10.15.2 Consumer products
Consumer products generally require greater modification than industrial products to meet local market requirements, but some of them can be sold unchanged to certain market segments. For example, most countries contain a market segment with similar economic status, buyer behaviour, tastes and preferences. This segment includes foreign-educated and well-travelled citizens and expatriates who typically buy luxury items such as expensive cars, perfumes and sporting equipment.
However, it is a truism that as you go down the socio-economic strata in each country you tend to find greater dissimilarities among countries with respect to social and cultural values. Consider some specific factors:
- income . Obviously what people earn determines what they can afford. For example, Singer sells simple, hand-powered sewing machines in parts of Africa; in Europe , Singer sells a complex line of electrical machines.
- education . The general level of education affects product decisions both directly and indirectly. A highly literate market typically demands more complex products such as computers and other electronic equipment. Such products have limited appeal where illiteracy prevails.
- consumer tastes and preferences . We have already mentioned some food products which require taste adaptation to appeal to local consumers. Other examples are: Campbell Soup Company which was forced to change its tomato soup to meet European preferences, and Nestlé, which sells dozens of varieties of its Nescafé instant coffee around the world. A non-food example is the clothing manufacturer Cluett Peabody which had to close its Belgian factory because American styling, pricing and sizing of its products were not in harmony with European tastes and budgets.
- religion . It is well known that hamburgers do not sell well in Islamic countries (even though ham is not necessarily an ingredient). An example in a similar vein to this relates to the British experience in India . In 1857, pig wax was supposedly used in the manufacture of bullets and the wax had to be bitten off before the bullets could be fired. The Muslim soldiers of the East India Company objected and mutinied. The consequence was that the East India Company lost control of India to the British Crown.
- culture . French people prefer top-loading washing machines; the British prefer front loading; the Germans want high speed machines that remove most of the moisture in the spin dry process; Italians prefer low speed machines because they dry their clothes in the warm Mediterranean sun. There is just as much variation in colour preferences. Green is unpopular in parts of East Asia because the colour is associated with the dangers of the jungle. Gold is popular in many countries as a symbol of quality and prestige. In the Netherlands , blue is considered warm and feminine, but in Sweden blue is considered cold and masculine.
For another perspective on product attributes, refer to Hill (2005).
In your text
Hill 2005, Chapter 17, pp. 587-589.
Our examination of the four Ps continues in the next section. We use the non-alliterative title 'Distribution strategy' which better describes what it is about than the alliterative P for 'place'.
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