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Consumer Buying Behavior: Local vs. Global Brand Preferences

Insights from our August 2024 survey of 515 consumers.

Consumer buying behavior is shaped by more than price or convenience. For many shoppers, brand trust, perceived quality, community connection, and accessibility all influence whether they choose a local business or a global brand. Our nationwide survey of US consumers aged 18+ reveals the complex dynamics of local charm, global appeal, what motivates them to buy local, and the barriers that stand in the way.

This Shopper Insights Brief explores the consumer buying behavior behind:

  • Consumer trust levels in local vs. global brands
  • Factors motivating purchases from local brands
  • Barriers to buying from local brands
  • Price sensitivity and willingness to pay for local products
  • Recommendations for both local and global brands
  • Potential for collaboration between local and global entities

Consumer buying behavior helps brands make smarter decisions. For retailers and ecommerce brands, these findings show how consumer buying behavior changes when shoppers weigh local trust against global convenience, price, and availability.

Consumer Trust in Local vs. Global Brands

Consumers trust local brands more and consider them to be of higher quality than national brands, offering local shops a strong competitive advantage.

Local brands may earn trust through familiarity and community ties, while global brands often benefit from consistency, scale, and broad availability.

For brands, this trust gap is an important consumer buying behavior signal. Shoppers may be more willing to try, recommend, or return to brands that feel familiar, reliable, and connected to their values.

Four donut charts showing online shoppers’ perceptions of local brands: 56% believe local brands offer higher quality, 50% trust local brands more, 44% prefer buying from local brands, and 6% believe local brands have lower quality. Source: Bizrate Insights survey of 515 online shoppers, August 2024.

Motivations and Barriers for Buying Local

While supporting local economies drives purchases, price and accessibility remain significant hurdles.

Even when shoppers prefer to support local businesses, limited access, higher prices, or less convenient shopping options can influence the final purchase decision.

This tension shows how consumer buying behavior often reflects both values and practical constraints. Shoppers may want to buy local, but price, access, and convenience can still shape the final decision.

Bar chart comparing motivations and barriers for buying from local brands. Motivations are support local economy at 65%, higher product quality at 56%, and greater trust at 50%. Barriers are higher prices at 47%, limited store locations at 45%, and limited product availability at 39%. Source: Bizrate Insights survey of 515 online shoppers, August 2024.

Price Sensitivity and Willingness to Pay for Local Products

Price sensitivity plays a major role in consumer buying behavior, especially when shoppers compare local products with national or global alternatives. While some consumers may be willing to pay more for local products, others may choose a global brand when price, availability, or convenience becomes the deciding factor.

Three donut charts showing consumers’ price perceptions of local products: 65% are willing to pay more for local products, 50% suggest competitive pricing for local brands, and 47% cite higher prices as a barrier. Key takeaway: consumers value local brands but remain price-conscious, creating a complex dynamic for pricing strategies. Source: Bizrate Insights survey of 515 online shoppers, August 2024.

What Local Businesses and Global Brands Can Learn

Table showing strategy recommendations for local and global brands. For local brands, recommendations are to emphasize quality, authenticity, and community impact; introduce tiered pricing or loyalty programs; and improve accessibility through partnerships or ecommerce. For global brands, recommendations are to build trust through transparency and localized strategies; introduce tiered pricing or loyalty programs; and partner with local businesses for an authentic local presence. Key takeaway: success lies in leveraging unique strengths while addressing key consumer concerns. Source: Bizrate Insights survey of 515 online shoppers, August 2024.

Collaboration Opportunities Between Local and Global Brands

The future of retail lies in balancing local appeal with global capabilities.

Collaboration Opportunities:
  • Exclusive local products in national stores
  • Local brands leveraging national distribution
  • Co-branding initiatives
Future Outlook:
  • Blend of local trust and global efficiency
  • Innovative pricing and accessibility solutions
  • Increased transparency and community engagement

Turn Shopper Feedback Into Smarter Brand Strategy

Bizrate Insights’ customer feedback solutions deliver shopper insights to power your ecommerce strategy.

We collect 25 million survey responses annually, making us a top source for user-generated content (UGC), like verified customer reviews, seller ratings, and product insights. These are aggregated to deliver real-time KPIs for a 360° view of your customer experience:

  • Uncover customer preferences and pain points
  • Benchmark your performance against the industry
  • Identify emerging trends ahead of the competition
  • Fine-tune strategies and practices based on verified insights

By understanding consumer buying behavior through verified shopper feedback, brands can identify what drives trust, what prevents purchases, and where local or global positioning can create a stronger customer experience.

Discover how Bizrate Insights can transform customer feedback into a driver for growth. To schedule a personalized demo, go to bizrateinsights.com/demo.

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