Thai consumers’ perception and evaluation of Chinese products

Citation

Yatao, Deng. (2018). Thai consumers’ perception and evaluation of Chinese products. (Master’s independent study). Bangkok: Siam University.

Abstract

The current wave of economic globalization has brought together the strengths of the countries in the world. Under the increasingly close and good prospects of Sino-Thai economic and trade cooperation, this paper aimed to explore the current situation and the situation of Chinese products in the Thai market, and then analyze what factors influence the Thai consumers’ purchase of Chinese products. In recent years, China’s products have been continuously upgraded and improved in the context of globalization. It is the intention of this research can be used as a reference for Chinese companies.

This paper used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to conduct a more in-depth discussion of the subject. Firstly, the theories and literatures on stereotypes and origin effects that influence the decisive factors in intercultural communication are reviewed.
The concepts and characteristics of stereotypes, the causes of origin effects, and the main factors affecting the effect of origin are summarized; and selected eight indicators in the stereotypes: price, quality, service, design, brand, packaging, social responsibility, employee rights; and consumer personal factors in the impact of origin effect, age, education level, China impression The five variables of understanding Chinese culture are the research objects of this topic.

Secondly, based on Thai consumers, 500 questionnaires were issued and 257 questionnaires were effectively recovered. The respondents included teachers, students, company employees, self-employed individuals, freelancers, salespeople, housewives, and so on. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first was the basic information of the respondents, such as gender, the frequency of purchasing Chinese products, etc. The second was the measurement items established by the eight indicators of stereotypes. The questionnaire uses Likert’s 5-level scale to convert the attitude of Thai consumers to purchase Chinese products into figures, which objectively reflects the psychological perception and evaluation level of Thai consumers on Chinese products. Lastly, four common factors are extracted from the stereotypes: image, service, design and responsibility; three common factors are extracted from the individual factor variables: social status, Chinese complex, age, as the object of further research and analysis.

Then, an empirical analysis was performed on the above seven common factors. Identify the main factors and frequencies that affect Thai consumers’ purchases of Chinese products. The results of the study were: the responsibility factor in stereotypes has the greatest impact on Thai consumers’ perception, accounting for 64.323%; the Chinese factor in personal factors, the impact degree is 24.675%; the service factor in stereotypes, the impact degree is 11.002%. The remaining factors have no significant impact on consumers’ perception of Chinese products.

Finally, on the basis of the research conclusions, this paper put forward three strategies and suggestions to enhance foreign consumers’ perception of Chinese manufacturing. The first was to enhance the responsibility competitiveness of the state and enterprises. The second was to choose the right pricing strategy, pay attention to product quality and promote cost normalization. The third was to strengthen communication with foreign consumers and implement cross-cultural marketing mix strategy.

Keywords:  Chinese products, stereotypes, consumer perception, Thailand.

Thai consumers’ perception and evaluation of Chinese products

International Master in Business Administration (IMBA), Siam University, Bangkok, Thailand