Better worry about China’s brands – Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

Chinese brands have started to beat the foreign ones, tells Shaun Rein in CNNgo. It is time for the foreign brands to get worried about ‘made in China’.

“There’s definitely been a shift in perception [of Chinese brands],” says Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group. Targeting youth, he says, is the key.

Take China’s version of Kappa.
“Sports apparel is premium purchase for a lot of younger consumers, so they gravitate towards Kappa, whose Chinese incarnation puts the European brands to shame.”
Ditto Septwolves, the menswear brand from Fujian.
“It does very well in third- and fourth-tier cities,” says Rein. “In fact it beats the foreign companies investing out there.”…
So what’s the lesson for the multinationals out there looking to China to save their bottom line?
“Be worried,” says Rein.
“Up-and-coming Chinese brands are no longer positioning themselves as ‘cheap but good enough,’” he continues. “Younger brands are impressive and ambitious and can go head to head with foreign brands on equal footing.”