Americans like and want to buy U.S. made products yet end up buying more foreign goods than they realize because they can't distinguish the U.S. goods from the imported ones, a recent telephone survey reveals.


The survey of American buying habits asked 400 respondents their opinion of American products, whether they try to "buy American" and whether their most recent purchases were U. S. made or imported.

The questions were designed to test consumer reception of a new Sperry & Hutchinson Motivation, Inc. (S&H) program called "Bonus America." The program will be designed to encourage the purchase of American made or assembled products.

Beginning in the fall of 1987, specifically designed Bonus America tags or labels, each worth a set value of "Bonus Points," will be attached to a product made by an American manufacturer. When consumers purchase these goods made by participating manufacturers, S&H will reward them bonus points that can be redeemed at no cost through a Bonus America catalog that features only American-made products.

"Americans feel guilty when they don't buy an American-made product, but when it comes down to the actual purchase they often buy lower-priced imports. The Bonus America program gives them an incentive and capitalizes on the 'buy American sentiment,'" says Poull Brien, S&H Motivation vice president.

Before this program was launched by S&H, research was done to determine consumer reactions to the Bonus America concept and their perceptions of American?made products. Research results will be used to refine the program and to encourage manufacturer participation in the program.

Telephone survey

A random, nationwide sample of individuals 21 years of age or older were involved in the study. During the 10day interviewing period, well over 400 calls in which participants fully answered the questionnaire, were completed.

Respondents were read a description of "Bonus America" then questioned to determine:

  • Their interest in participating in the program.
  • Things liked and disliked about the program.
  • The program's expected effect on their buying of American products.
  • The effect of product cost on their participation in the program.
  • Their perceived origin of their most recent purchases.
  • Perceptions of American-made products.
  • Reactions to S&H running the program.
  • Participation in other incentive programs.

The telephone survey, conducted by an independent New York research firm, was the best method to use because there wasn't a "specific target of consumers to reach. Everyone's a consumer," says Steve Webster, spokesperson for S&H Motivation.

"The technique was cost-effective and produced results very quickly with immediate feedback. It took us just 10 days to conduct the interviews and then tabulate the results and put them together," says Webster.

General findings

Some of the general findings of the study:

  • Over half of all adults express interest in participating in Bonus America. Most of these people say that they will possibly rather than definitely participate.
  • Interest in Bonus America is above average among prime consumer prospects, adults under 50 years old, with household income above $20,000 and with children. Frequent purchasers of foreign-made goods are as interested in the program as are people who say they always buy American made products.
  • What most people like about Bonus America is its support of American-made products and the related economic benefits for the country. However, people who currently buy foreign-made products are likely to name both support of America and the bonus system as positive elements of the program.
  • About four adults in 10 say they're likely to buy more American-made products once Bonus America starts. Half of those interested in participating in the program expect to buy more. A quarter of those people who don't expect to formally participate in the program nonetheless expect to buy more American products.
  • Almost half of the respondents say they're likely to buy Bonus America products if they cost slightly more than competing products. Few people say they'd buy participating products that cost substantially more than the competition.
  • Knowing that S&H will run Bonus America increases the interest of many people due to their familiarity with the company. Only a few people react negatively to S&H's involvement.

Positive findings

Favorable findings of the study include:

  • More than half, 53%, say the quality of American products is improving and another 26% say quality is steady. Only 15% thought U. S. quality was on the way down.
  • Significantly, the belief that domestic products are getting better was especially pronounced in the 21-39 year-old category. Almost 62% see an improvement compared with 45.6% in the over 40 sample.

Improving quality translated into the desire to buy more U.S. products. Forty-nine percent professed a willingness to buy American goods even at a slightly higher price. A substantial group, 27.2%, said they would pay a substantially higher price for the U.S. product. Forty percent of the sample said they would buy even more American products once the "Bonus America" program starts.

Some positive conclusions include:

  • Most consumers, 58%, are interested in the Bonus America program. They like it because they see it as good for America.
  • There's interest in actively participating in the program; 20% say they're extremely likely to save points and redeem them for gifts.
  • The S&H name tends to increase people's interest in program participation. Half of all consumers are more, likely to participate because of S&H's involvement while only 8% are less likely to participate.
  • Bonus America's benefit to participating products is not limited to attracting business from consumers who collect points. The program can also capitalize on other people's interest in purchasing American-made products by drawing their attention to the origin of products in the program.

Negative findings

Consumers may want to buy American products but many can't tell the U.S. product from its foreign competition. Some of the discrepancies between what consumers thought they bought and what they really bought were startling.

  • Fifty-one percent of those surveyed thought their most recent shoe purchase had been of "made in America" products. In fact, imports control 77% of the market.
  • Nor are consumers aware of the origins of their golf clubs, tennis rackets and basketballs. About 12% thought their last sporting goods purchase was of foreign?made products; imports actually assumed 34% of 1985 U.S. sales.
  • The same story holds for power hand tools. Imports constitute one-third of all sales. Only 8% of those surveyed thought they bought an import.
  • Significantly, about one-quarter of the sample "didn't know" the origin of their most recent purchases. Some of this group no doubt includes people who "don't care." But the larger portion, those truly unsure of origin, represent a potentially enormous market that hasn't been affected by the numerous generic "Buy American" campaigns now being pitched, such as that from the Crafted with Pride Council. This is because such programs do not offer effective point-of-sales incentives to the consumer.

Of the 59% of the survey who said they definitely or possibly would participate in "Bonus America," more than half said they were attracted to the program by either the free gift incentive or the value added by a free gift.

The bottom line: high visibility, in-store promotion of domestic products coupled with an additional incentive to buy will sell more product, shows the S&H research findings.

"Americans want to buy American products, it's just that many of them don't know how. Unless the product has a lot of money behind it to support the "American Made" concept - beer and cars are good examples - there's usually no way to tell the import from the real McCoy," says William Weller, S&H motivation president. "Manufacturers need to take the initiative to promote their domestic products through better promotions and incentives."

Adds Webster, "There's been some discussion about whether or not the 'Made in the USA' theme has run its course. Our opinion is that the theme remains viable. If there's any 'burnout,' it's due to poorly conceived marketing plans that really don't capitalize on this sentiment.