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Can a "cultural translator" explain why the Chinese consumer market is so highly susceptible to Western marketing of import brand marks, for highly-specific pro

Can a "cultural translator" explain why the Chinese consumer market is so highly susceptible to Western marketing of import brand marks, for highly-specific products, when otherwise they appear strongly nationalistic? This doesn't seem to broadly carry over into all products. My gut-feel impressions from visiting China: Cars, yes. Phones, no. Scotch, yes. Watches, no. Clothes, no. Houses, no. Household appliances, no. Bottled water, no. Americans have their yes/no list, various European citizens have theirs, and so on. And there are sub-groups (like I'm aware of a market for ultra-premium watches with 5-figure+ USD price tags among some hedge fund types), but I'm interested in characterizations at a broad national level. I'm curious to hear from Chinese or Chinese culture-fluent what factors in their opinions went into the make up the Chinese national variant of this list.

fastball 9y ago
I'd just like to modify your list in that I think wealthy Chinese consumers are highly susceptible to certain designer clothing and accessories, ala Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc. I think everything else can be explained by a sort of clash between utilitarianism and a desire for status symbols. Tools that can be readily copied in China and produced much more cheaply are sold as that: tools. So phones, watches, appliances, etc. Cars and clothes can also be readily copied, but even in the west they show more status than the other things listed. So when it comes time to copy them, it's more apparent when you have a Chinese knockoff vs. an "original". Scotch is hard to copy.
- user5994461 9y ago
  1) Status 2) price+quality 3) localization 4) regulation 5) not necessarily in this order For instance take a look at Xiaomi phones. They are better in every aspect than any western phone you could find in the < 500$ price range. Western cars are designed for regulations that don't exist in China, think of emission controls and safety. Local manufacturers don't bother with that. Expect any western car to be overpriced and inappropriate for the china market. Truly luxury brands like Apple and Porsche makes it because of status.
  - dis-sys 9y ago
    not sure whether Apple is a still a status thing, I mean just look at their completely failed launch of iPhone 8 and the huge discount you can get for that phone. it is more like a phone designed for old people.
  - notfromhere 9y ago
    That's probably why the wealthy are buying Western cars, they're safer. Hard to be rich when you get crumpled like a tincan in a locally produced vehicle

fastball 9y ago

I'd just like to modify your list in that I think wealthy Chinese consumers are highly susceptible to certain designer clothing and accessories, ala Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc. I think everything else can be explained by a sort of clash between utilitarianism and a desire for status symbols. Tools that can be readily copied in China and produced much more cheaply are sold as that: tools. So phones, watches, appliances, etc. Cars and clothes can also be readily copied, but even in the west they show more status than the other things listed. So when it comes time to copy them, it's more apparent when you have a Chinese knockoff vs. an "original". Scotch is hard to copy.

user5994461 9y ago
1) Status 2) price+quality 3) localization 4) regulation 5) not necessarily in this order For instance take a look at Xiaomi phones. They are better in every aspect than any western phone you could find in the < 500$ price range. Western cars are designed for regulations that don't exist in China, think of emission controls and safety. Local manufacturers don't bother with that. Expect any western car to be overpriced and inappropriate for the china market. Truly luxury brands like Apple and Porsche makes it because of status.
- dis-sys 9y ago
  not sure whether Apple is a still a status thing, I mean just look at their completely failed launch of iPhone 8 and the huge discount you can get for that phone. it is more like a phone designed for old people.
- notfromhere 9y ago
  That's probably why the wealthy are buying Western cars, they're safer. Hard to be rich when you get crumpled like a tincan in a locally produced vehicle