Quality Trumps Price in China
BEIJING -- A new report portrays Chinese consumers as a sophisticated, brand-loyal and often dissatisfied lot, puncturing their longstanding image as fickle and penny-pinching.
In its first report on consumers in China, Kurt Salmon Associates, an Atlanta-based retail and consumer-products consultancy, concludes that Chinese shoppers have developed discerning tastes and preferences at warp speed.
Middle-income residents in four cities said the critical factors in choosing a brand are trust in its quality, a positive impact on health, and its care for customers; having a fair price ranked only fifth. In choosing a shopping destination, quality, service and variety were the top three factors, with value coming in fifth.
"The conventional wisdom was that the Chinese consumer will buy whatever's cheapest," says Mohan Komanduri, the consulting firm's principal and regional director of East Asia. "The fact that they are putting quality before price means that the Chinese consumer is becoming more sophisticated."
The report, to be released on Aug. 16, was based on interviews with 600 residents in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu in the interior and Shenyang in China's northeast. The company plans to issue an annual China report to keep up with rapid changes in the marketplace.
Those surveyed, who had monthly household incomes ranging from $300 to $1,200, showed a high level of brand awareness. Asked to identify the products made by a variety of brand names, 83% of consumers on average were able to do so.
Loyalty to brands is also high. For toiletries, 78% said that they buy brands they know and that they are unlikely to switch if their brand isn't available. The study suggests that those who still regard China as a wide-open market will have to rethink those assumptions.
Preferences for foreign or local brands diverged markedly depending on the product. Asked whether they preferred to buy a local or foreign brand offering products of identical price and quality, consumers overwhelmingly preferred local brands for food, toiletries and household items. But for consumer electronics and home-improvement items, they opted for international brands. In clothing, the two groups were evenly split, though European brands were seen as more fashionable than Chinese or American labels.
"They're fundamentally Chinese in the things they put in their body or on their body," Mr. Komanduri says. The message to multinationals, he adds: "If you're doing consumer goods, try to look Chinese," rather than emphasizing a product's international roots in packaging or marketing.
Consumer dissatisfaction also ran high. The report found that people shop once a month or less for things such as consumer electronics and clothing, suggesting that shopping isn't a favored leisure activity for large segments of the population. According to the survey, 48% of women said they dislike shopping, outnumbering the 30% of U.S. women who say the same. Meanwhile, 63% of men disliked shopping, putting them roughly on par with their U.S. counterparts. Chinese shoppers on average said they found what they were looking for only 5.4 out of 10 store visits, suggesting that retailers need to do a better job managing inventory and designing store layouts.
The report also shows a retail sector in a state of flux and fragmentation. For example, consumers do their food shopping at supermarket chains almost twice as often as they do at traditional open-air markets or hypermarkets. But hypermarkets are growing in popularity: About 40% of people are shopping more in these large-scale stores this year compared with last year. For clothing and shoes, people favored department stores. But they went to local specialty stores for consumer electronics, and superstore chains for home-improvement items.
中国人选购商品质量第一
即将发表的一份最新研究报告显示，一向被认为变化无常且热衷便宜货的中国消费者正变得越来越成熟，他们对喜欢的品牌非常忠诚，但对购物环境经常也有不满意之处。
美国亚特兰大零售业和消费品咨询公司Kurt Salmon Associates在其首份有关中国消费状况的报告中指出，中国的消费者对商品具备相当的辨别力和偏好，这一变化之快令人感慨。
据对4个城市中等收入居民的调查显示，中国消费者在挑选商品时首要考虑的决定因素是质量的可信度、商品是否有益健康、厂家是否重视消费者，而价格是否合理仅排在第五位。在挑选购物场所时，质量、服务和品种是前三个主要因素，价位也只排在第五位。
Kurt Salmon负责人、远东地区主管莫汗?科曼德里(Mohan Komanduri)说，传统观念认为中国人总喜欢买最便宜的商品。但现在，中国消费者会首先考虑质量而不是价格，他们正变得越来越成熟。
为编制这份报告，Kurt Salmon在北京、上海、成都和沈阳四城市采访了600位居民。这份报告将在8月16日发表，该公司还计划每年发表一份有关中国的报告，以密切跟踪中国市场的快速变化。
这些被访者的家庭月收入折合美元在300-1200美元之间。被访者对品牌非常了解。在要求说出各种不同品牌（的厂家生产）的产品时，总体上有83%的消费者都能做到。
他们对品牌的忠诚度也很高。以化妆品为例，有78%的人表示，他们只买自己知道的品牌，如果一时没有他们需要的品牌，他们也不会换别的牌子。从这一点来看，那些认为中国人对所有商品都来者不拒的厂家或许应该重新考虑一下了。
在偏爱外国品牌还是国产品牌方面，对于不同类别的商品，中国消费者的选择取向差别很大。在问及如果价格和质量相差不大，会选择国产品牌还是国外品牌时，绝大多数受访者表示，对于食品、化妆品和家居用品，他们会选择国产商品。
而对于家用电器、室内装饰材料等，他们则喜欢国际品牌。在服装的选择上，虽然一般认为欧洲服装比中国或美国的品牌更时尚，但喜欢国际品牌和本国品牌的受访者基本上各占一半。
科曼德里说，在食品和服装方面，中国人基本上还是倾向于买国内产品。在谈到这一点对跨国公司的影响时他说，对于生产消费类产品的公司来说，应该尽量使其显得更中国化，在包装和营销策略上，不要过于强调产品的国际品位。
中国消费者对购物环境的不满也很明显。报告说，人们购买消费电器和服装等产品的频率平均大约每月一次，这说明，购物对大多数人而言并不是休闲和享受。调查显示，48%的女性表示不喜欢购物，而美国女性中这个比例是30%。讨厌购物的男性比例是63%，与美国男性基本处在同一水平。
受访者表示，平均算来，每10次购物只有5.4次能找到想要的商品。这表明，商家还需要在库存管理和店面布置上进一步改进。
报告还显示，中国零售业正处于流动和细化的过程中。比如，消费者去连锁超市购买食品的次数几乎是他们去传统的大型露天市场次数的两倍。但露天大市场正越来越受人们的欢迎：有40%的受访者今年在露天市场采购食品的次数多于去年。
在购买服装和鞋类时，人们喜欢去百货店；购买家电时，附近的电器专卖店是首选，而采购家庭装饰用品时，他们会选择去连锁超市。
