Consumers in Singapore are displaying a growing preference for global brands rather than locally manufactured products, especially when it comes to baby food or baby milk products, market researcher Nielsen said.
The latest survey results showed consumer preference is tipping toward global brands across the majority of categories, the report released on Thursday showed.
Preference for global brands was strongest in the baby food/formula and baby wipes/diapers categories, where 93 percent and 92 percent of Singapore consumers, respectively, said they preferred to buy brands from global manufacturers.
This could bode ill for local infant milk powder companies, which faces stiff competition from rivals such as Abbott Laboratories Singapore, Nestlé Singapore, Dumex Singapore (Danone) and Heinz Singapore.
Einmilk, owned by AE Solution and manufactured here by SMC Nutrition, with milk sourced from New Zealand, entered as the only local brand on the market earlier this year.
Conversely, categories where consumers in Singapore were more inclined to opt for a locally manufactured product over a global brand included biscuits/chips/snacks/cookies (42 percent), dairy products (36 percent), instant noodles (33 percent) and breakfast cereals (29 percent), Nielsen report said.
"The variation across regions illustrates the relative strength of local manufacturers within specific categories, particularly where they are appealing to local consumers' tastes," Regan Leggett, Nielsen's head of foresight and thought leadership, growth markets said.
