Product Stereotypes: Indonesian Local Brands vs Global Brands

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In the world we live in, the products that we use daily are often stereotyped in a certain way. For this case, this article will discuss how products around the world are usually stereotyped based on where it is produced and why Indonesian local products are usually stereotyped as bad. 

What is stereotype?

Stereotype is a standardized mental picture held in common by members of a certain group or society and that mental picture represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgement of the subject. Simply, stereotype is shallow perception of a group of people about something.

Chinese brands common stereotype

First case that will be discussed is the stereotyping of ‘made in China’ or Chinese brands against other global products. China is known to have a certain reputation regarding the quality of their product in the global market. People’s perception of Chinese products is not as good as it should be. This is affected by several factors, one of those factors is the general stereotype that Chinese products are damaged easily. 

China also tends to make knockoff products such as knockoff Gundam kits that have a terrible plastic quality compared to the original Japanese counterparts, which supports people’s belief of the low quality of Chinese products. However, not all Chinese products are bad. Take an example of a ‘made in China’ product that has eluded this stereotype, Apple. Yes, Apple is made in China. People have yet to realize that Apple is made in China but has top notch quality in terms of product quality. Apple may be designed and owned by the USA, but production is from China.

Baca juga : Jatuh Bangun Merek Sepatu Lokal ‘Bertarung’ dengan Merek Sepatu Global

Indonesian local phone brands survival

Second case is a case of Indonesian local phone brands against other Asian competitors that are entering the Indonesian market with a storm behind their backs. Advan is an Indonesian brand that sells middle to lower tier smartphones with relatively cheap pricing. Lately, they have started to enter the high tier smartphones with superb gaming capabilities due to the drastic increase in gaming phone demand in the Indonesian market. However, Advan only has an 8 percent market share of the Indonesian smartphone market as of 2016.

Why is that? It’s because of their marketing and branding strategy that has failed them and caused a stereotype to form. The other Asian brands such as Oppo, Samsung, and Xiao MI has a very effective branding and marketing strategy that can instantly grab the attention of the Indonesian market. They also come in very high specs within the same price range as our Local Phone Brands such that the market would instantly shift to their favor. This has caused a stereotype to form that has the image of ‘other foreign brands are way better than Indonesian brands’.

In conclusion, we as consumers must not fall to stereotyping and try to watch reviews of products before buying as a product’s quality can’t be determined by where its made or where the brand resides from.

This Article is created by Product Design Engineering student of STEM Prasetiya Mulya, Albie Prandi Darmawidjaja.