Consumer knowledge and use of country-of-origin information at the point of purchase

This paper reports an investigation of American and Canadian consumer acquisition and/or knowledge of the country of origin of products at the time of purchase. Consumer knowledge of the country of origin of purchased products was tested as purchasers left the cash register. If the purchaser knew the country of origin of the product just purchased, they were further questioned to discover the role such knowledge might have played in their choice between alternatives. More than 93 per cent of 1,248 purchasers intercepted at the cash register had not acquired while shopping, or did not know from prior experience, the country of origin of a product they had just purchased. Of the 91 (6.5 per cent) who had acquired or knew the country of origin of a product they had just purchased, only 27 (2.2 per cent of the total) indicated that their knowledge of the product's country of origin possibly might have played a role in their product choice. These findings reveal that the country of origin of products is not an important attribute in the choice processes of the great majority of North American consumers. Confirmation of these findings by replication with less obtrusive and more externally valid measures of consumer acquisition and use of product information prior to purchase is needed. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications.