More than half of Chinese consumers' impressions of foreign brands have worsened in the past year while over 90 percent believe the quality and services of these foreign brands do not live up to their reputations.

The findings came from an online survey jointly conducted by the Global Poll Center and huanqiu.com, both under the Global Times.

The survey interviewed 1,411 Internet users from March 5-11.

Some 53.4 percent of the respondents said they had a worse impression of foreign brands during the past year while 40 percent said their impressions did not change. The poll found that only 4 percent said their impression had improved.

The results also revealed that 48.3 percent of respondents think that the services and quality of the majority of foreign brands live up to their reputations while 37 percent disagreed and said most foreign brands do not have qualities matching their reputations. Only 2.8 percent polled believe they completely match.

At the same time, nearly 16 percent think that the majority of brands do not apply the same standards to the Chinese market as they do internationally. Only 3.2 percent hold the view that all foreign brands serve Chinese customers to the same level as they do around the world.

More than 40 percent of people believe that foreign brands need to be further improved, and 4 percent refuse to use these products due to their poor quality. However, around one fifth of respondents are willing to consume foreign brands as they are of good quality and have reputations.

Wan Jun, a researcher with the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that defects in foreign brands in the past years have hurt Chinese customers' confidence in them, citing price fraud cases by foreign supermarkets in Shanghai and recalls of faulty vehicles.

Wan added that Chinese consumers are demanding better quality goods as their ability to consume grows.