Taiwan Consumers Love Japanese Design and Trust German Brands the Most

Taiwanese consumers have a preference for Japanese design and trust products from Germany the most. Korean design is viewed negatively products from that country are considered the least trustworthy.
citiesocial conducted a study to understand the relationship between a brand’s region of origin and the perception of Taiwan consumers. The research was based on 4,111 responses to an online survey sent to the E-tailer’s consumers in July 2018. The survey asked respondents to answer whether they had a positive impression of the design quality of products from ten global countries and regions(Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Scandinavia, Spain, UK and USA). They were also asked whether they trusted products originating from the same regions.
Taiwanese Feel a Deep Connection with Japanese Design

Responses showed that consumers clearly had the best impression of Japanese designed products(91%). This is a reflection of long held positive view of Japan by Taiwanese, with younger people between the ages of 20 and 44 expressing that it was their favorite country in the world in a 2017 poll.
The survey also indicated that products from Scandinavia(86%) and Germany (84%) were viewed as having outstanding design. At the other end of the spectrum Australia(44%) and Korea (43%) were considered to have the worst designed products.
“Japan and Taiwan are culturally and geographically close so consumers are very accepting of products from there,”said Josh Wang, Director of International Products at citiesocial. “The simple and clean design that you usually associate with Japanese and Scandinavian products has been really popular here over the last five years, so these results are not surprising.”
Consumers Trust German Brands but Are Wary of Korean Products

Trust has been a key recent discussion point in the Taiwanese retail industry, mainly due to a series of food scandals that has severely rocked the relationship between consumers and local brands. The results of this survey clearly show that Taiwanese shoppers have the greatest level of trust in German(95%) and Japanese(94%) products. At the same time, there is a distinct lack of confidence in Korean brands, with only 39% of consumers stating that trust products originating from the country.
“We generally have a stereotype of Germans and Japanese as being perfectionists and feel that products from these countries are a reflection of that,” explained Wang. “conversely, in the past Korean products had a reputation for being poorly made and this is clearly still etched into consumer’s minds.”
citiesocial is the online destination for Asia consumers to find unique and stylish products that inspire enriching lifestyles. The company has been in operation since 2011, and retails to consumers in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. If you are interested in partnering with citiesocial to sell your products to Asia, please send an email to partner@citiesocial.com
