After Zhejiang's industrial and commercial department burned European imported high-end leather shoes due to quality issues; top brand apparels such as Armani (ARMANI), Burberry (BURBERRY), and Ermenegildo Zegna were judged as unqualified in Shanghai; not long after, carcinogenic substances like decomposable aromatic amines were detected in well-known women’s clothing brands like Etam (艾格) and Veromoda (维沙曼) in Guangzhou. Consumers wearing Crocs sandals had multiple accidents of foot injuries when taking escalators.
Despite the media's extensive coverage, many brands remain low-key when exposed, even casually brushing it off with "it doesn't have much impact." Behind this stark contrast, is it a mature strategy for international brands to deal with "consumer crises," or a challenge to the national psychology of luxury consumption?
Why do brands of problematic products respond indifferently? When international renowned brands frequently appear on the list of "problematic products" published by regulatory authorities, many consumers express feeling "shocked," or even "angry." However, during interviews, another voice was also heard: "Can famous brands have quality problems? Maybe the fabric is domestically produced?" "So many stars wear these brands, how could there be any problems?" "Poor dyeing fastness? Fading, vintage style, it's also a fashion trend, just like designers deliberately cutting holes in jeans."
Perhaps it is precisely this "tolerance" from some consumers that makes most international renowned brands choose silence after being exposed by regulatory authorities - no response, no explanation, no apology.
For instance, when a three-year-old foreign girl wearing Crocs sandals got her left foot injured while accompanied by her father taking an escalator at Prince Edward Station in Hong Kong, Miss Liu, the spokesperson for Crocs' local agency public relations department, merely stated that although several incidents involving Crocs sandals on escalators occurred recently, the company did not receive any complaints about design flaws, reminding customers to be more cautious when using escalators.
The list of substandard imported apparels announced by Shanghai's industrial and commercial department involved more than 20 internationally renowned brands. In nearly ten days, only one enterprise expressed "deep apologies" through the media to consumers and promised immediate measures to improve all garments.
More international brands, while removing related batches and specifications of "problematic products" from shelves, failed to provide further explanations regarding the causes of quality issues and subsequent measures. The answers mostly were "awaiting investigation and notification from headquarters."
Previously, a batch of Louis Vuitton (LV) and Hugo Boss (HUGBOSS) European branded imported shoes were publicly destroyed in Zhejiang due to quality non-conformities. However, relevant brand managers indicated that their high-end leather shoes "sold very well in Shanghai during New Year's Day and were not affected much."
"The 'Madame Bovarys' are increasing"
"In foreign countries, well-known brands often adopt a 'cold handling' method when dealing with such events," analyzed Chen Xinkang, Deputy Dean of the School of International Business and Management at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. "The problem lies in the fact that compared to mature markets, top brands in our country attract too much attention from various groups."
It is well known that unlike second or third-tier brands that target the mass market, first-tier brands, especially top brands, belong to "niche goods" focusing exclusively on a small number of special groups - those with substantial income and strength, having a high recognition and loyalty to the brand. These target customers choose top brands not merely for their craftsmanship and quality but more importantly for their identification with the brand culture and connotation.
Miss Gao is an ordinary employee at an advertising company in Shanghai with a monthly income of around 4,000 yuan. To buy a Ferragamo white shoulder bag priced at 5,700 yuan, she ate boxed lunches every day at work for two months. "Some female colleagues at our company have sharp eyes, noticing what brand of shoes you wear and what brand of bag you carry upon meeting. Compared to branded suits and jewelry, handbags offer better value for money."
Some refer to consumers like Miss Gao as "Madame Bovary": because of insufficient income, they can only hint at being part of the affluent class by purchasing relatively cheaper brands or accessories.
According to a survey by Ernst & Young, China's branded consumers mainly fall into two categories: one being the "wealthy tycoons"; the other being white-collar workers aged between 20 to 40 years old. In contrast, branded consumers in Europe and America are aged between 40 to 70 years old.
Source: http://www.scsally.org.cn/news_xiangxi.asp?news_id=272&news_class=10
Reference Materials: BSCI Certification SA8000 Factory Audit