Bring home the shopping sprees

As the world's factory, why has China's manufacturing industry failed to catch the attention of its own consumers?

The answer to that is the long list of complaints Chinese consumers have about what Chinese manufacturers have done. We have been inundated with quality scandals. Despite ever-increasing incomes, Chinese people have been plagued by food scandals such as tainted milk powder and contaminated rice. It is widely believed that China has adopted a set of much lower standards in testing crop pesticide residue. It is also not a secret that our manufacturers usually adopt two different quality standards for the products they sell overseas and the domestic market. Our exporters sell products to foreign markets in line with foreign quality standards, while leaving inferior products to domestic consumers. That explains why Chinese tourists traveling abroad choose to buy a lot of "made in China" goods in other countries rather than in the home market.

At a time when it is much easier for Chinese people to go abroad than ever before, they have begun to cast their votes against domestic products with their feet.

Domestic manufacturers must realize that the buying spree by Chinese shoppers in Japan and other countries is a no-confidence vote in the products they offer in the domestic market. This is particularly important when the country has gone all-out to boost consumption as a way of bolstering its decelerating economy as exports and investment lose steam as economic engines.

Many countries that are undergoing economic slowdowns of their own are even seeking ways to attract shopaholic Chinese tourists as a means to boost their own economic growth, domestic manufacturers should not sit idle. They should try to grab the larger share of the ever-expanding domestic consumption.

At a time when domestic consumers have become increasingly critical of the quality of the goods they consume, domestic manufacturers must realize that it is an urgent task to abandon their previous low-cost advantage and take practical steps toward improving their product quality and repairing their tarnished image. Without this, there will be no end to such crazy overseas shopping sprees by Chinese tourists.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily.