By Tu Lei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-06 14:53

According to estimates by Mastercard, the total purchasing power of younger women in China living on their own or in married households with no children is likely to rise to US$260 billion in 2015 from US$180 billion in 2005.

The figures are included in a report entitled "The Rise of Female Consumerism in China." Released by Ernst & Young, the report shows that Chinese female consumers have become a distinctly major force in consumption.

Chinese women, not necessarily the main bread winners in most households, have a substantial say over how pay checks are spent. An estimated 78 percent of married women make the decisions for grocery and apparel purchases for the family.

When it comes to big ticket purchase items such as a house, a car or various luxury items, around 23 percent of married women indicated that they have the ability to make independent purchase decisions, while the remaining 77 percent of women let their husbands be decision makers. However, their personal preferences remain a major influence over the final decisions made.

Modern Chinese women subscribe to the concept of holding their own purse strings to their wages with only 2 percent relinquishing all financial decision-making power to their spouses.

Saving less, spending more

Many Chinese working women today are living consumption centered lifestyle, choosing to spend now and put off savings for the future. Some 65 percent of female consumers spend 60 percent or more of their monthly wages.

In addition, the proportion of savings is not directly related to the level of wages or the position a women holds at work.

A poll by human resource portal cjol.com found that the more women make and the higher position they hold, the less likely they are to save.

Conversely, women who earn less and hold lower ranks have better saving habits.

According to the Report on Chinese Women's State of Life (2006), home purchases (20 percent), white goods (19 percent), children's education expenses (17 percent) and investments (13 percent) top expenditures for married households, with home purchases ranking as the top expenditure for childless families.

The potential spending power of Chinese female women is estimated to grow to enormous proportions in the next decade.

Elderly women living in "empty nester" households, where their children have grown up and left home, are expected to have a purchasing power of US$150 billion in 2015, up from US$100 billion in 2005.

For women in elderly single households where they live alone, spending power is likely to rise from US$50 billion in 2005 to US$115 billion in 2015, more than double in a decade.