Globalisation and the facilitation of international trade has benefited Singaporean consumers with the accessibility to a plethora of products from all over the world. E-commerce has also further simplified the sales and transportation of international goods.
With the variety of country origin, where do consumers prefer their products across different categories to hail from?
Across all nine categories surveyed, namely telecommunications products, household appliances, fashion, beauty and cosmetics, fresh food, packaged food, household furniture, e-commerce, gaming and entertainment, the 'Made in Japan' tag was rated the most superior.
Australia and New Zealand, known for its quality dairy and produce, received strong scores in the 'fresh food' (77) and 'packaged food' (68) categories whilst the global buzz surrounding K-beauty is also recognised in Singapore – South Korean skincare and cosmetics rank second in the category at 78 points. The United States scored its best grade in the 'E-commerce' category (75), possibly due to pioneer businesses such as Amazon, Ebay and Etsy.
*The index is calculated by assigning values on four qualitative ratings of a country's product (superior, average, inferior, don't know) in a particular category. The scores were then rounded to the nearest whole number.