73% of global consumers rate country of origin as key brand purchase driver

The research, conducted by Nielsen, examined whether consumers prefer goods produced by global/ multinational brands or by ‘local players’ in the respondent’s home country. 

Respondents in Asia-Pacific and Africa/ Middle East were more likely to say that origin was more important than other selection factors ( 33% and 32% on average, respectively), while European, North American and Latin American respondents were more likely to say that brand origin was less important than other selection factors ( 35%, 32% and 31% on average, respectively). 

When asked to identify the key factors in choosing a global or local brand, similar response patterns were observed across all regions: price/ value was the top selected reason for choosing both global ( 42%) and local brands ( 43%); positive experience with a brand ( 32% global; 28% local), safer ingredients and processing ( 31%; 28%), better product benefits ( 31%, 25%) and a sale or promotion on the brand ( 26%; 24%) were among the  top reasons for selecting a product. Respondents were also asked to rate whether brand origin was less, equally, or more important than these factors. 

National pride was the only factor for which there was a notable difference between local and global brands. 

Findings were based on 30,000 online respondents in 61 countries spanning 40 categories. Full findings can be accessed here.