Daigou as a Social Practice: Social Capital, CulturalCapital and Trust in Online Trading

This dissertation presents research into daigou, Chinese people who travel, live, or study abroad and sell goods to customers back home in China. Daigou emerged as part of Chinese consumer culture from the combination of the emerging middle class in China who, with increasing disposable income, were increasingly attracted to Western luxury goods, which were either unavailable in China or expensive due to high import tariffs. As an entrepreneur, daigou saw the opportunity of economic globalization and digital, social media, and ecommerce development to develop small-scale businesses trading goods in China. The theoretical framework of this study combines consumer culture, practice theory and online marketing with a focus on the Chinese cultural context. The empirical research presented in the dissertation is a case study that combines fifty-six interviews with daigou and consumers about their attitudes and experiences of daigou, six participant observation studies of daigou practice and a netnography of how daigou use digital and social media. The interpretations of the findings of these studies through thematic analyses drew on the concepts of economic, social and cultural capital, trust and the capabilities of daigou to provide an account of daigou practice.The research fi ndings provide a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of daigou traders and consumers’ understanding of daigou. Daigou is analysed as resulting from the great economic changes since China’s reform and opening up. The participants generally believe that daigou has its reasons and rationality but question its legitimacy. Interview studies provided evidence of the development of the daigou phenomenon and how daigou mobilizes the resources of understanding markets and consumer needs, as well as knowledge of purchasing, handling, and selling goods. The findings also suggest that young Chinese people are entrepreneurial and engaged with consumer culture and economic globalization in the digital era. The analysis also demonstrated that daigou develop business strategies to provide high-quality Western goods to Chinese consumers. This study emphasizes the independent initiative of daigou shoppers and shows their multiple skills in the practice and marketing strategies in cyberspace. Daigou also demonstrate risk-taking initiatives and are focused on developing and sustaining positive relationships with their consumers through their understanding of markets, goods and social media as a relationship marketing tool. Social media applications and platforms provide the technological affordances that sustain this combination of business acumen and social relationships with consumers. The dissertation provides original data on daigou practices. It contributes to understanding daigou as a social practice that mediates between Western markets and Chinese consumers by understanding market conditions and fashions, acting as cultural intermediaries, and using relationship marketing techniques. The dissertation ends with reflections on the implications of this study for theories of practice and consumer culture.