This study examines the effect of the country of origin cue on Hong Kong consumers’ purchasing of products from the two countries—China and Japan. The research findings suggest that the country of origin and brand image are the important evaluative criteria for Hong Kong consumer.
There are three main objectives in the report. First is to explore the overall image of Mainland Chinese products in Hong Kong market. The other is to assess the impact of the country of origin on Mainland Chinese products in Hong Kong market. Last, we make some suggestions for improving the image of Mainland Chinese products in Hong Kong market.
The literature review and survey give the picture of the image of Mainland Chinese products in other markets. Overall, Mainland Chinese products have a negative image in those markets. The country of origin effect influences the country image so much, there has a negative image towards China. Hong Kong people view Mainland Chinese products as old-fashioned, cheap and unattractive.
To alleviate that, the Chinese businesses could improve their marketing strategies in Hong Kong, especially the marketing mix. They could change the product designs and packages with good brand names, put more emphasis on promotions and advertising, and improving the advertisements to adapt to the tastes of Hong Kong consumers. In addition, they could increase the number of retail channels that are more convenient for consumers to get information and easier to find the products. The low price of China brand products in Hong Kong gives people “cheap” and “low-class” impression. So, Mainland Chinese firms should raise the quality of products in order to set a higher price in Hong Kong market