In addition, foreign enterprises found their normal sales strategies and tactics were useless in China, despite their effectiveness in other countries. In developed countries, refrigerator makers do not have to establish after-sales services because services companies exist to carry out this service. But in China, refrigerator makers must provide such services themselves. Some products, popular in other countries, were hardly touched by consumers in China. After setbacks, foreign companies such as Whirpool, began to withdraw their funding.
Some experts believe that foreign refrigerators received a cold shoulder in China for two reasons.
First, these products failed to be noticeably advanced, technologically, in comparison with domestic makes. Foreign producers did not understand the needs of Chinese consumers. Refrigerator-related technology has developed rapidly in China over the past few years. All these refrigerators were equal to products made anywhere else in the world. In May 1999, China began an energy-saving certification system for refrigerators.