But the AC Nielsen 2002 Shopper trend survey revealed that consumers are reluctant to show loyalty to any particular store.

The survey, released in Beijing on Friday, focused on Chinese consumer behavior. It polled nearly 7,000 consumers aged between 15 and 65 years old in China's seven major cities - Harbin, Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

AC Nielsen, the world's leading marketing information company, attributes Chinese consumers' shopping habits mainly to the recent explosion on the number of modern outlets, including supermarkets, hypermarkets, department stores and convenience stores, which provide local shoppers with more choice than ever before.

"China's retailers, be it a local supermarket or a transnational retailing giant, are facing ever-increasing competition in this huge yet highly diversified market," said Kosta Conomos, associate director of the Retailer Consulting Unit, AC Nielsen China.

"Therefore, it is vital that they understand more about their consumers' behavior and attitudes."

Average Chinese shopper's purchasing power has increased dramatically, and the retail sector is experiencing healthy growth.

However, modern stores' growth is outstripping total sales growth. This means that many individual retailers are actually seeing a drop in their share of the market.

"Our survey reveals that the high income group in China, referring to consumers each with a monthly income higher than 3,000 yuan (US$362.75), increased 5 percent compared with 2001. This clearly illustrates that consumer purchasing power is increasing across China's key urban centres," Kosta said.

This creates a huge potential for both transnational and local retailers. However, "it is a big pie that everyone will be interested in getting a slice!" he warned.

The company's retail census shows that the number of hypermarkets and supermarkets doubled since last year, making the competition in the retail market even more fierce.

With the explosive growth of retail outlets, consumers are increasingly choosing the modern trade sector for grocery shopping.

AC Nielsen's study shows that over 80 percent of Chinese consumers go to supermarkets or hypermarkets every week, and the same percentage of consumers spend the largest single portion of their grocery expenditure in these places.

However, 78 percent of these shoppers still regularly visit traditional markets. Only 13 percent of the consumers use department stores regularly, a mere 1 percent of all consumers spend more money there than anywhere else.

The survey also revealed that Chinese consumers shop around and shop frequently.

While most other countries' shoppers tend to use only one or two stores per month, 31 per cent of Chinese consumers visit two shops and 25 percent visit three shops each month.

"The majority of consumers see little or no need to conduct a regular significant shop, which means they are shopping more but are spending less in an individual store," Kosta said.

(China Daily December 16, 2002)