Five things you need to know about purchasing decisions in China vs. the US

1. Today’s consumers thrive on product information.

Today’s consumers are very comfortable navigating different information sources. To many it has become a new social currency. Contrary to the myth that people today feel overwhelmed with information, we learned that people today, in both China and the US, are very comfortable with information.

When asked if they agree with the statement 'More information has made it harder to make brand decisions', only 14 per cent of people in China and 10 per cent in the U.S. said yes. Similarly, only 6 per cent of Americans and Chinese said they were "frustrated by too much information".

When asked if they were confused by brand information available today, all age groups said no. We had thought that older consumers would most likely be confused, but interestingly we found that they have coped very well. Clearly, the species have evolved.

2. Information is now strategic; help your customers navigate.

The way you supply information to your customers is as critical a part of the brand decision process as any other product attribute. Clearly, management of product information is now strategic to your marketing efforts. Information is treasured.

Among over 30 statements regarding consumers' attitudes to product information, 'Information is my friend' was the second most agreed with statement in the US and third in China. The data also shows that people today feel information gives them more confidence in their purchase decisions. They actually find the process to be fulfilling and enjoyable, especially among older people.

3. Word of mouth sells, and everyone is talking.

People-to-people communication is highly valued by today’s customers and it is the job of today’s marketers to make this kind of brand advocacy as easy as possible for customers.

We wanted to find out what sources of production information were most valued by today’s consumers in China and the US. Interestingly, in both countries, face-to-face or people-to-people communications were seen to be most valuable. In the US, the opinions of friends and families were most important. While friends and families were also very important in China, 'observing people' and what they purchase is actually the most important.

In both countries, word of mouth tends to be more favoured by women, while men showed more interest in research results. We were very interested to see if today’s consumers really trust the information provided to them via brand websites – whether they would view these sites to be too biased toward the manufacturer’s products, and not objective in their assessment. Consistent with our discovery on how the species have evolved, we see that today’s consumers are able to view this information in the right context and with a high degree of trust.

4. The need for information doesn’t stop with a purchase.

Consumer consumption of product information is now an on-going process for most shoppers. Smart marketers realise they need to stick with a purchaser, with communication programmes, well after the purchase is made. Not only is this critical to maintaining loyalty, but that new buyer of your product is your next salesperson. Influencer marketing, or creating programmes to influence the influencers, are more important now than ever before.

In China, today’s consumers are a bit more likely to ignore product information after they made the purchase. In both countries the majority of people, upwards of 75 per cent, told us they continue to notice and even seek out information about their product after purchase. From a marketing plan's perspective, this speaks to the importance of having communication programmes that speak to the purchasers after they leave the store, and to encourage and provide them with useful information so they can go on to become valuable brand ambassadors for your product. All brands can benefit by having more brand advocates.

5. Branding still counts for a lot.

The avalanche of new product information and aids to decision making have not replaced the importance of building a brand reputation.

We asked our consumers if they agree with the statement 'Brand names don’t matter when you have information'. Only 25 per cent of US consumers strongly agreed and only 11 per cent of Chinese consumers agreed. This shows that the Chinese consumers today are even more brand conscious, and value brands even higher than the Americans.

When we asked if people strongly agree with the statement 'I am less loyal to brands compared to several years ago', again the numbers were very low (8 per cent in China and 15 per cent in the US).  We also asked people in China if they think 'Brand reputation is more important than ever before' to which almost half of the respondents strongly agreed.

Even with all the information sources out there providing consumers with enormous information about your products and those of your competitors, people still show a high degree of loyalty to brands and they attach great importance to the brand’s reputation and image when making a decision.