ONLY one in eight respondents from the US and key
markets in Europe think highly of the quality of
products made in China and Korea, a recent Synovate
survey showed.
A little over half (52%) of European respondents,
however, think Japanese-made products are of high
quality, an opinion shared by 41% of their American
counterparts. Findings also revealed that one-third
of the respondents polled consciously seek out goods
made in their countries when they go shopping.
The survey was conducted in December 2005 among
6,011 respondents in the US, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. The
study focused on perceptions of value and quality
of products made in these markets, as well as those
made in China, Japan and Korea.
On a scale of 1 to 5, where '5' means 'high' and '1' means 'low', what does 'Made in Korea' mean to you in terms of quality?
On a scale of 1 to 5, where '5' means 'high' and '1' means 'low', what does 'Made in China' mean to you in terms of quality?
On a scale of 1 to 5, where '5' means 'high' and '1' means 'low', what does 'Made in Japan' mean to you in terms of quality?
"Both China and Korea want to get into the mid- to
luxury/high quality markets because there are richer
margins, especially Korea who are undercut on cost
by the Chinese," says Mike Sherman, Synovate's
executive director of consumer insights in
Asia Pacific. "[Their] products may be seen as
low quality, but they are also low cost, so the
perceived value is significantly higher than
quality."
Sherman also observes that "the Koreans are more
squeezed than the Chinese. They know they need to
improve the perceptions of their products in order
to differentiate from China. It's hard to compete
on low cost with China nipping at your heels."
Japan fared better but they have successfully made
the evolution from perceived low quality to perceived
high quality, he continues. "In the 60s,
perceptions of Japan were the same as they are for
China now. They were making cheap transistor
radios and flooding the market. They made the
evolution through hard work and innovation –
step one was to design and build better products.
For example, Sony was making these cheap
transistors but then produced the Walkman and now
Playstation – products they are known for
around the world, products that have been copied
by others."
The quality of made-in-USA products is rated highly
by 78% of American respondents, while only roughly
two out of five Europeans subscribe to the same
viewpoint (43%). Three-quarters (74%) of European
respondents considered products made in their
countries to be of high quality.
"Patriotism often drives American consumer sentiment,"
says Tom Mularz, a Chicago-based senior vice president
at Synovate. "Regardless of actual quality and value of
goods made in other countries, Americans are fiercely
loyal to their own domestic goods, especially older and
less affluent consumers. From a cultural perspective,
it is considered one's patriotic duty to 'Buy American'
in America."
"China is also perceived as having taken many jobs
from US manufacturing, especially in industries such
as apparel and electronics," he adds. "This leads to
an overall relatively negative perception on both
value and quality, as a reaction to the loss of
these jobs."
