Country of Parts,Country of Manufacturing,and Country of Origin

Abstract

In response to the dominance of hybrid and multinational products in the U.S. textile and apparel marketplace, and the increasing consumer demand for product origin information, the study examined the relationship among multi-level COO displays, consumer purchase preferences, and perceived price. The results of 76 responses through a 2 × 2 randomized block, repeated measures research, using the United States and China as country of parts (COP) and country of manufacturing (COM), showed that the two-level COO impacted consumers’ purchase preferences and perceived prices, based on their perceived value of sustainability. However, consumers' purchase preferences significantly decreased as a result of unusually high perceived prices. These findings have important implications for textile and apparel businesses and policy makers as adding COP along with COM to declare the product’s COO would increase consumer purchase preferences and perceived values, if applied along with careful pricing strategies.

Keywords

country of origin consumer behavior perceived price textiles apparel industry

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