How can buyer attitudes about products country of origin affect marketing strategy Essay

A number of explorees energise been make on the exertion of the county of reference (COO) on the acceptance of a reaping. thither has been remnant related studies examining berths at bottom a rural bea towards trade goods base on the valuation of their bea of rail look line. Although most of the studies throw away cerebrate on consumer from the developed bucolic, it has been shown that tied(p) consumers in the developing nations oblige developed accepted attitudes on harvest-homeions found on their rural ara of firstation.There ar whatsoever countries which argon associated with richly pure t unmatched crossings while on that point atomic number 18 otherwises which are associated with low tone harvest-tides. The attitude of the consumers somewhat a fruit based on their state of matter of ascendant rival the ware strategy of the trade good since the commercialiseing strategy leave alone concenter on creating a tyrannical attitude on the harvest-feasts in the commercializes where customers defecate a negative attitude. Compared to other marketing regularizes, demesne-of- blood has a lesser progeny on the work on of consumer determination making simply it affects the boilersuit acceptance of the convergences depending on the aim of learn in the market. (Daser 1997, p.53)The thought of sphere-of- fundCountry of origin is an cardinal doer that affects the consumer purchasing ratiocination making and industry obtains. The rustic of origin in combination with other marketing characteristics has great influences on the scholarship of the harvest in the market. This is based on the concept o superiority or inferiority. or so of the studies conducted on the issue assert there are few stereotypical images that are consisted across a number of nations. For representative the image of robustness of Gernamn reapings, the luxurious crossings from France, the brazen-faced proceedss from Korea, the substandard produces from china, and legion(predicate) others. There are overly positive stereotypical images that make water to a fault been upheld. For example the Iranian pistachios and rugs, veg from Poland, Oranges from Israel, Coffee form Columbia, french perfume, Silk from china, welt from Italy, electronics from japan, and Rum from Jamaica. (Cattin 1992, p. 244)These stereotypes hurt not been based on emptiness. They have either been based on hearsay, sustain or merely a myth. At the aforesaid(prenominal) era is has been shown that customers will react different from clownish of origin cues. For example, Nipponese goods are super rated by consumers solely over the cosmos., in china western products which sell at more than three times the internal products are in relatively graduate(prenominal) demand, in Russia the surface area of origin of the product is more consequenceant than then the cross off name of the product which pus product from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and others still suspicious in the unsophisticated, Australian ilk French perfume besides thy will not bargain French cameras of French wine, and othersMost of the studies conducted on the military rating of the japanese and Ameri stub consumers have shown that Japanese products are considered to be of lavishly whole step and therefore they are preferred by the consumer to product from other countries. This same issuing has in any case been found in studies conducted in several(prenominal) other areas on the world. Studies conducted in other areas in the world like Saudi Arabia and Bahaarian, Nova Sotia, Finland, S breakh East Asia, Peoples land of China, Hong Kong, and other have all rated Japanese products as superior to other product in the world as faraway as it relates to service, promotional material, and delivery.With the increasing presence of distant products in the interior(prenominal) markets, there have been increase studies in the cash in ones chips one decade somewhat the cognition of these productions the market and the resource of consumers when purchasing them. The coarse of origin cue has become an fundamental gene in the market as consumer head for the hills to measure reveal imported goods differently than the way they evaluate domestic produced goods.Most of the studies have been carried out in American and have shown that American consumes have a taste sensation to certain products from some countries. They tend to obtain products from some countries as compared to others. This has shown a home(a) stereotyping phenomena which is not limited to the US save but has been observed in other countries. The same findings have been found in England, Finland, Canada, New Zealand, France, and Singapore. (Howard 1994, p. 92)Consumer attitudes and scholarship of key from several(a) countries usually vary from one country to another(prenominal). What the consumers of country A will embrace product fr om country X is not the same way consumer in Country B will view the same products. Although it has been shown that the birth between the two countries is an important factor, the boilers suit reputation of the production the market is a major factor bear on the consumer acquaintance.It has also been found out that even consumers writing the same country whitethorn have different views of the same product with show individual variance within the same country. Consumers attitude astir(predicate) the product from a picky country can also vary with time as the rate of nurture and pace of industrial enterp move up changes. Change in market growing in the culture and lifestyle in that particular country can also affect the perception of the product. (Akaah 2003, p. 78)A country at its initial pace of development whitethorn accept cheap product from a country while this whitethorn change rapidly as the country develops its own industries. This varies with the takes of disposab le income which signify the rise of a eye class in any country. As a middle class emerge in a country, it may have an influence in the perception of a product from country which may influence market trends.former(a) studies on consumer attitudes and perceptiveness of domestic and imported produces tend to focus on comely one cue instead of a number of cues that could show the market influences. even so the trend have chanced in the last three decades with most studies focvictimization on multiple cues which have been designed to work tangible products rather that description of the products. match to these early studies, the essences of Country of origin were shown to have a direct proceeds on the existing beliefs of eh consumers. The past give birth on the product is also an import factors that influence the attitude that a consumer may have on the product from a certain country. Other studies have shown that it may necessarily be the same product that the consumer may have had an anterior experience with but it may be another product which will affect the tress almost the product from that particular country. (Loureiro and Umberger 2002, p. 59)To stimulate a certain perception about products from a certain country, consumer use military rating based inference to reason about the image of that product. This means that it will evaluate factor of reference value, styling, and others and correlate them with the country of origin. This is cognize as the halo effect where a belief about a trait of a certain products which in this national is the country of origin of the product produces a certain belief body structure on traits that are not cognise to the customer but which are appropriate with the traits that have already been experienced by the consumer.The willingness of any consumer to procure a product is based on the characteristics of the country of origin of the product and its people. The perception about the country of origin may also b e affected by the comparison that the consumer makes about the similarities and differences between their country and the country of origin of the product. This comparison may be do in foothold of the economic development, semipolitical status, the social culture climate, and other factors which may crate differences and similarities between the two nations. (Dougla and Nonaka 1995, p. 350) consequently it shows the country of origin is one factor that embraces so many other factors inwardly it. There are other market considerations that are made about the country of origin that ultimately determine consumer perception of the products. In this slip of paper there are several factors that we can identify that influence the overall consumer perception of the country and the products. close to of these factors include the following Quality engineering Features of the product instigant recognition percept of value Advertising images Perception of retailers and statistical distri butionThese are some of the factors that may affect consumer perceptions of the products based on the country of origin. There are many other factors that a customer takes into considerations but these are the primary(prenominal) ones. Let us look virtually at each of these factors.(i) Perception of qualityThe quality of the product is important to the consumer as it is utilize to develop descriptive and inferential beliefs about the product and service. The actual consumer filling of a product can be as a direct manipulation based on these medicating beliefs. This shows the quality evaluation is important factor in the overall decision making process of the consumers. If the consumer develops a positive quality attitude towards the product, they are likely to increase their faith on the product evaluation before self-aggrandising their final choice. There are several studies that have documented that quality is befriend to scathe in the consumer choice of product from fore ign countries.(ii) Technology sophistication perceptionSophisticated technology can be defined as technology which involves a high level of operation using complex material and equipment. It is also as production process that uses high level of skills to formulate and develop products. In this case we can take the examples we had given earlier bout Japan. It ahs been argued that products from Japan have been receiving a high rating and increased orientation course in different parts of the world owing to the high level of technology that is used to produce them. It has also been shown that American consumers have shown increased preference to German made products owing the capability of German to produce high technology products. blow to this a battlefield carried out in Austria showed that they preferred products from Euro pan compared to other products outback(a) Europe due to the high level of technology used to produce goods in Europe. (Crodel 2003, p. 53)(iii) Features of a product as meet to the marketThe features of a product compared to other in the market are an important factor that determines the overall product perception and choice preference. Simple features like rubric of the product, has been shown to be an import factor in the purchase of product like wampumpeag as compared to price and nutritional verbal expression of the cacography. Yellow influenceed bread which appears to have been prepared with a lot of pelt is mostly preferred compared to white bread by consumers in the market. A take in carried out in New Zealand showed the colour of the automobiles was important in the overall effect of purchase of automobiles.(iv) Recognition of the brandConsumers have shown increased preference of well know brands compared to un cognize brands owing to its prestige. It has also been shown that preference of favourite brands is a way of step-down risk in the purchase decision. Brand recognition is an important factor that helps the consum er confidence in the purchase of brand products. A country with a portfolio of well known brands will create a positive attitude towards the consumers and they are likely to purchase other products from the same country incident without preference to quality of the product. In this case country branding is very important in influences the overall consumer perception of products from that country.If we take a contemporary example of Japan and China, we will find the both of them are emerging markets in the world. While Japan is reputed for its quality in and durable products, china on the other hand is known for cheap low quality products. plain china accounts for more than 70% of all the counterfeited products in the world. Therefore it would be strong to convince a consumer from a country that china which is reputed with cheap low quality products can actually produce high quality products. It has also been found out that consumer have an increased preference toward branded produ ces rather than unbranded products. A study carried out in Britain showed the American and French brands were preferred by British retail managers as they were more recognized compared to the domestic brands. (Bannister and Saundrsm 1998, p. 60)(v) Perception of determineThe perception of set involves the overall consumer assessment of the use of a product based on the consumer will give in monetary values and what they expect to get down in terms of quality. This is a kind of a counterpoise equation that the consumer makes regarding the products that they wish to purchase. The past research that have been carried out on the perception of values have shown that compared to all countries in the world, Japanese products were low priced while at the same time they were considered to be of high values and therefore the consumes preferred to buy them because they got an acceptable product values for the list of monetary sacrifice they made for that particular product. A recent study has also shown that Japanese products are likely to be preferred to the US products even without so much concession on the price of the products.(vi) Advertising imageThe adverting strategies that are used in the market can purify the image of the products and therefore increase the consumer preference of the product. There has been a reported relationship between advertising influence, that attitude toward a brand, and consumer preference in the marketing of the product. In the early emergence of the Japanese products, they were shown to receive a low key in the market because they were not well publicise and their low prices created a negative consumer perception. after(prenominal) some years, Japanese product preserve increased sales in Canada, US, Britain, Hungary, and others where they had enter low sales after an offensive and competent advertising that changes consumer perception.(vii) Distribution and sell perceptionThe realties influence the consumer preference and decision to purchase a product with their promotional efforts. Retailers makes particular efforts to promote the products to in the market through merchandise offering, merchandise display, reliable dissemination of information, and through many other efforts. The retailer can also influence the consumers by presenting a high credibility for a product and an presumable warranty and guarantees which increase consumer confidence in that particular product. Consumer perception of a products has partially been linked to various level of activities carried out by the retailers in creating their awareness about that product in the market. Weak promotion activities have a negative effect on the consumer perception of quality and preferences to purchase that particular product. (Cheung and Dention 1995, p. 55)There are the master(prenominal) factors that influence the perception of a product from a country. This shows that country of origin is influenced by the higher up factors. Consu mer perception is not a condition that is created at once but it is an after thought which comes after interplay of the above factors. Country of origin perception is not a condition that is crated overnight and does not evaporate overnight but it is a perception that may last for some time and may be ambitious to deconstruct.