MADE IN: Understanding country-of-origin perceptions & associations in France, Germany, UK (Wave 1-EU3)

A conversational AI moderated project in France, Germany and the UK asking about the perceptions, feelings and views of consumers about products and goods made in each of those three countries.

An insight engineers funded project across 3 days in December 2025, just before Christmas, utilising a trained AI agent and our AI avatar (Chloe) to probe & ladder participants in each country about: –

• Characteristics of products & goods in that country.
• An example of a typical product made in that country.
• Why this product is different & unique to that country.
• How they feel about goods made in that country (very positive to very negative).
• Which of 10 main economy countries has the best reputation for popular electronic goods.

Associations by country of origin (FR, DE, GB)

Which one of these phrases reflects how you feel in general about French products and French goods?

	Positivity of Country of Origin – France
	Which one of these phrases reflects how you feel in general about French products and French goods?
	People from	Very Positive	Positive	Negative	Very Negative
	France	64	36	0	0
	Germany	53	44	3	0
	Great Britain	42	53	3	3

The most positive perception of French products is amongst French consumers (64%), the lowest amongst British consumers (42%).

What “French-made” means to consumers
Top-of-mind associations skew to a high/premium quality, elegant/stylish design & aesthetics, and distinctive taste/flavour gastronomy.
Typically, French examples are cheese, wine, perfume/fragrance brands, plus luxury fashion/leather goods.

Which one of these phrases reflects how you feel in general about German products and German goods?

	Positivity of Country of Origin – Germany
	Which one of these phrases reflects how you feel in general about German products and German goods?
	People from	Very Positive	Positive	Negative	Very Negative
	France	39	56	3	3
	Germany	56	39	6	0
	Great Britain	61	36	3	0

The most positive perception of German products is amongst British consumers (61%), the lowest amongst French consumers (39%).

What “German-made” means to consumers
Made in Germany strongly anchors in engineering-led performance; Top-of-mind associations skew to a high-quality finish/being well-made, robust, durable/long-lasting and reliable.
Typical German examples are overwhelmingly automotive – BMW, VW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi are specifically mentioned. Non-automotive mentions are led by sausages/charcuterie and Bosch.

Which one of these phrases reflects how you feel in general about British products and British goods?

	Positivity of Country of Origin - Great Britain
	Which one of these phrases reflects how you feel in general about British products and British goods?
	People from	Very Positive	Positive	Negative	Very Negative
	France	25	56	11	8
	Germany	28	61	11	0
	Great Britain	56	33	11	0

The most positive perception of British products lies in British consumers (56%), with a discernibly lower level amongst consumers in France (25%) and Germany (28%).

What “British-made” means to consumers
Made in Britain is more ambivalent than made in France or Germany, having a blend of food & drink cues and a traditional/heritage identity.
Top-of-mind associations skew to higher quality/better workmanship and having a distinctive British style/classic look.
Typically, British examples are more fragmented – the most cited examples: Burberry, tea, Rolls Royce and Jaguar.

Country of Origin – EU3 Combined

	Country of Origin - Combined
	Made in ….	Very Positive	Positive	Negative	Very Negative
	France	53	44	2	2
	Germany	52	44	3	1
	Great Britain	36	50	11	3

Made in Britain is less positive than made in France or made in Germany, a potential competitive disadvantage for export and import.

Country with “best reputation” for popular electronic items (TVs, laptops, audio)

We’d like to understand how you feel about the country of origin of popular electronic items, such as televisions, laptops, audio equipment. Which country do you think has the best reputation for making these types of electronic goods?

	Country with Best Reputation for popular electronic items TVs, laptops, audio
		EU3 combined	France	Germany	UK
	Japan	26%	25%	14%	39%
	Germany	22%	8%	44%	14%
	South Korea	16%	28%	19%	0%
	China	14%	11%	8%	22%
	USA	7%	6%	11%	7%
	France	6%	19%	0%	0%
	Great Britain	6%	0%	0%	17%
	Italy	1%	0%	0%	3%
	Another country	2%	3%	3%	0%

Across the three countries Japan emerges as the country with the best reputation for these types of electronic goods, but not in Germany, who believe more in the products made in their own country.

The reasons for selecting a country for best reputation covered 2 main themes:
• Performance: high quality/excellent engineering; durable/long lifespan; strong brands
• Innovation: technologically advanced/cutting-edge; trendsetting.

Research Details
Fieldwork conducted on the Yasna platform from Dec 21st to Dec 23rd, 2025.
N=36 interviews per country, n=108 in total, aged between 25-65, equal male/female primary shoppers.

Let’s talk
Are you intrigued to understand the associations relating to where your product is produced, in comparison to your competitors?
If so, let’s chat.
Please contact me, Jeff Deighton in the first instance with an email to: insights@insight-engineers.com