Count on County Origin If Quality’s Clear

If a retailer highlights where an item was made, shoppers often take this into consideration when deciding whether to purchase the item. But does the shopper’s mind operate differently if the manufacturing location is presented as a nation rather than as, let’s say, a county near the retailer’s store? Researchers at Drexel University and Concordia University say it does in at least one way: The consumer assessing a locally produced item will place an especially high importance on accurately assessing the quality of the item.
      This is less true when the site of production is a nation. Shoppers associate certain countries of origin with desirable product characteristics. Cheeses and perfumes from France have a special cachet, as do cutlery and timepieces from Switzerland. Babson College researchers found, not surprisingly, that customers entering a store predict Scotch whiskey will be better than whiskey from India. Quality is less likely to be questioned when the item has the recognized national pedigree.
      Community Supported Agriculture’s marketing message is, “Buy local to ensure higher quality in products and higher quality of life for your neighbors.” This is substantially different from the message of The 3/50 Project with its tag lines “Pick 3. Spend 50. Save your local economy” and “Saving the brick and mortars our nation is built on.” The mission is to convince consumers to each select three independently owned businesses they would miss having available if the businesses disappeared, and then spend a total of at least $50 each month at those businesses. No mention of item quality at all.
      It’s true that consumers can be motivated to buy local because of their local loyalties, or stop buying if the neighborhood touch gets lost. When InBev bought St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch to form the world’s largest brewing company, with operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries and then fired 1,000 St. Louis area employees, the St. Louis populace found it tougher to view Bud as a local brand made good. Over the next two years, the number of taps serving Schlafly Beer, brewed only in St. Louis, climbed more than 30%.
      The lesson from the Drexel/Concordia research findings is that loyalty to the local is most powerful when the retailer has worked to convince the shopper there’s no reason to question item quality. Realize this takes more effort than when counting on a country-of-origin name to signal quality.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

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