Lack of mid-market brands may cause fewer residents to shop

2013-6-27

From：Macau Daily Times

A recent survey reveals that local residents are more willing to shop in Macau than in its neighboring city Zhuhai. However, scholars point out that the lack of mid-market brands in the Macau market might threaten the city’s leading position in attracting local buyers.
The Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD) of the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) announced the results of the Consumer Satisfaction Index 2013 yesterday.
The index, ranging from 0 to 100, showed how satisfied Macau residents were with shopping and dining in Macau and Zhuhai. The level of satisfaction was measured mainly by the product quality, service quality and product “value”.
Between May 30 and June 8 this year, ISD interviewed 927 local residents by phone through random sampling.
The survey indicates that locals were most satisfied with shopping in Macau, with the index at 71.2. On the other hand, residents were least satisfied with shopping in Zhuhai, scoring 64. Although the index of shopping in Macau has recorded a slight increase of 0.1 percent year on year, there has only been only one sub-index “service quality” increase by 0.4 percent. Both “product quality” and “worthiness” faced a considerable decrease of 1.1 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.
Compared to last year’s findings, shopping in Zhuhai recorded an increase of 3.2 percent. Associate Professor Mr. Li Yan Chen, who presided over the conference yesterday, said the rise of the satisfaction index was predominantly due to the increase of product quality, as well as product worthiness (4.8 percent and 3 percent). Furthermore, the sub-index “service quality” had a slight increase of 0.6 percent.
Professor Li said Zhuhai introduced some well-known international brands such as Uniqlo from Japan, and that Swedish brand H&M will open in Macau soon. “But we don’t have these mid-market brands in Macau. As far as I know, many young people have to buy these brands in HK.” Li feared that if the local market doesn’t introduce more brands targeting the mid-market, locals might be more willing to shop in Zhuhai in future.
As for dining in restaurants, Macau successfully widened the gap between itself and Zhuhai this year. The “Macau dining” sub-index rose 2.6 percent to 69.8; meanwhile, “Zhuhai dining” rose by 2.5 percent to 66.4. All three indicators (namely food quality, service quality and worthiness) had increased for both Macau and Zhuhai dining. But Macau dining has increased by a larger percentage, hitting the highest record in the past seven years.
The widest gap in both shopping and dining appears to be in terms of service quality, the report points out. ISD director Chan Lai Kow said: “Manpower is insufficient in Macau, but it should be possible to provide training and incentives to encourage staff to stay and improve service quality. Macau is a small community, and a harmonious atmosphere and interpersonal relation can play a crucial role..”
Under the ISD and with the support of the Macao Foundation, the Marketing Research Center initiated the Macau Consumer Satisfaction survey in 2007.

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