Value Orientation Among Asian Middle Class Consumers

To foreign companies, Asia's recent economic problems appear to have changed buying behavior. Before, middle class consumers supposedly were very quality oriented, willing to buy expensive, high-quality imports. Now, many are switching to cheaper brands. Local companies sometimes misinterpret this shift as increasing price orientation. But Asia's modern middle class has always been strongly value oriented. On a minority are purely quality oriented, and almost none are purely price oriented. They balance quality of product characteristics which are important to them against price. The economic crisis has not changed this, and many marketers must now rediscover the concept of value oriented buying behavior. This value orientation among middle class consumers is demonstrated through many small consumer surveys in high-income Hong Kong, middle income Thailand, and low income Vietnam