Quality over price - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

Chinabiz Speaker Shaun Rein takes on the perception that Chinese consumers go for price and the price only, here in Forbes. When international companies play their cards right, the Chinese consumers are willing to pay a premium for quality, especially when they are competing domestic Chines companies.

The trend for Chinese consumers is to buy items that are more expensive and of better quality. In other words, their frugality of recent years has been more a function of low disposable incomes than a cultural preference for shoddy yet cheap goods. How else can one explain BMW's smashing success in China, where the Middle Kingdom has become its fastest-growing market and second-biggest buyer of the flagship 7 Series?

That is of course true for those segments of the market who can afford to buy a BMW. But that segment is growing and, Rein argues:

Companies that understand the fear Chinese consumers have about being sold shoddy goods, and position themselves properly to assuage these fears, will be the beneficiaries of increased domestic consumption in the coming decade.