Preference for US and European Products Over Korean Ones
Need for Strategies Tailored to China's Consumer Trends
As the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, the preference of Chinese consumers for Korean products has declined. This is mainly attributed to changes in Chinese consumer trends.
The Shanghai branch of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) announced on the 5th that its report, "Post-COVID-19 Chinese Consumer Trend Survey," conducted a survey over about two months starting from December last year targeting 1,000 consumers in 10 major Chinese cities, revealing these findings.
According to the survey results, the proportion of respondents who had purchased Korean products within the past five years was 43.1%, a drop of 35.6 percentage points (p) compared to the previous year (78.7%).
Notably, the purchase experience among younger age groups sharply declined. For those in their 20s, the rate plummeted by 42.1 percentage points from 83.3% the previous year to 41.2%, and for those in their 30s, it fell by 44.4 percentage points from 84.8% to 40.4%.
Consumers residing in Beijing and Shanghai, China's largest cities, who had purchased Korean products accounted for only 40.2% and 41.3%, respectively. These figures represent decreases of 46.8 percentage points and 45.7 percentage points compared to last year.
The main reasons cited for not purchasing Korean products included product reviews (35.9%), national image (34.6%), lack of competitiveness (33.6%), unreasonable pricing (26.2%), and inconvenient after-sales service (28.5%). Among these, product reviews and national image remained similar to last year, but lack of competitiveness increased by 16.2 percentage points, and unreasonable pricing and inconvenient after-sales service rose by 8.8 percentage points and 14.4 percentage points, respectively.
The survey also found that Chinese consumers generally prefer American and European products over Korean ones. The proportion of respondents who would choose American and European products instead of Korean products increased by 10.9 percentage points and 12.1 percentage points, reaching 14.0% and 17.3%, respectively. The percentage of respondents who preferred to use domestic products dropped significantly to 58.2% from 80.3% the previous year.
For these reasons, the proportion of people viewing Korean products negatively rose by 6.6 percentage points to 10.0% compared to the previous year. The positive perception rate decreased by 5.0 percentage points to 54.5%. Shin Sun-young, head of KITA's Shanghai branch, explained, "Due to the sharp decline in human exchanges between Korea and China over the past three years caused by COVID-19, the status of Korean products in the Chinese market has significantly diminished."
The decline in preference for Korean products is linked to changes in Chinese consumer consumption trends. Among all respondents, the purchase experience rates for infant products, kitchenware, and medical health products were 29.2%, 19.3%, and 14.4%, respectively, showing a significant increase compared to the previous year.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, awareness of health has increased, leading to a substantial rise in consumption of medical and health products. Conversely, although Korean beauty, food, and clothing products remain the best-selling items in China, their purchase experience rates declined compared to the previous year.
Additionally, 42.5% of Chinese consumers were found to purchase products through online shopping, but only 38.3% bought Korean products online. This figure dropped by 5.8 percentage points compared to 44.1% the previous year.
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