China Luxuries Industry Report, 2010-2012

In 2009, Chinese market size of luxuries reached US$9.4 billion with the global market share approximating 27.5%. Among the varieties of luxuries, Chinese consumers gave priority to luxury apparel and accessories (mainly including clothes, shoes, bags, watches, and glasses) which held roughly 70% of the entire luxury consumption and had the market size of US$6.72 billion in 2009.

In regard to the segmented products of luxury apparel and accessories, the consumption of watches ranked No.1 by US$2.21 billion in 2009, followed by clothes of US$1.7 billion. Owing to the long-lasting style and durability, a lot of Chinese consumers prefer luxury watches despite the high price. The brand preference of Chinese consumers towards various luxury apparel and accessories varies; concretely, GUCCI turns out to be the luxury clothing brand that wins the best graces of consumers, luxury leather shoes brand goes for DR.MARTENS, luxury bag brand LV, luxury watch brand ROLEX, and luxury glasses brand GIVENCHY.

Along with the further intensified purchasing power of Chinese consumers as well as the improved market distribution of luxury enterprises in China, the consumption potentialities of luxuries, especially of luxury apparel and accessories, will be further released in China.

The future Chinese market of luxury apparel and accessories will characterize the followings:

1. The second-tier cities will become the major battlefield of luxury brands.

Apart from the first-tier cities like Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai, China’s second-tier cities also show great attractions. During the recent two years, such luxury enterprises as LV and GUCCI have started their presence in second-tier cities like Chengdu, Chongqing, Qingdao, Hangzhou, and Xi’an, all of which will become the ‘major battlefields’ of luxury brand competition in the future.

2. Female luxury apparel and accessories will increase rapidly.

The females are prone to be affected by the advertisements and peacockery as well as to be enslaved by the consumption desire of luxuries against the male. Fueled by the economic independence of Chinese females, more and more females are economically affordable of luxuries, so, the future will witness the rapid growth of female luxury apparel and accessories market.

3. The products with Chinese elements will rise. A lot of luxury enterprises add Chinese elements into their products so as to quickly penetrate the Chinese market, which is particularly common in luxury apparel and accessories. For instance, JAEGER exhibits the enamel watch printed with Chinese landscape painting in its Chinese franchised store, and Hermes even launches an exclusive brand named ‘Shang Xia’ for Chinese market.

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