| The purpose of this research is to provide marketing and managerial insights to Western companies selling denim jeans brands in China, specifically in Shanghai. Understanding consumers' perceptions of and preferences for Western-branded jeans in a cultural-specific marketplace is the primary focus.; The primary data collection methods include a consumer survey questionnaire and a jeans market observation in Shanghai. Thirty-four Western-branded jeans were identified in five shopping malls in Shanghai. The brand name, country of brand origin, country of manufacture, and price range of these brands identified through observing the market were recorded. For the consumer survey questionnaire, 223 surveys were collected and 219 were deemed usable. The questionnaire mainly features ranking choices and open-ended questions. Besides consumers' personal data and characteristics, the questionnaire investigated Chinese consumers' perceptions of Western-branded denim jeans at multiple levels: (1) Perceptions of the importance of jeans attributes generally; (2) perceptions of Western-branded jeans; (3) valuations of the most frequently purchased Western-branded jeans; (4) evaluations of Western-branded jeans which consumers had never purchased but were familiar with; (5) perceptions of consumers' three favorite jeans brands.; A combination of descriptive statistics and a content analysis method was used to analyze data. The same four brands---LeeRTM , Levi'sRTM, Apple (Texwood RTM), and OnlyRTM---were found to be the most frequently purchased and most favored Western-branded jeans. A content analysis of consumers' evaluations or perceptions of each of these four brands revealed that Shanghai consumers' general perceptions of Western-branded jeans differ from actual experience with individual Western jeans brands. Shanghai consumers were found to be relatively sophisticated about Western-branded jeans. However, they did not differentiate Western-branded jeans in terms of country of brand origin; instead, they differentiated Western-branded jeans according to other attributes, such as price, quality, design, and brand image. |
