A survey of Chinese American consumers reveals their strong preference for certain brands over key competitors in specific product categories as well as their demographic profile and language preferences. The study, commissioned by KTSF Television and conducted by Interviewing Service of America (ISA), included interviews with a random sampling of 500 Chinese American residents in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The interviews, conducted between July 20th and August 3rd of this year, showed that:

• Telecommunications: AT&T has the dominant share of the Chinese residential market. MCI and Sprint are a distant second and third. More than two thirds of Chinese households make international calls monthly, placing an average of 3.8 calls. Over a third use 10-10 numbers to place international calls.
• Hamburger Fast Food Restaurant Patronage: Two thirds (65%) of Chinese consumers visit at least one fast food hamburger restaurant monthly. McDonald's has the largest share by a wide margin (41% share), followed by Burger King with a 16% share. Jack in the Box, Carl's Jr. and In N'Out Burger have minor shares. About a third of Chinese consumers express no opinion as to their preference in terms of best value and best place for hamburgers, indicating potential by chains for winning new customers.
• Banking Services: Bank of America has the largest share of Chinese bank customers with a 35% share. Wells Fargo follows with a 17% share. United Savings, American Savings, and Washington Mutual are the only other banks with a larger than 5% market share.
• Soft Drink Usage: More than half (53%) of Chinese consumers prefer Coca-Cola by a wide margin over other soft drinks. Eight out of 10 Chinese consumers purchase soft drinks.
• Computer Ownership/ Internet Usage: Three quarters of Chinese households own a home computer. IBM, Compaq, Apple, HP, and Dell are the most popular brands with IBM leading with 16 %. 58% of Chinese households have access to the Internet. AOL has the dominant share of Chinese Internet usage with a 39% share. Yahoo is by far the most popular website.
• Headache Remedy/Pain Reliever Usage: Tylenol was widely preferred by the Chinese, used by 50%. Advil had a 9% share. Bayer Aspirin, Anacin, Excedrin, Aleve and other brands were also measured.
• Online Stock/Mutual Fund Trading: 22% of Chinese households trade stocks/mutual funds online. Charles Schwab and E-Trade have the dominant share of the market.
• Life Insurance: Half (49%) of Chinese-Americans in San Francisco area currently have life insurance. New York Life is the life insurance preferred by this group. Met Life and Prudential also have a substantial share.
• Car Ownership/Planning to Purchase: 90% of Chinese households own/lease a car; the average number of cars per household is 1.1. The most popular cars are Toyota (35%), Honda (21%), and Nissan (11%). Almost three-quarters (73%) of the cars were purchased new. One out of four Chinese households plan to buy a new car in the next 12 months.
• Air Travel: 52% of Chinese households (one or more members) have traveled by air internationally in the past 12 months. United, Singapore and China Airlines are the airlines most often utilized for international air travel; United (27%) and Southwest (16% for domestic travel).
• Amusement Park Visiting Habits: About 4 out of 10 Chinese households visited an amusement park in the past year. Disneyland (52%) is the most frequented amusement park, followed by Great America (19%) and Universal Studios (18%).
• Electronic Equipment Purchases: 43% of Chinese households purchased electronic equipment in the past year, Computers, TVs, cell phones and VCRs were the most frequently purchased items.

The study found that most interviewees remain dependent on their native language, despite the fact that the average Chinese American has lived in the U.S. for 16 years. Almost half speak Chinese at home all of the time and another third speak predominantly Chinese at home. A vast majority (85%) selected to speak Chinese during the interviews rather than English. Consistent with their dependence on their native language, the majority recalls having read, seen or heard advertising in Chinese. Most recall seeing it on TV (86%). Two thirds of the Chinese who recalled Chinese advertising on TV, attribute it to KTSF. Established in 1976, KTSF-TV is the nation's oldest Asian and European language broadcast station, offering programming in 12 languages and reaching more than 2.75 million households in Northern California.

For more information, please contact Multicultural Marketing Resources, 212-242-3351, infobrokr1@aol.com.