Are You in The Chinese Medical Tourism Market? Chinese are Seeking Healthcare Overseas

Despite the fact that China’s economy has recently been growing at a slower pace, the country has undergone a steady increase in both rural and urban disposable income. However, urban population experienced higher income growth rate, and they are the segment of the Chinese population that changed its lifestyle and consumption habits. It is noticeable that urban Chinese consumers are becoming to be more attached to more advanced needs, being the primary ones already satisfied, and especially one among them is becoming more and more crucial: healthcare.

Due to lack of drugs, surgeons with the necessary skills and advanced technology, many Chinese, looking for better quality and sometimes a lower price, travel overseas for medical treatments. Especially upper middle-class (with an annual disposable income from 106,000 to 229,000 RMB), affluent (with an annual disposable income major of 229,000 RMB) and high-net-worth individual (with an amount of investable assets major of 10 million RMB) are recurring to overseas medical treatments. In these three segments of the Chinese population, the health care awareness is spreading really fast, and more and more wealthy Chinese are willing to fly abroad seeking the best treatment available. The majority of the rich person in China now sign health insurances that comprise overseas medical treatments.

The numbers are growing rapidly in the last few years, with travelers’ volumes estimated to be increasing at 31% annually since 2012, and in 2015 there were registered around half a million people traveling from China for medical tourism.

Chinese overseas medical treatment market: how to tap-in?

Our client is one of the most important healthcare medical facility in the world, and it sought to expand its business in China. The objective of the client was to gain insights about the Chinese overseas medical treatment market, with a particular focus on severe diseases treatments, and to promote its services through the Chinese media. Our well-experienced team was asked to provide an assessment regarding size, demand, supply as well as a comprehensive competitor analysis throughout the country. Therefore, Daxue Consulting prepared a tailor-made market research comprising the following steps:

Phase 1: Desk Research & in-depth interviews

As a first step, our research team executed an extensive desk research to gather preliminary information about this market segment in China and obtain a comprehensive database. Then, Daxue Consulting conducted online research comprising the size of the market, the main market drivers, the potential clients, the distribution of the potential clients and the main competitors in the country.

Secondly, our team performed a series of in-depth interviews to professionals of this market segment. Daxue contacted doctors, medical agencies top managers and lawyers. These interviews helped our team to get first-handed experiences of the market.

According to the Project Managers Shawn Lou and Christina Ding, contact professionals in this industry, especially the lawyers, was fundamental to get an accurate and reliable picture of the Chinese law situation regarding sensible topics such as healthcare and medical treatments.

Phase 2: Partnership Screening

Once obtained a comprehensive database on Chinese overseas medical treatment market, Daxue Consulting research team performed a screening process of the potential partners for our client, already operating in the healthcare in China.

Thanks to our project managers long experience in the healthcare industry in China, having carried out many projects for different clients overseas, our research team was able to shortlist the top five potential partners, which they considered the most successful and suitable for our client needs.

Phase 3: Marketing plan & final recommendation

Daxue Consulting exploits its geographical and cultural specialization for the Chinese market, operating on a national scale.

To promote our client service successfully in China, Daxue team provided an offline marketing strategy and an online marketing strategy. These strategies were tailor-made according to our client’s needs, offering all the communication tools available to expand exposure to potential customers and industry players and to reach and connect with the potential customers. The marketing plan also comprises our market research team set of final recommendation to our client to practically establish online and offline communication channels, such as official website, SEO strategies, Chinese social media, attending exhibitions and events, and finally networking activities.

To know more about the Chinese overseas medical treatment market, contact our dedicated project managers by email at dx@daxueconsulting.com