Consumers in Asia are known for preferring global brands as opposed to the locally manufactured ones. The emergence of global brands in the marketplace has brought many benefits as well as many obstacles, especially for local marketers. This study explored the antecedents of global brands preference among Gen-Y in Malaysia, notably country-of-origin, quality, design, and advertising. Three hundred students of higher learning institutions in Malaysia were selected to take part in the study. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. It was found that the country-of-origin, quality, and design positively influence global brands preference among Gen-Y. However, advertising was found to influence preferences negatively. The findings could help local marketers develop and execute their marketing plan better and global marketers to improve their strategies and be more competitive. Marketers should focus on the above aspects in their marketing plan to capture the markets of Gen-Y in Malaysia and thus addressing their needs and wants better.
TopIntroduction
Globalization has changed the landscape of business and marketing, taking the world by storm. The world is fast becoming a borderless market, and globalization is introducing the concept of the whole world as one gigantic marketplace. Globalization not only helps businesses in offering their products to a larger and more profitable market, but it also helps integrate people across cultures and close geographical gaps within countries (Govil & Rashmi, 2013), making the world even smaller than before. With the help of globalization, global brands began making their appearances (Winit et al., 2014).
Brands are considered as the lifeblood of companies because they help generate market share, increase customer loyalty, amplify channel power, offer the potential for higher profit margins, and guard against aggressive attacks (Kim, 2019; Armstrong & Kotler, 2013; Steenkamp, 2014). A brand is considered the image used to identify a specific product and what anchors the product to a customer’s minds. Consumers in Asia Pacific, including Malaysia, are showing preference for global brands. Even if local brands are increasingly becoming premium, most consumers are influenced by the perception that global brands possess more quality than local ones (McCaskill, 2016). A research done by Nielsen for the annual Nielsen Global Brand-Origin Report in 2017 showed that Malaysian consumers are showing preference for global manufacturers’ brands across the majority of the 34 categories. Several categories that highlight consumer preference of global brands are baby wipes and/or diapers (90%), baby food and/or formula (87%), pet foods (14%), feminine care products (15%), vitamins and/or supplements (16%), and skincare products (18%) (Hew, 2017). One the main reasons many firms are in favor of marketing global brands and projecting the image of global brands as compared to local brands because of the preferences of many consumers (Zakaria, Wan-ismail, Abdul-Talib, 2015; Steenkamp, Batra, & Alden, 2003).
Global brands have been in the local market for a long time that they have managed to capture the hearts of Malaysians and somehow anchor their image and value in Malaysian customers’ minds. Consumers prefer global brands because they are perceived to deliver high quality, expertise, authority, and credibility (Batra et al., 2000). Moreover, global brands enjoy high prestige and status in the minds of most consumers (Zhao, Zhao & Deng, 2018; Batra et al., 2000; Steenkamp et al., 2002). Thus, it has become quite a challenge and problem for Malaysian businesses to compete with global brands since Malaysian customers have long trusted the global brands and prefer them to the local brands.