Luxury Brands & Some Super-Rich People
Time Magazine has reported on a luxury brand survey that covers China, India and Russia. The China section is based on interviews with “411 affluent Chinese respondents” at upscale locations in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The respondents are reported to earn over RMB15,000 a month.
Best-Known Luxury Brands:
1. Rolex (76%)
2. Lacoste (72%)
3. Valentino (71%)
4. Chanel (66%)
5. Dior (55%)
Of course, not everybody can actually afford to buy a Rolex, so the most-owned brands among this elite urban group are a bit different, with Lacoste (which may not make it on to many international luxury lists) at the top of the pile:
Most Widely-Owned Luxury Brands
1. Lacoste
2. Valentino
3. Chanel / Bally
While the target market for these luxury goods remains relatively small in terms of the total population, the article notes that China “is the third largest consumer of luxury goods, accounting for 12% of global sales, according to a December 2004 Goldman Sachs report”. It could become the largest, with Japan, by 2015.
So what sort of consumers are buying these expensive goods? According to an estimate from a Merrill Lynch-Capgemini report in 2006, some of them are earning a lot more than the RMB15,000 a month minimum noted in the survey:
“the mainland has 320,000 superrich-people with at least $1 million in net assets-who collectively possess $1.59 trillion of assets. Their average net worth is nearly $5 million. Merrill puts the number of people with a net worth of more than $30 million at about 4,540.”
It just goes to show that brands can be cleverly re-positioned in China, and that even niche markets, in the China context, can be very significant in absolute terms. However, it should also be remembered that it is not easy, and can take a long time, to reach critical mass.
See news sources:
Style & Design: Global Luxury Survey
Time
Private Wealth Yields Private Banking
HKTDC / Wall Street Journal Briefing
Read Original Post Here
Leave a Comment