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

Abstract

Counterfeits have been a longstanding concern to global brand manufactures. However, recently, a new product category that partly imitates and partly innovates under the term shanzhai has entered into market. Shanzhai products mimic original leading brands through visual or functional similarities and may also provide additional features. Given this new copycat phenomenon, our study for the first time conceptually distinguishes shanzhai products from counterfeits, theoretically compares the values of consumers choosing shanzhai products versus counterfeits, and empirically tests such differences in one integrative model. Specifically, shanzhai buyers value product functional benefits more than counterfeit buyers, while counterfeit buyers value status consumption, yet experience less self‐clarity than shanzhai buyers. Our findings offer important implications for imitative innovation literature as well as for practitioners.

Understanding the effects of counterfeit quality on consumer attitudes toward genuine brands: An associative judgment model

“…The majority of the existing consumer research in this area has examined factors that directly influence the demand for counterfeits, including the effects of financial (see for instance Astray, 2011;Bloch et al, 1993;De Matos et al, 2007;Tang et al, 2014;Tom et al, 1998), social (see for instance Commuri, 2009;Davidson et al, 2017;Eisend, 2016;Han et al, 2010;Phau & Teah, 2009;Qin et al, 2019), and moral concerns (see for instance Chen et al, 2018;Davidson et al, 2017;Eisend, 2016;Phau & Teah, 2009). Collectively, this research speaks to who is likely to purchase counterfeits and when such purchases are likely to occur.…”

A global perspective on combatingShanzhaiproducts: Cross‐cultural solutions

“…In spite of the prevalence of Shanzhai products, research on this phenomenon has been recent and sparse (Qin et al, 2019). Importantly, the limited number of Shanzhai research primarily took suppliers' perspective to study Shanzhai manufactures' capabilities development (Hu et al, 2011; Luo et al, 2011; Ren et al, 2016), Shanzhai product development stages (Hu et al, 2011), implying that Shanzhai is a global phenomenon without cross‐cultural differences.…”

“…Importantly, the limited number of Shanzhai research primarily took suppliers' perspective to study Shanzhai manufactures' capabilities development (Hu et al, 2011; Luo et al, 2011; Ren et al, 2016), Shanzhai product development stages (Hu et al, 2011), implying that Shanzhai is a global phenomenon without cross‐cultural differences. Little scholarly attention has been given to Shanzhai purchases from consumer perspective with a few exceptions (e.g., Liu et al, 2015; Qin et al, 2018, 2019). Taking a consumer perspective, Qin et al (2018, 2019) differentiated Shanzhai from counterfeit and studied the consumer motivation drivers for Shanzhai purchase.…”

“…As such, counterfeits are identical to the original brands and considered illegal in most countries (Cesareo, 2016). Shanzhai , in contrast, is visually and functionally similar but not identical to the original brands and, thus, is regarded as legal in many countries (Qin et al, 2018, 2019).…”

“…As such, exploring the impact of culture on consumers' attitudes and perceptions vis‐à‐vis Shanzhai imitation should be especially beneficial for both original and Shanzhai brand marketers. We adopted Qin et al's (2019) conceptualization of Shanzhai to focus on the innovative Shanzhai in this study because the innovative features truly differentiate innovative Shanzhai products from counterfeits. Specifically, we define Shanzhai as the products “imitating the original brands through visual or functional similarities, providing enhanced features, and manufacturing at a lower cost and faster production cycle than do the originals” (Qin et al, 2018, p.231).…”