A Comparative Study On Trading Up Of Middle Class Between China And The United States

Researchers from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have found out that middle class consumers in the US tends to trade up, i.e. they are more willing to buy expensive and high quality products or services that cater to their technological, functional and emotional needs.In fact, Jim Hemerling, Managing Director of BCG Greater China, found that this phenomenon of trading up is not confined to the US but is also popular in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. Thus, it is not surprising that trading up emerges in China's huge consumer market. And with residents' growing income and spending, the expansion of middle class and the penetrating influence of American consumerism, trading up would become even more prevalent. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to gradually establish a theoretical framework of trading up after exploration of this phenomenon and to study its development in China through comparative analysis of trading up in China and the US.This paper integrates literature study, quantitative analysis, comparative analysis and other methodologies. First, the term of trading up is defined and its emotional needs are analyzed with a duality model. Then, a comparative study on the background and the status quo of trading up in China and the US is carried out with quantitative analysis and literature research. At last, the paper concludes with the developing tendency of China's trading up and suggestions on how to deal with it.