US brands vs Chinese consumer products

First off, I wanna say that American goods aren't bad at all. Just sharing my thoughts based on what I’ve been seeing online. So, with that out of the way, let’s get into it. The US has some major brands like Apple, Nike, Starbucks, and McDonald's. A lot of folks, including me, really dig their stuff. But I’ve been noticing a shift. It feels like America is getting better at marketing brands than actually offering products that fulfill everyday needs. It’s more about selling a fantasy, like only a certain group can enjoy these products. If you can't buy it, maybe you just don’t belong to that crowd. It’s more about feelings and lifestyles than practicality. Now, China seems to be doing the opposite. Look at Starbucks when it hit China everyone wanted in on it. They sold the whole brand and lifestyle vibe. But then a local coffee chain, Luckin, noticed how pricey Starbucks was and decided to mix it up. They offered cheaper coffee, made it super easy to order, and even delivered it to you. Instead of pushing an image, they focused on convenience and bang for your buck. And it’s not just coffee. The iPhone is in the mix too. A lot of people now say Huawei is stepping up with design innovation in their phones. Tesla's in the game, but BYD is making decent electric cars that many feel are a much better deal. I’m not saying American brands can’t do this stuff. They definitely can. Just feels like they’re more into selling a lifestyle, while many Chinese brands are all about meeting actual consumer needs.

Because sales was born in America, and sales is all about selling the outcome, not the product. Think about it. Every time you buy something, ask yourself why are you buying it? There's a reason the entire business model of Google and Meta relies on ads. Marketing moves the world. People buy based on emotion, and justify the purchase with logic. People don't want to "drink coffee". They want to feel the thirst being saturated from a cold drink. They want to have a chat with a chick in the coffee-shop that serves the coffees. Or they want to wake up and focus on their work. You don't sell coffee by advertising the flavors of the coffee. You sell it by communicating the outcomes.

There are still more than enough pure US products. Not everyone produces in China and ships it to the US to sell it locally. Timber, Bricks, metal, Chips you name it. But Media tends to think in 2 ways. Black and white thinking is the culprit of many mainstream media.

Exactly. They have always been selling a dream, most of it is fake too. And they don't say "if you can't buy it, you are not in that class". They are saying "this class of people is what you WANT to be in, so work your ass off and then buy our super expensive crap to get the feeling that you belong to that group". Anybody with half a brain would ask for example "why would I buy McDonald's when the local burger shop is both cheaper and has a high quality". I mean have to you had McDonald's crap? It's just garbage, and yet they sell that garbage because for decades they have sold the brand through advertisement, they have sold that dream and everyone who wastes their hard earned money on that garbage is buying that illusion, and that blinds them on the taste... China is not that different either. China is USA with a delay! Right now they are producing stuff that consumers need. After a while when US falls, or maybe even is dissolved like USSR did, the Chinese would go down the same path. They've already adopted capitalism and consumerism from the West and that plague is already spreading there as well...

Honestly this was also in my mind but then i learned about it. Actually in business no company ignores consumers. Some win through brand  while others win through value and innovation. I mean American companies have spent decades building brands because a strong brand creates pricing power and customer loyalty and also higher profit margins. While many Chinese companies entered markets late so they could not rely on brand value. Instead  they competed on what customers cared about most like lower prices  and may be a good features. What i am trying to say is that it is not about  America vs. China. It is about where companies choose to compete.

I will say global supply chains has make things more connected than before, alot product that people do call it America or Chinese actually gets it's materials or parts from other countries, that's why is not that easy to separate everything into two sides. Rather than putting focus on where and how products are coming from, it will be much better to also look whether the product brings good value for money and solves problems for consumers.

There is a famous saying in our country that is very relevant and matches at this point. When a thing is famous, then its products are being sold on the basis of the brand name, not on the quality basis. And this is the trick, literally, where the elite class people fall more. Thinking that they are rich and they will only buy famous brands, and the true reality is that sometimes they are fake too, just like you said. This way, brands make billions of dollars in revenue. Months ago, when the US and China were in a tariff war, then china challanged US that they would disclose many brands' manufacturing amounts/prices in the international market that can hurt the name/reputation of the brands, like the product that elite people flex buying is just really worth some dollars only, that they buy in thousands. So when you become a brand, then your name matters more than anything else. And you get a sale on the basis of the brand name.

This is why China is the largest merchandise hub; it has Alibaba, which many countries rely on for their market needs. We have two popular online marketplaces here in our country, and the majority of the products sold come from China. I can't remember buying a product from the US from these marketplaces. You have to visit an exclusive store in a mall to buy US-made products. They are selling good brands,, but China rules the market.

Marketing ads actually do appeal to emotional branding which the U.S utilizes and that is simply selling just an identity, while the Chinese definitely makes you, the consumer, actually want the dream. They design products that rate up to the American luxury standard with same and better features and easier to afford than what the U.S produces as luxury items with expensive prices only affordable by a certain wealth class. The Chinese as far, has definitely forced the U.S to start thinking just beyond selling emotions and identity to consumers, by selling convenience, easy utility with low prices because economic times actually tell what you can afford and so far, inflation has contributed more to the world economy and the U.S inclusive.

The US sells innovation, while China sells replicas. Innovation must be priced high. The difference is clear: the US's target market is consumers who can appreciate innovation. I haven't measured how fast China is innovating now. However, China has historically offered replica products at low prices and mediocre to poor quality. To this day, people in my neighborhood still hold the stigma that Chinese products are inferior.

You understand that China wants and is trying to build worldwide recognizable brands right now as well, right? It's just America and the rest of the world have had a much longer head start because of the crappy form of government that used to exist in China and partially still does - which don't allow give full autonomy to companies which is needed for a vibrant economy to flourish. In the past China has suppressed creative ideas that did not fit whatever mould the leadership was demanding at the time. Anyone can make a $1 cup of coffee, but if with a lot of branding you can somehow make that into a $3 cup of coffee, that is desirable to any business. Trying to race to the bottom and offer things at the cheapest is one technique in business, but it requires moving a lot of volume and possibly reducing quality in places, so there is a very fine balance to figure out.

The US and Innovation in the same sentence?   Maybe the replica products flooded your markets because most of the population couldn't afford "high quality" products? Have you thought about it from that angle? The narrative that Chinese products are always fake/less durable/of less quality was still coined by the west to try and suppress the strong emerging Chinese industrial force. What is funny is that the same Western companies and brands that claim to produce high quality products source them from China, slap a label on them and over price them to the gullible masses. So who is fooling who?

America and Europe alike got fumbled by shipping their manufacturing abroad and giving their own people comfy office jobs, execs working in offices don't know and don't care about innovation. Capitalism stopped producing innovation long ago. The only innovation existing in the west is on how to cut more bucks out of the worker. Now china produces the best cars and the best technology overall. The west will never recover. Volkswagen fired nearly all its production workers and shut down most of its factories. Now the EU is trying to impose 100% tarrifs on Chinese cars but they're still cheaper and more innovative than western brands. There's no saving of the western economy unless the government agrees to take a more active role in production again.

Every country is making their own benchmark, so its normal for some countries to focus on their brands and expensive lifestyle, while others highlight the simplicity and life's convenience, but they only have one common target, their CONSUMERS. America sells brands because that's what their country is known and rich for. They have all the branded and high quality products, that's why we can't expect affordability at its highest. On the other hand, China is known for its cheap but still durable items, and delicious and affordable foods, because that's also their country's target. Although they also have branded items but they don't focus on them much, but they are more on convenience and affordability at its finest.

I don't think that was just a narrative; I have my own experience with several Chinese-made devices compared to Korean or European products. I don't really mean to defend the US in this regard, but the reality is that innovative products (phones, vehicles, operating systems, platforms) are currently concentrated there. However, you're right on a few points: China doesn't always produce replicas in other sectors, like fashion, where innovation isn't as widespread. For example, www.instagram.com/reel/DIeOQQ7xfXP/

How did American brands get so strong? It wasnt random. Post-WW2 America had the only functioning industrial base on the planet. Had Hollywood projecting its culture everywhere. Had the dollar as the world's reserve currency. The American itself became the top dollar. They streamlined their businesses based on it, and why should they not. China could not do that. You cannot sell dreams to a people who have known times of real scarcity. Thus you sell the service of your function. You sell access. Luckin knew that, and Starbucks has not yet got a handle on what to say or do. Their share of the Chinese market declined precipitously and they needed to reorganize their China business this year. And the convergence itself. Now, Chinese brands are pursuing prestige. With the Mate 80, Huawei is definitely aiming high. BYD has luxury sub-brands. They are not sticking in the "value" lane. Perhaps your question is answered in a different way than you anticipated. The two countries are going towards the same direction. Brand was the beginning of America. Now being forced to deliver value because consumers are fed up with paying premium for iterative upgrades. China began with value, and now they are building brands, since that is where the margins are.

There are also a lot of own brands and products in China, and some of them are really innovative. Rather, it is perhaps more about brand pushing and price competition than innovation vs replicas. I think this was the case in the past, but not necessarily now.

China does have different grades of quality for it's products meant for different markets. What matters is how much your are willing to pay. Traders from developing countries or regions where most of the consumers are of low income status will obviously ship in low grade products that are cheaper for the populations. I don't see a lot of US innovation in the recent times. Maybe Operating systems, computers, internet and weapons (But in most documentaries, they admit that they would spy and steal tech from the likes of Nazi Germany and Soviet Union) Don't even talk about Gadgets and auto-mobiles  Forget about Germany for a moment, remember that small country called Japan and how the United States tried as much as possible to suppress their dominance? Do these companies/brands ring a bell from the earlier years? Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Nintendo, Sharp, JVC, Casio, Canon, Epson, Seiko, Toyota, Nissan, Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Isuzu, Fuso, etc. The US auto-mobile innovation at that time seemed to have been overshadowed or scarce. Apart from Apple, HP, Dell, Windows... I don't see many US products around the world compared to those from Asia and maybe Europe, Germany in particular when it comes to cars. What is now going on is China trying to take over the EV race and the US/The west can't help it but try to fight it with stupid tariffs.

What people like to forget about sales is that people just want something that works, Huawei might be bringing tons of innovation but people want finished product that you can use, have no problem, guaranteed quality, and works smoothly with a refined interface. Iphone win in that aspect. Sometime it is not about what innovation you could bring. The way I see it, America is actually selling for consumer what they need best and China is selling on cutting edge technology to compete with US based products. There are tons of quality of life technology embedded into brands that you labeled as just selling dream like Nike, those features and technical specs you see on their sneakers, aren't just some gimmick for the most part.

On this topic (brand capitalism), there is an interesting book by Professor of Sociology Dmitry Ivanov, "Glam-Capitalism. The World of Brands, Trends, and Trash." I don't know if it has been translated into English, but even if it hasn't, AI can easily do so if someone is interested in the book. Although I haven't read the book to the end, what I have read provides a fascinating perspective on society and the economy, where emotions and status are essentially sold, shaping the value of a product even more than its practicality. It is interesting that branded businesses often outsource production (for example, production in China) and sell through franchises (for example, branded beauty salons, etc.).