"Chinese Brands Day" to facilitate supply and demand structure upgrading

May 10th this year has seen the first official "Brands Day" being marked here in China.

A picture shows the top Chinese brands selected by netizens. [Photo: Sina.com]

This year's official theme for the event is "Deepen Supply-side Structural Reform and Develop China's Own Brands."

As part of "Brands Day," a number of Chinese-owned companies have been highlighted, with their back-stories being published to help raise their brand recognition.

Lu Xiaobin with the Information Resources Management department at Renmin University says despite a push by many companies to produce more high-end products, many still struggle to be competitive on the international markets.

"China has become the world's second largest economy, but the development level of the country's brands lags far behind the country's economic growth. In the past four decades, with rapid economic development, most of companies made their living through pumping out high volumes of low-end products to both the domestic and global market. This left them without much brand recognition. They also lag behind in technological advancements," said Lu Xiaobin.

The National Development and Reform Commission is now creating a top-level strategy for brand development, which is expected to be published before the next Chinese Brands Day. 

And the new brand development outline is going to include ways to help companies better-establish their reputations.

Wang Dong is an inspector in the Industrial Coordination Department of the NDRC.

"We are going to establish independent, third-party mechanisms for brand evaluation. Through market forces, we should be able to help guide company behavior and help them create well-known brands," he said.

"By consolidating the requirements of supply-side structural reform, we'll actively implement the brand strategy, strengthen the brand economy, and strive to develop China into a brand powerhouse. Therefore, we need to further establish and enhance brand consciousness, by creating the favorable policy environment and mechanism that is conducive to brand development," said Li Pumin, Secretary-General of the NDRC.

The State Council, China' cabinet, announced last week that May 10th is now going to be "Brands Day" in China on an annual basis.