If Japanese manufacturers were worried about the impact of the Fukushima nuclear crisis on demand for Japanese products, they might not need to be, at least not in the domestic market or throughout Asia. We asked panelists throughout 12 Asian markets which countries’ brands they prefer across nine consumer product categories, and we found that Japan came out on top in all but two: clothes, footwear, and bags, and pharmaceutical/medical products, where the United States edges out Japan. In every other category, USA brands took second place behind Japan, except for automobiles, where Germany came in second with just over half the share that Japan occupies.

About the survey:

We asked 200 panelists in each of 12 Asian markets (Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Hong Kong, and China) to select all the countries’ brands they prefer across nine categories: food & beverages; clothes, footwear, & bags; shampoo, toiletries such as soap, etc.; electric appliances; automobiles; furniture & interior goods; mobile phones & smart phones; cosmetics; and pharmaceutical/medical products. Respondents were asked to choose among the following countries/markets: Japan, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, South Korea, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Other.

When we look at the results per country, we notice, perhaps not surprisingly, that in the Food & Beverages category (Table 1), respondents’ own markets occupy the top spots. In every market except India, China, and South Korea, however, where respondents may have more incentive to eat locally, more than half of respondents selected Japanese brands as one of their preferred choices. The recent recall of infant formula containing trace amounts of radioactive cesium may be impacting the preference for Japanese food and beverage products in South Korea, where news programs featured South Korean mothers expressing disappointment with what they once considered to be the safe Japanese choice for infant formula products. Still, as the results show, Japanese food and beverage brands remain strong throughout the continent.

In the smart phone and mobile phone category (Table 2), where one might expect the iPhone’s worldwide success to put the USA on top, Japan still takes the lead, in part because of overwhelming preference for Japanese products in the Japan market. USA brands come out on top in Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China. A striking feature of Japanese responses in the mobile phone & smart phone market, as well as other categories, is the low frequency with which Japanese panelists chose any countries besides their own. No countries besides Japan in any category were selected by more than 25% of Japanese respondents. If “made in Japan” is strong in Asia, it completely dominates Japan itself, which, unlike many of its neighbors, has yet to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the free-trade agreement whose terms are currently hotly debated in the Japanese diet.

Table 1: Countries/markets which respondents in each market prefer in the Food & Beverages category

Table 2: Countries/markets which respondents in each market prefer in the mobile phone & smart phone category

Survey Details

Markets :China (“CN”) , Hong Kong (“HK”) , Japan (“JP”) , Korea (“KR”), Singapore (“SG”) , Thailand (“TH”) , Taiwan (“TW”) , Malaysia (“MY”) ,Philippines(“PH”) ,Indonesia(“ID “) ,India(“IN”) ,Vietnam(“VN”).
Sample Size :200 per market.
Fieldwork :November, 2011

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