Country-of-Origin (COO) Effect on Pakistani Consumers' Evaluation of French Cosmetic Products

Abstract

Outside Pakistan, very meager information in the form of research is there to determine the attitudes of Pakistani consumers towards local and internationally manufactured cosmetics products. This study principally investigates the empirical influence of country-of-origin (COO) factor on Pakistani consumers' evaluation of French cosmetics products. The roots of the study originate from past research, which clearly indicate that rather influencing consumer purchase intentions COO more successfully effects consumers' product evaluations. The antecedents of COO are also investigated to comprehend their significance. Generally speaking, consumers of less developed countries such as Pakistan have a more favorable image regarding the products of the more developed countries. This fact inspires the undertaken research thereby making use of country of origin as the main independent variable of study. The respondents were University undergrad and grad students and faculty members from Sahiwal, Pakistan. 140 respondents were surveyed through self-administered questionnaires. The outcomes of the questionnaire were measured through descriptive analysis, correlation and one-way ANOVA to exactly determine the validity of country of origin information of products and the CETSCALE in shaping a positive product evaluation towards French cosmetics. The results of the study indicate that Pakistani consumers are not highly ethnocentric, have no animosity towards France and French cosmetics. COM (country-of-manufacture), a sub construct of COO was found to have statistically positive relationship with consumer product evaluation process, whereas price an extrinsic factor had no significant relation with consumer's product evaluation process. An interesting revelation of this study was that consumers with high level of product knowledge relied more on COO related cues in their product evaluation as compared to consumers with low level of knowledge. This finding is in contradiction of earlier such conducted studies where it was found that consumers with lower knowledge level relied more on COO related cues in their product evaluation. The results of this study are helpful to domestic manufacturers of cosmetics in Pakistan, to introduce those attributes in their product which consumers expects from them and rely upon in their product evaluation process. On parallel lines, it shall give a thorough insight to the foreign manufacturer of cosmetic products in redefining their marketing and other functional strategies to more aggressively and successfully penetrate the Pakistani market. KEYWORDS: Country-of-origin (COO), cosmetic products, Country-of-Manufacture (COM), Pakistani consumers, France, product evaluation.

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