Although some analysts are worried about a slowdown in China’s economy, including the luxury industry, some indicators tell a different story. As huge numbers of people, white-collar women in typical, have just entered the middle class, a keen desire for fashion products props up the high-end consumption market. From New York Times:
Many Chinese women will spend far more of their income than their Western counterparts on these magazines and the products featured inside them. According to a 2011 study conducted by Bain & Company, mainland China ranked sixth in the world for spending on luxury goods ranked by country. In 2010, it was a $17.7 billion market. Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci remain the most desired luxury brands.
[…] Lena Yang, general manager of Hearst Magazines China, who oversees nine publications including Elle and Marie Claire, says that the typical reader of Hearst Magazines in China is a 29.5-year-old woman who is more likely to be single than married. She has an average income of about $1,431 a month and spends $938 a season on luxury watches, $982 on handbags and shoes and $1,066 on clothes.
Meanwhile, movie producers in Hong Kong also found themselves contending with Louis Vuitton handbags. From Bloomberg:
In real life, the Hong Kong film producer is losing the fight against a more insidious adversary: the luxury handbag.
Gone are the days when landlords in Hong Kong used movie theaters as a way to draw visitors to malls, says Kong, executive director of Edko Films Ltd. “Now they say ’Get out, we want LV.’”
No wonder, when a Louis Vuitton Monogram Empreinte Artsy MM bag sells for more than HK$20,000 ($2,578) in the city and mall owners get a share of the sale on top of rent.
Read more about luxury consumption in China via CDT.
