Chinese consumer trend shows instant purchasing habits

Chinese consumers are more inclined to immediate purchases with slightly less willingness to delay spending, according to a report on consumers' financial literacy released on Wednesday.

Full-time students have the lowest willingness to delay spending, said the report by the Financial Consumer Protection Bureau of the People's Bank of China.

Meanwhile, people are generally less prepared to handle unexpected expenditures, according to the report based on an investigation of 18,600 samples nationwide.

The investigation covers eleven factors including financial products' cognition and selection, financial planning, savings and prices, bank card management and investment and finance.

Chinese consumers' financial literacy was analyzed using comprehensive perspectives including attitude, behavior, knowledge and techniques.

Most of those investigated recognized the importance of popularizing financial knowledge and education on campus and attach greater importance to personal credit.

The top five types of financial knowledge that consumers are most interested in are bank cards, including debit and credit cards; bank financial products; housing loans; funds and stock investment; and electronic banking services, including mobile banking.

The report shows Chinese consumers' financial behavior needs improvement, particularly in terms of family expenditure planning and implementation, understanding of bills, credit card repayment and preparation for unexpected expenditures.

The investigation also identified the need to develop more digitalized educational tools to tackle the challenges brought by digital technology and its impact on finance.

Education, income, living area, age and profession are five factors that impact Chinese consumers' financial literacy. According the report, there have been slight improvements as the overall financial literacy index rose from 63.71 in 2017 to 64.77 in 2019.