The definitive guide to Britain's success in the twenty-first century
Try to buy today any item, part or tool and you will likely be met with an astounding number of cheap unbranded or Chinese-branded products, all of which are impossible to tell apart. Some may well be from normal well-regulated sources, others from Amazon or eBay that most people know are littered with fakes and cheap Chinese junk that simply will not do what it says on the tin. Many of these items are found to be dangerous too.
This does not happen by accident. China is actively supporting its businesses to sell these bad and sometimes dangerous products. China floods, literally floods the world's markets and especially the UK (which has the third-largest buyers of products online). Very large Chinese businesses such as Alibaba supply world markets with these fake and unreliable products but also better-quality Chinese products – yet no one can tell the difference between them.
This is an active strategy and it is working. Consider the disruption caused - direct loss to our high quality, well run businesses, damage to our business efficiency due to the addition time it takes to source reliable products, losses to individual buyers, danger to out children and our infrastructure.
Firstly, if you are a seasoned buyer, you know of these issue, but it still takes many hours of research to find, (from all the fakes and rubbish), a product that will meet your needs. Secondly, many of the companies selling these Chinese 'brands' are also fake businesses in the sense that they operate outside the normal laws of countries such as the UK. They operate from fake addresses using unrelated legitimate warehouses and delivery businesses to complete transactions. Any person or business trading with them simply loses their money and has zero ability to track the Chinese suppliers who financially benefit. Thirdly, when these unfit-for-purpose products break or do not work after installation, (as they will), this causes production issues or further costs in finding and replacing the parts.
This is a win, win, win for China. They enhance their export trade with hard cash improving their balance of trade, they fund their poor businesses and fund a low-quality workforce without the need for expensive training or quality assurance. But also they significantly hamper other countries' economies in equal measure.
But, even worse, this economic terrorism cause western, (and other), countries well founded, quality businesses to go to the wall as they cannot compete on price. Most businesses are medium to small, they do not have the resources to continue to sell at a loss and they do not have the resources to fight these many Chinese 'brands'. Yet they are getting zero help.
So the final result is that we pay the Chinese hard cash that is used directly to cause economic hardship within the UK and other Western countries. The Chinese are laughing all the way to the bank and all the way back!
So, what could we do?
Easy – 'We', (i.e. our lovely government), could commission a new website that strategically reviews a large range of key products from around the world and includes UK designed or manufactured products. All reviews must be carried out by a third party, (or preferably parties), to do the reviews.
Such reviews would follow agreed lines, the reviewer businesses, (who have agreed terms and follow the guidelines), would place reviews within their field of expertise. Perhaps, even consumer groups, let us say a woodworking group of individuals, could agree the terms and place reviews. In this way, we would get a pre-formatted standard review that focuses on the key issues of quality, design and product effectiveness. The website would be operated by another agency - competent at creating good web-based review sites, (not a government agency).
What we would then have is a usable free product search facility that provdes reliable reviews. Businesses and the public could then easily find products within specific categories that show useful products. They would also list products found to be defective, of poor quality, or of poor design.
Products can be ranked by being given a number that denotes if they are effective or not, say 1 to 5 where 5 is high quality and should provide long-term use to 1 which means defective or dangerous. Any product with a score below 4 should be taken with care.
Such a system would hamper the sale of poor-quality Chinese products. By making this a government initiative it would do two things. Firstly, it would establish a known process and known quality of review. Secondly, it would allow a wide range of accredited reviewer bodies to place reviews. The government could commission as a matter of urgency, a number of reviewer bodies that target the Chinese imports found on Amazon, eBay and similar. This would help prevent accidents from poor-quality products, (especially children's products or lithium battery products).
Of course, Trading Standards was set up to monitor this sort of thing, but they have diminished and have no funding and not enough resources to carry out this sort of review.
Now, importantly, the review processes should be set so that it is straightforward and easy to review a product. If the bar is set too high, (for instance if you need special test lab equipment or calibrated equipment), then the review cost will be too high and nothing will get achieved.
The point of these reviews is to establish quickly whether a product is defective or actually works to a usable level. Taking any of the Chinese products apart and trying them out will provide an answer here very quickly.
If you have read Rory Stewart's biography 'Politics on the Edge' you will know that nothing gets done by government. As we live under a parliamentary system that is fundamentally broken, suggesting any plans to prevent 'China taking the piss' is undoable. If you have not read his book, then please do, then you too shall not have to consider any solutions to these or other issues – as they cannot be implemented in the UK – ever!
So, How do we do It?
So the alternative is for a sort of public project. Again, reviews could be done by 'accredited' people and businesses. This would need careful thought to prevent the scammers and idiots who think they can review stuff competently. But, with some competent people behind such a system run by a not-for-profit, it could work. Where does the money for doing the website and reviews come from?
Two possibilities, one by donations such as wiki model, secondly it could be funded part from a government department (e.g. DTI), and by other consumer-based charities and by UK companies who wish to identify the quality of their products, they would not be able to review their own but could get high up in the queue for reviews. This would help UK businesses directly and help them market their products but in a fair and relevant way.
CST