, rather than from their child’s achievement. This is because Peacock Mums tend not to buy into the tradition belief that children come first. Although the love they have for their children is just as genuine as other mums, they do feel more justified in terms of self-indulgent or self-development spending.
What we think
One of the Peacock Mum’s core desires is to be viewed as a trend-leading star mum among her friends. Brands can leverage this desire by encouraging Peacock Mums to be the KOL (key opinion leader) for consumers who may find professionals’ words difficult to understand, are skeptical of brands’ marketing, or lack the patience and knowledge to identify the best products for their children.
Ideologies such as ‘others care about your child, while I see you as more than a mum and care about your happiness’ could be more attractive to Peacock Mums. By arranging social activities for Peacock Mums to meet celebrity mums or professionals to learn about the ‘next big thing’ in the parenting world and providing self-improvement courses could meet these mums’ curiosity and desire for staying ahead of others.
Click here to find out more about other Chinese consumer attitudes.
