A cross-cultural analysis of consumer behavior in China, Taiwan,
and the United States.
and the United States.
Consumer behavior is influenced by many factors: cultural heritage, perceived value of goods or services, economics, and interpersonal issues. In the current global economy, it is inevitable that East and West meet in the arena of consumer goods and services. Because of the size of their populations, the United States and the two Chinas, the People’s Republic and Taiwan, could easily emerge as major markets for each other’s goods and services. For any company to be successful in a cross-cultural marketing effort, however, it is essential to pay attention not only to similarities, but to differences, and then to market accordingly. In order to develop a few marketing precepts for creating goods, perhaps with variations in the goods themselves or in the marketing material, this paper looks, in depth, at the cultures of all three nations. The paper then examines what various researchers, experts, and government/trade officials have been saying about markets in the China and Taiwan.
“In China, where incomes have been rising, it is necessary to price items so they are affordable to enough people to become popular; in Taiwan, there would be less price sensitivity and, in fact, the Taiwanese are used to paying heftily for many necessities, such as living space, and would be far less price sensitive than the Chinese. In fact, because they have had a growing market economy for some time, they are very likely susceptible to the same upscale, higher-priced marketing concepts as Americans.”