AN EXPLORATORY RESEARCH OVER THE CHINESE PRODUCTS ON THE ROMANIAN MARKET

Abstract

In this paper we studied the influence on the Asian products over the consumer decision making. We observed that because of the economic crisis most of the people are buying products made in China, although they now that the quality and the price are lower. The factors that change the habits and the consumer behavior decision making are: the lower wage, the small number of work places and the prices of the products. Regarding the low price of Chinese products quality, some times arouses suspicions. Romania is a parts of the European Union and on the market there are various products made in European countries but also products made in China. People with low wages from the last step of social classes are prone to buy lower prices products. Other consumers on the contrary became more sensitive and they prefer to pay more than to buy products made in China. The quality prevails over the price and sometimes over the quantity although the money to spend are dwindled. The crisis affected consumer behavior, consumers have become more attentive to the country of origin and the disposable income for shopping. In order to validate some of the ideas the authors undertook a quantitative online research. The research had as purpose to identify the main influences of the decision making when the consumer buys Chinese products. The chosen investigation was the selective survey, the research technique was the exploratory interrogation and the research instrument – structured in online questionnaire. After research we found that the economic crisis caused consumer behavior change as a result of diminishing the income buyers, the consumer is placed in a position to buy products of questionable quality at low prices, mostly from China. Lower purchase price often makes Chinese goods represent an attractive option for consumers. On the other hand, the quality of Chinese products has proven to not comply with the quality expectations of the consumers, based on the use of products manufactured in other countries. Romanian consumer has been shifted his chooses because of the very low income and at the same time the culture purchasing pattern. For this reason, this research focuses on the changing buying behaviour in the period of economic crisis.

Keywords

• Asian products, economic crisis, consumer’s purchase decision, Romanian consumer