Consumer World-Mindedness

As geographic distances shrink with advances in communications technology, the Internet, the spread of global media, and increased international travel, consumers become aware of and exposed to products, customs, and life-styles in other cultures and countries. They may also develop international social networks communicating with other people across the world. As a result, rather than having ethnocentric attitudes, more consumers are becoming open to and interested in consumer products, services, and ideas from other cultures and parts of the world. This has tended to result in greater availability of and preference for foreign products and brands in retail stores, including grocery stores and supermarkets.