Chinese buyers prefer Japan, U.S.
(CNN) -- Chinese consumers prefer their cars and computers to come from Japan and the United States rather than Europe or South Korea, a new survey of the China market finds.
Japan, the U.S. and China ranked first, second and third as the preferred source of supply for consumer electronics such as PCs, laptops, digital cameras and video games, and had the same ranking for cars.
In consumer electronics, Japan was ranked best country by 23.8 percent, followed by 18.3 percent for the U.S. and 11.6 percent for China, with Britain fourth on 3.0 percent and South Korea next on 2.8 percent.
For cars, Japan was ranked best by 21.9 percent of respondents, followed by the U.S. with 15.5 percent and China 8.3 percent. Britain was fourth with 4.3 percent, followed by "other European" on 3.4 percent.
The results were released Wednesday by Hong Kong-based Asia Marketing Research Directions (AMRD), which conducted the biannual survey with Shanghai's TC Research.
"The results have major implications for all producers trading in China," AMRD managing director David Bottomley said.
"It means that apart from the big three -- Japan, the U.S. and China -- other countries are facing a perception barrier in China's developing markets," he said.
In the tertiary education sector, 37.1 percent of consumers ranked China as the best country, ahead of the United States on 24.4 percent. Britain was in third place on 6.3 percent, followed by Japan, 2.7 percent.
The survey was conducted in December from 6000 interviews split 50-50 between urban and rural areas. It found that indicative monthly incomes in China's major cities were 2080 yuan (about $251), or about two and half times those in villages (860 yuan/$104).
The researchers say the major cities are building their economies quickly on the back of internal migrants from less prosperous rural areas.
They say this migration means that different strategies may need to be developed to tackle the new waves of consumers.
Only 13 percent of rural residents own a mobile phone, compared with 51 percent in the major cities. For personal computers, the figure is 3 percent for rural households and 34 percent in the cities.
About 16 percent of rural households have a national credit/debit card, compared with 64 percent in cities.
China's economy has grown at a red-hot place over the past year, expanding by 9.8 percent in the year to March on 2004 on massive investment spending.
But the central government has acted recently to slow this pace, curbing credit to some sectors such as property development.
