Foreign DIY-stores like B&Q, Home Depot and Saint-Gobain are retreating from China despite the booming economy, and nobody should be surprised, tells Shaun Rein in The Age. DIY does not fit the image people want to have.
The Age:
“Do-it-yourself is not popular in China,” Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group…
“The feeling in China is that if you do it yourself that means you are a peasant — not the sturdy, manly image DIY chains have crafted in the US.”…Rein said that on some of the few DIY items that do sell in China, both B&Q and Home Depot priced themselves out of the local market by charging much more than Chinese competitors.
Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you want to learn more on how foreign businesses fail in China – or can win – do ask him for your meeting or conference, and give us a call.