It's a statistic heard around the world: China's 1.3 billion people. Of course when companies see that statistic, they immediately think "consumers" instead of "people."

And there's no shortage of books on how exactly to get this crowd of all crowds to buy your widget.

One Billion Customers: Lessons for the Front Lines of Doing Business in China, by James McGregor, is the tip of this literature iceberg.

But not all businesses in China target Chinese.

Look no further than The Bookworm in Beijing, a three-for-one English-language library, bookstore and café.

Or the Capital Club, which touts itself as "Beijing's premier business club" and caters to an international crowd.

And just pick up a thick copy of That's Beijing to find the myriad of advertisers that must believe there's something to the English-language market in China.

Of course the advertisers at Beijing Review, and yours truly, hope there's a foreign market. Otherwise, we mind as well turn these into Chinese characters.

But does the expat market really matter in China?

While marketing researchers suggest it largely doesn't-many haven't spent time in analyzing this area-others suggest that even with extra financial burdens that some expats currently face, the time is ripe for marketing products and services to them.

Just ask Lidia

Lidia Sakarapani is not only member relations director for the Capital Club-and thus knows more than a little bit about the expat market-she's an Australian herself often in need of products and services she can't find in Beijing.

"Trying to buy basics like pasta and canned tomato sauce is difficult," Sakarapani said. "Normal supermarkets don't even consider those items. You have to go to Jenny Lou's and that's extremely expensive."

The expat community isn't exactly lobbying for more feta cheese and other beloved imports, but they're a busy group. Many of them work around the clock, fielding calls from home companies during EST working hours. That doesn't mean they don't need to eat. Or read.

The Bookworm was opened in 2002, and four successful years have passed. Originally harboring a private collection of 2,000 books, The Bookworm now boasts more than 20,000 books, with many new books added to the shelves each week.

The concept began from a simple kernel of truth: It's hard to get English-language books in Beijing.

"So I thought maybe we could have a sort of small collection where people can exchange and borrow books so that they don't have to bring their books back from their own countries, because books are heavy," said owner Alexandra Pearson.