In social settings in China, consumers routinely pay more for tea than Western tea drinkers and more than for the teas they consume at home. Researchers explain that their motivation, in part, is to protect their social standing and conform to the group norms. They are more willing to explore unique teas and drink sustainably produced tea at home.
Chinese tea drinkers consider teas that sell for $20 to $30 (RMB150) for 500 grams to be inexpensive everyday teas. In social settings, they pay twice that for premium teas and as much as $6 to $10 per gram or $3000 (RMB20,000) for 500g of specialty tea.
In contrast, European and North American tea drinkers spend 5-10 cents per gram for tea consumed at home. A box of 100 black tea bags in the US, Canada, or the UK sells for less than $10 ($7.87 Lipton Yellow Label).
Why are Chinese and Asian consumers comfortable paying 200x more than Western tea drinkers?
Chinese researchers studying the purchasing behavior of tea buyers suggest that “tea should be perceived more as a cultural product than a fast-moving consumer good.”
The motives behind brand and prestige chase are positively related to social situations. In contrast, motives of sustainability, pragmatism, and chasing novelty and uniqueness are positively related to consumer purchase under self-use situations, writes Lei Wang at the College of Economics and Management Zhejiang A&F University in Hangzhou. Co-authors include Lingyun Tong and Anne Toppinen at the Department of Forest Sciences at the University of Helsinki, Finland.
The paper, Cultural Motives Affecting Tea Purchase Behavior Under Two Usage Situations in China: A Study of Renqing, Mianzi, Collectivism, and Man-Nature Unity Culture, was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Ethnic Foods in 2021.
The authors write that “consumer demands on tea have not been explored sufficiently from a cultural perspective. This research aims to examine motives that are driving Chinese tea consumption.” Two hundred and eighty tea drinkers took part in the study of consumer motives and usage. The researchers discovered a linkage between Chinese culture and consumer motives and described five consumer psychological motives.
According to the authors, “usage situations are arguably the most influential in predicting consumer behavior,” with strong implications for segmentation and identifying niche markets. However, most studies on usage situations have not been examined outside Western culture. Hence, the first intention of this research is to explore usage situations outside of Western culture.
The implications of research results are twofold. First, this study suggests that consumer motives derived from the local culture and usage situations are related in China, enriching the research of usage situations outside of Western culture.
Consider gifting. The authors observe that gift-giving in China is arguably influenced by brand and prestige-chasing motives due to renqing [REN QUAN] (described as human feelings) and Mianzi [MI ANZ I] (or face, described in the west as reputation, prestige, social standing).
For example, gifts on social occasions symbolize the intentions and image of givers and the respect felt for receivers, especially when they turn into instruments to save and maintain face. The amount paid, brand, and importance of the products differ. Willingness to pay for an item can be higher in such circumstances than the ordinary self-use level to save one’s own mianzi and to care for others’ feelings and faces. Conversely, tea purchases for self-use purposes appear more related to value at price.
Researcher Lei Wang writes that “tea-drinking behavior discloses cultural and social characteristics rather than just for quenching thirst. Yet, only a handful of research exploring consumer behavior of tea, with many focusing on tea’s functional value and consumers’ social demographic characteristics.”
“Of all tea consumption nations,” she continues, “China [where tea originated], is an interesting tea market to examine. Despite its long tea history, tea consumption per capita in China is much lower [1.25 pounds per person] than that in many other nations, such as Türkiye [6.96 lb] and the UK [4.28 lb].”
“It is interesting to examine tea consumers and their purchase behavior under this circumstance. More importantly, to understand the growth of tea consumption in a culture-rich market, it is not enough to ask what people purchase and who is purchasing (demographic variables), but rather why people purchase and when (for example, usage situations). Hence, the second motivation is understanding the cultural aspects that motivate individuals to consume tea in China,” writes Wang.