Study: Consumers wary of brands' official websites

Social media gets higher marks on trust, Boston Consulting report finds

Chinese consumers don't really trust official brand websites, preferring instead to get most of their shopping tips from word-of-mouth methods such as social media - and that means companies need to leverage multiple platforms, according to a study of the retail sector.

Chinese consumers concentrate most of their shopping activity on a few websites. They spend a lot of time educating themselves before they buy, and they prefer recommendations from those they know, according to a study by the Boston Consulting Group Inc titled The Chinese Digital Consumer in a Multichannel World.