Introduction on Research Paper About Consumer Preferences
Introduction
Gucci. Hermes. Dolce&Gabbana. These are but three of the hundreds of foreign products being imported to our country nowadays. As a wave of these new products from abroad are finding their way into the country, the trend of consumption by our local people is inevitably changing. And the world is now turning into this “Global Village”. The concept called globalization has led various firms to operate on a worldwide level which has drastically affected consumer buying behavior. Being influenced by different nationalities and cultures, consumers are becoming more prone to buying international brands than the local ones. Not only did globalization affect consumers buying tendencies, it has also affected marketing strategies making them more complex. If any bias resulting from these strategies is present in the buying decision, then manufacturers, exporters, importers, distributors, and other channel intermediaries must pay close attention to how this affects their businesses and use proper strategies to respond to this trend.
It is a general notion that consumers consider only “made in...” factor while purchasing a foreign brand. But the truth is that there are various other factors involved in the process of product evaluations. Demographics (consumer ethnocentrism, gender, income, education, occupation and family background) also influence the consumer’s lifestyle and purchase pattern. Price and Zinkhan (2005) noted that demographics considerably have an effect on the exposure to, and the purchase of foreign goods. Studies show that consumers of developing countries favor foreign brands, especially from the west, for reasons not only of perceived quality but also of social status. It could then be concluded that a brand’s country of origin serves as a “quality halo” (Mankiw, 2009), and people buy such brands for status-enhancing reasons. Philippines, being a developing country is of no exemption to such fact. It is noticeable that the elite class
Gucci. Hermes. Dolce&Gabbana. These are but three of the hundreds of foreign products being imported to our country nowadays. As a wave of these new products from abroad are finding their way into the country, the trend of consumption by our local people is inevitably changing. And the world is now turning into this “Global Village”. The concept called globalization has led various firms to operate on a worldwide level which has drastically affected consumer buying behavior. Being influenced by different nationalities and cultures, consumers are becoming more prone to buying international brands than the local ones. Not only did globalization affect consumers buying tendencies, it has also affected marketing strategies making them more complex. If any bias resulting from these strategies is present in the buying decision, then manufacturers, exporters, importers, distributors, and other channel intermediaries must pay close attention to how this affects their businesses and use proper strategies to respond to this trend.
It is a general notion that consumers consider only “made in...” factor while purchasing a foreign brand. But the truth is that there are various other factors involved in the process of product evaluations. Demographics (consumer ethnocentrism, gender, income, education, occupation and family background) also influence the consumer’s lifestyle and purchase pattern. Price and Zinkhan (2005) noted that demographics considerably have an effect on the exposure to, and the purchase of foreign goods. Studies show that consumers of developing countries favor foreign brands, especially from the west, for reasons not only of perceived quality but also of social status. It could then be concluded that a brand’s country of origin serves as a “quality halo” (Mankiw, 2009), and people buy such brands for status-enhancing reasons. Philippines, being a developing country is of no exemption to such fact. It is noticeable that the elite class