De consumenten willen binnenlands kopen, maar zijn niet volledig overtuigd over kwaliteit

Door William J. McEwen

De veiligheid van het product is een goed-bekend gemaakt onderwerp van de ongerustheid van de consument in de Verenigde Staten en elders geweest, met sommige recente high-profile rappels die speelgoed impliceren dat in China wordt gemaakt. Maar de productkwaliteit en de vrijheid-van-tekorten zijn geen overwegingen voor China enkel wat betreft zijn uitvoer. De kwaliteit is ook een essentiële kwestie voor Chinese bedrijven die aan markt aan meer en meer savvy binnenlandse verbruikers zoeken.

De Chinese consumenten van vandaag hebben typisch een verscheidenheid van merken waarvan zij kunnen kiezen, of zij een microgolfoven of een mobiele telefoon zoeken. En, wanneer het over vervaardigde goederen komt, zijn er concurrerende merken - zowel buitenlands als binnenlands. Dientengevolge, is de productbeschikbaarheid niet de met voeten tredende factor die bepaalt wat de Chinese consumenten zullen kopen.

Echt als de waargenomen kwaliteit van het product, zowel is een essentiële overweging voor om het even welke consument, ongeacht of zij in Peking of Boston leven. Het vertrouwen in de verplichting van een bedrijf om zijn beloften te houden is, zoals Gallup het onderzoek heeft getoond, de basis stichting voor voordelig verdragen, „bezette“ klantenverhouding. De kopers zullen niet houden kopend als een bedrijf zijn beloften breekt.

Gallup de Opiniepeilingen in China omvatten vragen die rechtstreeks aan deze kwesties spreken, en dienen om zowel de uitdaging als de kans te onderstrepen die Chinese bedrijven confronteert die hun goederen willen thuis verkopen.

Two Gallup questions address potential buyers’ desires and preferences, asking consumers what they would ideally like to do. And here the answer is quite clear: Chinese consumers would prefer to buy Chinese-made products. And this preference became even more pronounced between 2004 and 2006. (As an important caveat, these data were collected before the high-profile food and product recalls in 2007)

Chinese consumers would love to support Chinese brands … all other things being equal. But that’s not always the case. A desire to support local brands and local industries is only one part of the consumer’s buying equation and, as any number of Detroit automakers might attest, this desire doesn’t always translate into a buyer’s actual behavior. Chinese companies must also consider the Chinese consumer’s perception of product quality and performance reliability.

Addressing the Quality Imperative

Gallup’s China survey includes a question that taps into prospective buyers’ quality perceptions, images that are critically relevant in a competitive world that offers attractive and available alternatives. Importantly, and certainly good news for Chinese companies, there was a noteworthy decline between 2004 and 2006 in the degree to which the Chinese rate the quality of their country’s manufactured products as “poor” or “only fair.”

However, China’s domestically produced goods are not yet acclaimed as “excellent,” and about one in four Chinese consumers remains at least somewhat skeptical about the quality of what their country’s manufacturers produce. The percentage who feel China’s product quality is high (excellent (7%) or very good (21%)) is about equal to the percentage who feel it is low (poor (3%) or only fair (24%)). Of concern, looking at the vital and attractive urban consumer market, a third (34%) of these prospective buyers rate Chinese-made products as low in quality and only 1 in 20 (5%) deems them to be “excellent.”

The quality of products made in some other countries, while far less familiar to Chinese consumers, is about as likely to be seen as “excellent/very good” and, worthy of note, much less likely to be rated as “fair/poor.” Thus, they represent competitive options with relatively little negative product-quality-image baggage to overcome.

Of course, it’s important to remember that domestic Chinese manufacturers typically enjoy a key economic, cost-of-production advantage over foreign companies. This pricing advantage has real relevance to Chinese buyers who may be increasingly hard-pressed to match their dreams with their incomes. In addition, far fewer consumers now have major doubts as to the quality of made-in-China durables. But it’s also clear that Chinese companies cannot simply rely on the Chinese consumer’s desire to support local industries. In the increasingly competitive marketing environment that now exists in China, Chinese manufacturers must continue to elevate their game. This has implications for manufacturing quality control, as well as for customer service, consumer communications, and brand marketing.

Survey Methods

Results are based on face-to-face interviews with more than 3,500 adults per year in China, aged 18 and older, conducted in 2004 and 2006. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
 

Dr. William J. McEwen is Global Practice Leader, Brand Management for Gallup. Gallup is a renowned global management consulting firm with over 40 offices around the world including offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou.