I’ve been in the Number One Shanghai department store off Nanjing road and seen Chinese consumers taking TV’s from the box to insure they work.
Recently, my father-in-law and his wife were up at four in the morning walking to the Apple Store a forty-minute walk from our Bay Area house.
To buy an iPad 2 in America, they were willing to get up that early and wait in line for several hours until the store opened to buy this new Apple product.
When I asked why not buy the iPad 2 at one of the Official Apple Stores in Beijing, I was told if you buy something in the US even if made in China, the buyer can be assured of the quality.
There is some truth to that. My father-in-law’s wife arrived with a new camera bought in China.
The camera stopped working the first week she was here so she bought an expensive Sony and loved it because it worked just as promised and kept on working.
It would seem that Chinese manufacturers have a long way to go to earn the trust of the Chinese consumer.
Meanwhile, sixty million Chinese tourists are leaving China annually and buying “Made in China” outside of China then taking those purchases home.
Ironic, isn’t it?
Start with Chinese tourists Buying “Made in China” in the US – Part 1 or discover Chinese Gold from Dead Tibetan Caterpillars.
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse 
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