Genuine brands or high quality counterfeits: An investigation of luxury consumption in China

Abstract

This study examines the effects of different marketing and manufacturing factors on the perceived quality gap and willingness to pay (WTP) for genuine luxury brands. Using the survey data of 786 Chinese consumers, the results show that three marketing factors (product innovation, price promotion, and sales environment) and two manufacturing factors (production in country of brand origin and difficulty in producing the products) all indirectly influence WTP through a perceived quality gap between originals and counterfeits. These effects differ significantly among consumers with different counterfeit and genuine brand purchasing experiences. For consumers with counterfeit purchasing experience, it is important to emphasize the manufacturing factors in the marketing strategies; however, for consumers who only buy genuine brands, marketing factors play a more important role. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Factors affecting consumers’ purchase intention for counterfeit luxury goods in Bangladesh

“…On the other hand, for low-income people, counterfeit luxury items deemed as a good that alters as brand-new items in particular (Sharma & Chan, 2011). Researchers have identified several findings on the past studies on the significant factors affecting the purchase intention for counterfeit items based on country, generation, and value perceptions (Bhatia, 2018;Fastoso et al, 2018;Bachmann et al, 2018;Jiang & Shan, 2018). Besides, several studies have identified product attribute (Augusto et al, 2007;Yao, 2014), brand image (Mir et al, 2012), level of income (Mir et al, 2012;Rizwan et al, 2014), gender (Chen & Tang, 2006), perceived risks (Huang et al, 2004), integrity (Chiu & Leng, 2016), gratification (Ang et al, 2001), smart shopper (Penz & Stottinger, 2005), perceived behavioral control (Chiu & Leng, 2016), subjective norms (Chiu et al, 2014), and materialism (Yoo & Lee, 2009) etc., as the factors leading to counterfeit purchase intention.…”

Counterfeit luxury consumption: A review and research agenda

“…Notably, this does not imply that information seeking behavior is restricted to gathering information about genuine brands only; consumers gather relevant product information about counterfeits as well. They often choose counterfeits based on their quality ratings such as A+, A, and B+ (Bian et al, 2016), and product warranties (Jiang & Shan, 2016). It follows that luxury brands may be losing product quality as a differentiating factor against counterfeits.…”

Neither an Authentic Product nor a Counterfeit: The Growing Popularity of Shanzhai Products in Global Markets

“…These were thought of as low-quality counterfeits (Bian & Veloutsou, 2007;Phau & Min, 2009). However, due to advanced design and manufacturing technology, in recent years the quality gap between genuine brands and counterfeits has been narrowing (Eisend & Schuchert-Güler, 2006;Jiang & Shan, 2016;Wiedmann, Hennigs, & Klarmann, 2012). This kind of counterfeit is often referred to as a high-quality counterfeit.…”

“…Owing to shanzhai mobile phones' popularity, other product categories such as fast moving consumer products, fast‐food operations, fashion accessories, and cultural events increasingly appear as varieties of shanzhai products. The volume of shanzhai product sales worldwide is substantial, with sales growing as quickly as counterfeit products (Jiang & Shan, ). Tied to global online and offline distribution networks, shanzhai products reach consumers worldwide.…”

“…In other words, most of the prior shanzhai literature has focused on either shanzhai manufacturers as an organizational‐level unit of analysis, or the external environmental impact of the shanzhai social phenomenon—a macro social perspective—but there is a general lack of attention on how consumers perceive shanzhai products differently from counterfeits, and the implications of that perception on corporate strategy. The limited shanzhai literature often confuses shanzhai products with counterfeits by considering shanzhai as one type of counterfeits (for instance, Jiang & Shan, ; Liu, Yannopoulou, Bian, & Elliott, ). Such blending of shanzhai products with counterfeits might lead to an implicit assumption that the motivations for consumers' counterfeit purchases will also apply to shanzhai products.…”