缺乏品牌忠誠度的中國消費者大綱

According to a new study by Bain & Company and Kantar Worldpanel, Chinese consumers are adventurous shoppers who are constantly trying out new brands and are rarely loyal to one.

貝恩公司(Bain & Company)和消費者指數研究機構Kantar Worldpanel發佈的一份新研究報告顯示，中國消費者喜歡在購物時冒險，他們總是會嘗試新品牌，而很少對一個品牌忠心耿耿。

The findings are likely to disappoint the marketing departments at major consumer product companies, the researchers say.
研究人員說，這次調查結果可能會令大型消費品公司的營銷部門感到失望。

"There's always been an expectation that the Chinese will become more loyal as the market becomes more mature and we're saying "no" to that," said Bruno Lannes, a Shanghai-based partner for Bain and the lead writer of the report.

貝恩駐上海合夥人、該報告的主要作者蘭尼斯(Bruno Lannes)說，人們總有這樣一種期待，即隨着中國市場趨向成熟，中國消費者的品牌忠誠度也會不斷提高，但我們現在認爲不是這樣的。

"This may be sobering news for brand managers. The reality is that consumers in China, like in other countries, don't think of brands when they shop."
蘭尼斯說，對品牌經理來說，這可能算是個發人深省的消息；其實，跟其它國家的消費者一樣，中國消費者在買東西時想的不是品牌。

The researchers studied the shopping habits of 40,000 Chinese households by arming them with scanners to track their purchases in real time. Twenty-six types of consumer products were tracked in beverage, packaged food, personal care and home care categories.
研究人員給四萬箇中國家庭配備了掃描儀，從而實時追蹤他們買東西的情況，研究他們的購物習慣。調查對飲料、包裝食品、個人護理和家庭護理用品等幾大類項下共26種消費品進行了跟蹤分析。

Chinese shoppers are most often engaged in what Mr. Lannes calls "repertoire behavior," which means that they consider and buy several brands when shopping rather than sticking to one favorite. For example, the average Chinese household bought yogurt 16.2 times last year. But shoppers chose one of the leading three brands just 4.6, or 28%, of those times.
中國消費者會經常做出蘭尼斯所謂的“大雜燴行爲”，也就是說他們在買東西時，會考慮併購買好幾個牌子的商品，而不是始終買自己最喜歡的品牌。例如，中國家庭去年平均買過16.2次酸奶，但其中僅有4.6次選擇的是三大品牌之一，佔總購買次數的28%。

And the more they shop in a category, the study found, the more brands they'll try. The 20% of Chinese shoppers who shopped the most for biscuits, for example, bought 10 different brands of treats, while the average shopper tried six.
研究發現，他們購買的同類商品越多，嘗試的品牌就越多。例如，買餅乾最多的中國消費者中，有20%的人買過10個不同品牌，而一般消費者買過六個品牌。

"Chinese do love brands. It's a reassurance for them. But even though they love them, in most categories, it doesn't mean they love one in particular."

蘭尼斯說，中國人十分熱衷品牌，品牌的東西讓他們感到放心，但雖然他們對大多數種類的商品都有自己喜愛的品牌，但這並不意味着他們會特別喜愛某一個品牌。

Certain products do inspire loyalty, including beer, soft drinks and chewing gum. Diapers and infant formula are also categories where consumers will stick with one brand, partially because of recent scandals of tainted products, Mr. Lannes said.
某些商品確實會讓消費者產生一定的忠誠度，如啤酒、軟飲料和口香糖等。蘭尼斯說，對於紙尿褲和嬰兒配方奶粉等商品，消費者會堅持購買一個品牌，部分原因在於近期出現的一系列問題產品醜聞。

But with such little brand loyalty among most categories, what are marketing executives supposed to do? Mr. Lannes advises to scrap the idea of creating loyal customers and focus more on attracting shoppers in stores so they take notice of a particular brand.
現在的問題是，面對對大多數商品品牌幾乎沒有什麼忠誠度的中國消費者，營銷高管應該怎麼做呢？蘭尼斯建議，應放棄建立忠誠客戶這個想法，而把精力更多地放在吸引店內消費者上面，這樣他們就會注意到某一品牌。

"There was an expectation that loyalty would increase," he said. "But we don't expect China to really evolve this way."
蘭尼斯說，過去有一種期待就是，消費者的品牌忠誠度會逐漸提高，但我們認爲中國不會沿着這個方向發展。