Xi Liu – författare

This book looks at the recent emergence of "new ordinary consumption," in urban China and defines new ordinary consumption as a consumer practice in which people routinely integrate products and items, traditionally reserved for special occasions, into their daily lives, to accentuate their own well-being. The book, through the case study on the adoption of cut flowers and upscaling non-floral goods, provides insights on how deal proneness and high price sensitivity pose challenges to many market retailers. It also proposes how to go about resolving these challenging issues in retail through the alteration of perceived reasons to consume. The author also examined social media marketing narrative that two direct-to-consumer floral goods sellers used, to guide consumers away from the social and cultural baggage of consumption, thereby giving more consideration to products reshaping consumers’ motivation, and driving the purchase. Heeding the findings of floral startups that awakened consumers’ aspirations to redefine their everyday personal lives, and making such aspirations a profitable business, this interesting case study suggests that it is time to revisit the appeal of conspicuous consumption in the present-day Chinese markets.Anyone interested to learn more about the Chinese consumers and their novel consumption habits would find the book a useful reference.

This book looks at the recent emergence of "new ordinary consumption," in urban China and defines new ordinary consumption as a consumer practice in which people routinely integrate products and items, traditionally reserved for special occasions, into their daily lives, to accentuate their own well-being. The book, through the case study on the adoption of cut flowers and upscaling non-floral goods, provides insights on how deal proneness and high price sensitivity pose challenges to many market retailers. It also proposes how to go about resolving these challenging issues in retail through the alteration of perceived reasons to consume. The author also examined social media marketing narrative that two direct-to-consumer floral goods sellers used, to guide consumers away from the social and cultural baggage of consumption, thereby giving more consideration to products reshaping consumers’ motivation, and driving the purchase. Heeding the findings of floral startups that awakened consumers’ aspirations to redefine their everyday personal lives, and making such aspirations a profitable business, this interesting case study suggests that it is time to revisit the appeal of conspicuous consumption in the present-day Chinese markets.Anyone interested to learn more about the Chinese consumers and their novel consumption habits would find the book a useful reference.

This book offers case studies on the emergence of aesthetic consumption in China, that is, daily consumption in which aesthetic and spiritual benefits play a dominant role in consumers’ decision-making.The book opens by discussing the rapid economic and cultural development of China, as well as the influence of social media in expressing consumer cultural capital. It then discusses how the country’s new middle class, in particular high-income urban residents, are shifting away from conspicuous consumption towards aesthetic consumption. The book then dives into three case studies of aesthetic consumption—interior design, wine, and guqin playing—to examine how brands and companies drive consumption by purposely shaping and increasing the target segment’s aesthetic sensibilities. The authors pose three key research questions: (1) How do brands lead consumers to acquire aesthetic tastes, which is crucial for the adoption of products positioned on aesthetics? (2) How do brands and customers co-create aesthetic and spiritual values? (3) How do brands maintain and enhance customer relationships even as tastes and preferences upgrade? The book then closes by developing theoretical contributions and managerial implications for brands seeking to target these customer segments.This book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of marketing, brand management, consumer culture, and China studies.

This edited volume is first of its kind to document and critically analyse the changes took place snice China’s opening-up and reform and its impact on Dongbei, China’s North-East region, known for its remote and vast landscape, unique and othered culture, rich resources, mighty infrastructures and industries, geopolitical significance. Through presenting up-to-date and multidimensional case studies, the book covers three major aspects of Dongbei, which put people at the heart of our scholarly focus, namely people’s mediated life through traditional and new media; people’s social, cultural, and living spaces; artistic and fictional representations of people’s everyday life.