What Consumers Are Thinking
By Meredith Schwartz -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 11/14/2007 6:45:00 AM
Toys made outside the U.S. are less safe, 59 percent of respondents to an eToys.com survey said. Toys made in China are perceived as the least safe, followed by Southeast Asia and India. Toys made in the U.S., Canada and Europe are considered safest.- Major manufacturers’ toys are safer than smaller ones’, 53 percent believe, and 56 percent will only purchase toys made by companies they know this year.
- Almost half, 45 percent, are willing to pay more for toys made in America; 35 percent are willing to pay up to 10 percent more. About a third are not willing to pay more at all.
- Some 43 percent will buy toys regardless of country of origin, 32 percent won’t buy toys made in China, and 25 percent say they will only buy toys made in America. (A Reuters/Zogby poll found far more people, 75.8 percent, would not buy Chinese-made toys.)
The good news is that recalls don’t seem to have shaken consumer confidence: 75 percent said they feel very or somewhat confident about all products they purchase, whatever their source, though only 41 percent said so about items from China, including just 7 percent who are very confident. Consumers tended to overstate what portion of their purchases come from China: people typically said 50 percent. Economists estimate that Chinese imports account for about 10 percent of U.S. purchases.
