Nigerian consumer attitudes toward foreign and domestic products

The Nigerian consumer obsession with foreign-made goods has had a detrimental effect on the domestic manufacturing industry. This paper uses conjoint analysis to investigate the importance of a product’s country-of-manufacture relative to other attributes in the Nigerian consumer choice. It was found that the country-of-manufacture is significantly more important than price and other product attributes in consumer preference. Nigerian consumers have a negative image of the ‘Made in Nigeria’ label, rating it lower than labels from more economically developed countries. Additional analyses indicate that the superior reliability and technological advancement of foreign products are the most important correlates of the Nigerian consumer’s likelihood to purchase foreign products. Implications for foreign marketers, domestic governments and domestic manufacturers are discussed. © 1999, Academy of International Business. All rights reserved.