What does it mean by "fleet of foot" and "brand-licentious" in the context?
In an article from The Economist discussing China's Innovation, it writes:

"Chinese firms now outsell foreign rivals in such things as household appliances, internet software and consumer electronics. They are helped by the fact that their home market is so huge. But they are also fleet of foot. Chinese consumers are ready adopters of smartphones, social media and e-commerce, as well as being value-conscious and brand-licentious. If consumer firms can make it in China, they can make it anywhere."

My questions are:
1) Does "fleet of foot" in the sentence mean that "Chinese firms are progressing rapidly"? Can you give me some other examples of using this idiom in your daily life?

2) Does "value-conscious" mean that they pay attention to products' values (rather than superficial things)?

3) Does "brand-licentious" mean that Chinese customers won't easily become a follower of a certain brand (implying in this context that the only critierion is the value of products)?

Thanks a lot!

Question

What does it mean by "fleet of foot" and "brand-licentious" in the context?
In an article from The Economist discussing China's Innovation, it writes:

"Chinese firms now outsell foreign rivals in such things as household appliances, internet software and consumer electronics. They are helped by the fact that their home market is so huge. But they are also fleet of foot. Chinese consumers are ready adopters of smartphones, social media and e-commerce, as well as being value-conscious and brand-licentious. If consumer firms can make it in China, they can make it anywhere."

My questions are:
1) Does "fleet of foot" in the sentence mean that "Chinese firms are progressing rapidly"? Can you give me some other examples of using this idiom in your daily life?

2) Does "value-conscious" mean that they pay attention to products' values (rather than superficial things)?

3) Does "brand-licentious" mean that Chinese customers won't easily become a follower of a certain brand (implying in this context that the only critierion is the value of products)?

Thanks a lot!

Answer

"The Economist" can be taken as a model of good English. However, although this is well-written, grammatical English, the writer is also trying to be clever and entertain his readers by creative choices of words and phrase.

"Fleet of foot" is clear. It simply means "fast." Here, it means "fast" in the sense of "nimble" or "agile." They can change products quickly to meet changes in the market, and get new products to market quickly.

"Fleet of foot" is old-fashioned language that means "able to run quickly on foot." You'd expect to read it in a context like "The huntress Atalanta was fair to look upon withal, yet wondrous fleet of foot."

"Brand-licentious" is puzzling. "Licentious" normally means "sexually promiscuous." Here, I think the writer is inventing a phrase to mean the opposite of "brand loyalty." I think it means Chinese consumers switch brands easily. A Chinese company can't just keep selling the same old product and counting on consumers to keep buying it because it's a familiar brand.