The survey found that healthcare is the top spending priority for Chinese families. Nearly 70% ranked it as the most important expenditure area. Consumers are empowered and proactive in managing their health, with over 80% researching online before doctor visits. News websites are a key information source on health topics. The internet and online peer communities are trusted platforms for sensitive health issues. Women play a large role in healthcare decisions and spending, which is increasing on preventative care and wellness.

1. China Healthcare & Wellness Consumer Survey
Prepared by Burson·Marsteller & Kantar Health
June 2011

2. Content
 Executive Summary
 Overview & Methodology
 Key Findings
Priorities and expenditure patterns in health and wellness
Information sources for health and wellness
 Implications

3. Executive Summary

4. Key Findings
 Healthcare tops family spending priority:
+ Almost 70% of consumers rank healthcare as the most important expenditure for Chinese families today.
 Empowered and proactive consumers:
+ Preventive-care minded
+ Over 80% of consumers surveyed will conduct research on the Internet for information
every time or most of the time before they consult a doctor.
 News-driven information:
+ A key source of healthcare information (69%), second only to doctor’s advice (73%).
 Internet and online peer-to-peer communication “trusted” (viewed as credible)
platforms for healthcare information:
+ 96% will turn to the Internet for information on sensitive health topics
 Women love themselves and men love their wives.

5. Overview & Methodology

6. Overview & Methodology
 In February 2011, Burson-Marsteller and Kantar Health surveyed 1,000 consumers across
Tier I and Tier II cities in China to gain new insights into current healthcare and wellness
trends, with a focus on expenditure patterns and information sources.
Online survey
Methodology • 1000 consumers
• 3 Tier I cities & 11 Tier II cities
Healthcare & Wellness
Topics • Expenditure patterns
• Information sources
Gain new insights into current Healthcare & Wellness trends

7. Sample Distribution
Tier I Cities Tier II
Beijing Shanghai Guangzhou cities[1]
Male 83 63 57 418
Gender
Female 22 37 45 294
Middle income 50 50 50 352
Income Level [2]
High income 55 50 52 360
Age 25 - 35 27 18 23 554
Age Age 36 – 45 33 38 62 112
Age 46+ 45 44 17 46
TOTAL N = 1019 105 100 102 712
[1] Tier I cities include: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Tier II cities include: Shenzhen, Nanjing, Tianjin, Shenyang, Jinan, Xi’an, Wuhan, Chengdu,
Zhengzhou, Hangzhou and Changsha.
[2] Mid-income means: the family income is 6,000 – 9,999 RMB per month.
High-income means: the family income is 10,000 + RMB per month.
 Over 50% of the respondents are college graduates.
 Over 70% are professionals and mid-to-high level executives.

8. Priorities and expenditure patterns
in healthcare and wellness

9. Healthcare is the third largest family expenditure in China
Currently, consumers are spending a significant amount of their household
expenditure on healthcare. Nearly 50% of consumers indicate that healthcare
is the third largest expenditure area for their families.
63%
49%
45%
Children’s
Food Healthcare
Education

10. And the most important area for most consumers
Almost 70% of consumers consider healthcare as one of the most important
expenditure areas for Chinese families today, exceeding food and children’s
education.
55%
Children’s
66%
Food education
67%
Healthcare

11. Healthcare expenditure = better quality of life
72% respondents agree that they are spending money on healthcare and
wellness so as to attain a better quality of life for themselves and their family.
TOTAL 72%
Beijing 70%
Shanghai 69%
Guangzhou 75%
Tier II cities 72%

12. Consumers are spending money on critical healthcare needs
A large majority of consumers focus healthcare expenditure on critical and
common illnesses.
Strong willingness to spend on health maintenance and preventive care.
67% 70%
77%
80%
88%

13. High-income families more willing to spend on healthcare prevention
Consumers’ willingness to spend on medical check ups
High-income consumers are
more willing to spend on medical
check-ups, vaccinations and
illness prevention.
Consumers’ willingness to spend on vaccinations Consumers’ willingness to spend on illness prevention

14. Females are making most decisions on health and wellness
expenditure matters
Most females are making key health
and wellness expenditure decisions
for their families.
And their decision-making power
becomes more evident as they get
Key decision maker for health and wellness
expenditure in families older.
Female age 26-35 Female age 36-45 Female age 46+

15. Women are keen to increase their expenditure levels on healthcare and
wellness in the near future
Females are spending more money
on beauty enhancement, wellness
and nutrition, and Chinese
traditional medicine.
Healthcare/wellness expenditure now When it comes to wellness, females
are spending money on themselves.
Men are also more likely to spend
money on their wives than
themselves.

16. Healthcare and wellness
information sources

17. News websites: a key category of information source
Information sources on healthcare/wellness matters
The top 3 key information sources
on healthcare and wellness
related matters are doctors, news
websites and family/friends.
* CTM = Chinese traditional medicine

18. Proactive health consumers
Research before making expenditure decisions
Almost all consumers will conduct some
research before making key healthcare/
wellness expenditure decisions.
About 1/3 of consumers surveyed will
conduct extensive research.
Comparison by city/tier level
Comparison by income level

19. Internet: most consumers will conduct research online before they
consult a doctor
Online research before turning to doctors
Although doctors’ advice is
the most reliable information
source for most consumers,
over 80% of consumers
surveyed will conduct
Comparison by city/tier level research on the Internet for
information every time or
most of the time before they
consult a doctor.
Comparison by income level
n= 1019 105 100 102 712 622 245 152

20. Women rely more on word-of-mouth and first-hand information
Sources for credible healthcare/wellness information
Compared with males, females rely
more on word-of-mouth and
information direct from doctors,
family, friends and specialists.
Men prefer to turn to websites for
healthcare and wellness
information, especially news
websites.

21. Information consumption patterns differ between men and women
Sources for credible healthcare/wellness information
Women are relationship driven;
they rely more on word-of-mouth
and information direct from
doctors, family, friends and
specialists.
Men prefer to turn to websites for
healthcare and wellness
information, especially news
websites.

22. But both males and females are active online
Current digital channels consumers are participating in
Males and females both show high
participation levels in social media
channels such as blogs, BBS, social
networking sites, video sharing sites
and micro-blogs.
Other top websites Almost half of the men surveyed are
turning to general news websites for
health and wellness information.

23. BBS forums considered most influential
Most influential digital channels
BBS forums
Social networking About 60% consumers surveyed are
sites
Blogs participating in BBS forums, social
Video sharing
sites networking sites and blogs.
1 Micro-blogs
2 3 4 5 6 Other websites And they feel these are also the
Participation levels across digital channels most influential and credible digital
channels.
* BBS forums = Bulletin board system are online forms used
to exchange public messages or files, mostly dedicated to a
special interest
N = 1019

24. A look into recent BBS conversations….
• Recent BBS conversations on Tianya and
Netease forums have centered on remedies
and questions around:
o Herbal medicine
o Skin whitening
o Sexually transmitted diseases
o Anti-ageing
o Nasal and throat infections
• The hot topic of discussion in BBS forums on
Sina.com is death from overwork, triggered
by the recent death of a 25-year old
employee at PWC who kept a micro-blog
about her fatigue and workload
o Intense debate over whether overwork threatens
the health of white-collar workers
o Other white-collar topics include anti-ageing,
mental health, backache and weight loss
N = 1019

25. The most popular BBS forum is Tianya
1
Tianya, which is visited most
frequently by 36% of 2
respondents, is clearly the most 3
popular BBS forum for health and
4
wellness information.
5
Participation levels at other BBS
6
forums are all below 10% and
generally low. 7
8
9
n = 553
Participate rate of different BBS forums

26. The top web portal most consumers visit is Sina
Sina.com.cn is visited most
1
frequently by 36% of
2
respondents, and is the top web
3 portal for health and wellness
4 information.
5 39.net, a specialized health
6 website, ranked only 7th most
7 popular (3%) , after general
portal sites Netease, Sohu,
8
Taobao and Baidu.
9
n = 140
Participate rate of different websites

27. Internet for sensitive health and wellness topics
96% of consumers will turn to the
Internet and social networking sites
for sensitive health and wellness
topics.
Key attributes fordata source for sensitive topics
Information or healthcare/wellness information Consumers are turning to the
Internet as an information source
on sensitive health and wellness
topics more than they do to doctors
for advice.
N = 1019

28. But credible information on sensitive health or wellness topics is scarce
Sensitive healthcare/wellness topics
Consumers are uncomfortable sharing
1 or discussing topics such as sexually
transmitted diseases, AIDS, infertility
and abortion. Comparatively, most
consumers are more comfortable
speaking about mental health,
contraception and cosmetic surgery
Sensitive healthcare/wellness topics with limited info. openly.
However, for topics like mental health,
cosmetic surgery and infertility,
consumers are finding it difficult to get
access to credible information and data.
N = 1019

29. Implications

30. Implications
 Personal health empowerment: consumers want to own health
knowledge and decision-making power
+ Shift from “patient education” to supporting “health learning”
 Re-examine the “doctor knows best” communications
structure
+ Doctors are part of the information gathering channels.
+ From a consumers’ brand experience perspective, doctors are part of the brand
experience.
 Community as a critical backdrop to messaging structure
+ News: social relevancy and common conversation thread
+ Digital: peer-to-peer; safety to belong and gather information
+ Lifestyle: quality of life; relational (friends and family); life stages

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32. China Healthcare & Wellness Consumer Survey
Efen Huang Simon Li
Senior Healthcare Strategist General Manager
Burson-Marsteller China Kantar Health
efen.huang@bm.com Simon.li@kantarhealth.com