American Products in China: How Much is “Made in USA” Worth?

Abstract

AbstractThe purposes of this chapter are (1) to investigate how country of origin (COO) and brand jointly affect Chinese consumers’ perceived price of “made in USA” fashion compared to “made in China” fashion; (2) to examine how COO and brand jointly affect Chinese consumers’ purchase intention to “made in USA” fashion with their perceived price values; and (3) to identify the monetary value of “made in USA” compared to “made in China”. A survey was conducted in 2016 in three cities in China. The results show that Chinese consumers’ perceived price of “made in USA” fashion is higher than perceived price of “made in China” for all brands. Furthermore, for American popular brands with average price, Chinese consumers’ purchase intention for “made in USA” is higher than “made in China”. However, for luxury brands or unknown American brands, Chinese consumers hold higher purchase intention to “made in China” than to “made in USA” even though their perceived price of “made in USA” fashion is higher than “made in China” fashion. For popular American brands with average price range, “made in USA” is perceived 15.3% more expensive than “made-in-China”. Limitations and future studies are discussed.KeywordsCountry of origin Brand Perceived pricePurchase intention