Ifop recently conducted a survey among the Chinese middle-class* in five main cities (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Shenyang) to understand perceptions towards products made in different countries around the world. This study reveals the strengths and weaknesses associated to “Made in…” China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, UK and USA.
“Made in”: a key purchase driver
The country of origin is an essential information to Chinese consumers: 44% claim to “Always or most of the time” pay attention to it when making a purchase, 30% “Sometimes”. Also 70% consider it as “Very or somewhat” important when it comes to choosing a product or a service.
France is strongly associated with Luxury and the values attached to this sector
From the eight countries evaluated, France is the most associated with one particular field: Luxury. This strength in the field of luxury contributes to associating France to dimensions of know-how, creativity and ability to make one dream which are of high value. However, the association with this sector conceals other good things France has to offer to Chinese consumers and paradoxically this country is not much associated to automotive, energy or aeronautic sectors despite major assets in these fields.
French companies and brands obviously lack visibility there and need to better “educate” local consumers to raise their profile. Automotive maker Citroën shows the way with the success of its DS model positioned as a premium product playing with the codes of luxury: brand heritage, high scale service, extreme personalization, etc.
China is developing legitimacy in technology
Germany is strongly associated in Chinese people’s mind with automotive and technology, Italy with Luxury (but to a lesser extent than France), the USA with technology, aeronautics and Internet. In the field of fast moving consumer goods cultural proximity plays a major role as Korea and Japan are the most associated with Cosmetics while China and Japan are seen as leading countries when it comes to food.
In technological fields the USA and to a lesser extent Germany are perceived to be leaders, but China stands closely behind in its citizens’ view. Obviously China is becoming more and more confident about its own capabilities in the field of technologies, most probably thanks to the success stories of Alibaba, Huawei, Xiaomi and the likes.
One should notice that none of the investigated countries is clearly associated to sustainable development nor to high quality of service, two areas highly encouraged by the Chinese authorities and offering obvious opportunities to companies in today’s China.
This is an abstract from an article written by Christophe Jourdain and published in the Connexions magazine by the French Chamber of Commerce in China.
(*) With at least 5000 RMB monthly household income
