Understanding consumers key to survival

Market gets more competitive as shoppers become sophisticated and demanding, but also emotional in terms of what they buy

The drama of Chinese consumers going crazy for high-tech toilet seats being sold in Japan during the Lunar New Year holiday has led to a kind of "soul-searching" back home.

For Chinese manufacturers, it is a huge embarrassment because most of the "smart" electronic seats are actually made in China. Beyond embarrassment, it also said something about Chinese consumers' changing thinking that deserves careful study by foreign companies that are vying for a piece of the world's second-largest consumer market.