The unwritten rules of gifting spirits in China
The brief
A world-famous spirits maker had built its gifting range for traditional retail and travel retail mostly around what the trade asked for. Earlier research had given it a set of consumer need states, such as achievement, discernment, comfort and bonding. Now it wanted to know whether its gift propositions matched why, when and to whom Chinese consumers actually give a bottle.
Why it was hard
Gifting in China runs on rules nobody writes down. A bottle for a boss, a client, a father-in-law at Spring Festival or a friend at a wedding carries a different meaning each time, and getting it wrong costs face. People rarely explain these rules in a group, because to them they are obvious, and the business side of gifting is something most prefer not to discuss in front of strangers.
How we did it
We began with an online community, where respondents logged every occasion on which they had given an adult a gift, privately and at their own pace. That surfaced occasions nobody would volunteer in a room, business gifts included. From it we built a map of gifting in China: every occasion, who is involved, the mindset behind it, what the gift must achieve, which spirits fit and which never would, and what the ideal pack looks like.
Four focus groups in Shanghai then went deep on each occasion: what is at stake, and whether cognac, whisky, gin, rum or cocktail-based drinks belong there. Business and personal gifting were covered in separate sessions, so people could talk frankly about gifts for clients and officials. The client’s team followed every group live through our streaming service, with simultaneous interpretation.
What the client got
An occasion-by-occasion picture of spirits gifting in China (when, with whom, in what mindset, what gift and why), which the client used to rebuild its propositions around the consumer rather than the trade.
What it shows
A private online phase followed by face-to-face groups gets past the polite answer to the rules people actually follow.
Services: online research · focus groups · live streaming
