INTRODUCTION

Luxury china? Why do we believe there is a need for such a book? Let us explain what we mean by Luxury China.

A luxury product has to have a strong artistic content. It must be the result of craftsmanship; and it must be international. The raison d’être of a luxury brand is to be selective and exclusive. But how exclusive and how selective? For us, Lacoste and Hugo Boss are luxury goods because they provide sophisticated fashion products in an environment which generally remains controlled by the brand owner for sales in self-standing stores, department stores and multi-brand stores.

Is luxury very different from top fashion?¹ For some analysts, the two terms are quite different: a textile and accessories brand, for example, might start out as a fashion brand and would only be given the status of a luxury brand when it has achieved some stability and a quality of timelessness. According to that view, a new fashion brand has to be creative and come up with new ideas, new concepts and new products for every season, in order to attract the interest of the consumers. However, as it develops classical models that sell year in and year out, becoming permanent best-sellers with a signature style, its status will move from fashion to luxury. While this distinction between fashion brand and luxury brand is a valid one, it is also misleading and possibly even dangerous. It is misleading because even if it has achieved luxury status, a fashion brand such as Chanel or Dior must still come up with new designs each season, and present them in new ways, in order to retain customers’ interest. It is also dangerous because it implies that a luxury brand does not have to innovate to the same extent as a fashion brand, which obviously is not the case.

But at this stage, rather than pursuing this theoretical discussion of the most adequate definition, it may be more productive to describe the different sectors of activity that we will be examining here, as follows:

The exclusive Ready-to-Wear category, for women and men, which includes, of course, all the selective fashion brands such as Chanel, Valentino, Burberry and Versace; the more traditional brands such as Lacoste and Hugo Boss, as indicated above; and also Ports 1981, which is quite selective in its approach to product and distribution, particularly in China.

The luxury jewelry and watches segment is clearly part of this world and is very important in China.

Perfumes and cosmetics, when sold through selective distribution channels, are clearly luxury products, even if they correspond to low-priced items.

Fashion accessories brands are run as sister brands of fashion brands. This category includes handbags and leather goods, and also shoes, belts and any other element of a woman’s total look, such as glasses, writing instruments, lighters and so on. For men, it also includes ties and shirts and other elements of their wardrobe.

Wines and spirits are the only examples of luxury products available in supermarkets and food outlets. But the product concept and positioning of wines and spirits require a level of sophistication that sets these products apart and makes them an important part of the luxury sector.

While luxury automobiles, luxury tourism and private banking are also clearly part of this luxury category, we will not address them directly in this book because they require very different distribution strategies.

In this book, our definition of China is, for the most part, restricted to the mainland, which requires quite different distribution and promotional tools from those used in, say, Hong Kong, Macau or even Taiwan.

But why address the topic of luxury in mainland China at all? The answer is simple enough: in the last decade China has become a very major economic power, with an annual growth rate in the region of 10% and, allowing for differences in Purchasing Price Parity, will soon surpass the United States in the volume of products it manufactures and services it delivers.

For luxury goods, China has certainly become a very important market, as we discuss at length in Chapter 1. As Bernard Arnault said in November 2005: We knew [China] would someday be the biggest market in the world. Whether it would be in 20, 30, 40 years, it was irreversible.²

So, in what sense is this a challenge? China is a very difficult market. It is the most populous nation in the world, with 57 cities of more than one million inhabitants. Where do you start and how do you deal with such a powerful and diversified country when you want to begin distribution operations here? As we will see in chapters 2 and 3, while Chinese consumers are very interested in luxury products and major luxury brands, it takes time and money to convince them that they should buy a given brand rather than another.

Is it easy to be profitable in China? If large brands have a relatively easy time of it,³ medium brands undoubtedly find it more difficult to build the necessary volume to offset the minimum costs of operation and of advertising and promotional investments. And smaller brands face the difficult challenge of investing in brand communication and awareness to be able to gain a foothold in this huge market. But profitability is only one part of the issue. Given the very impressive growth of the luxury market in China, a brand must invest heavily in new stores, new inventories and new accounts receivables to keep pace; and even for profitable brands, major cash injections are often required to increase their local investments.

But the challenge is not merely financial and economic. Developing Chinese activities requires a strong understanding of the way business is conducted and of the basic cultural values and reactions of 1.4 billion inhabitants.

Our regular contact with foreign brands operating in China and with Chinese brands planning to expand their operations worldwide has prompted us to describe in depth this very specific market and to give indications of the best ways to operate. The opportunities on offer in this rapidly expanding market are such that it deserves very special attention and very special investment.

We believe this book will be useful both for executives already operating in China or for those looking at opportunities to start activities here. But it is also addressed to all analysts, journalists and scholars who are interested in luxury brands in general and in the Chinese market in particular.

The objective of this book is to give a better understanding of the Chinese luxury market. We provide a general analysis of the Chinese market and its potential, and describe what we consider the key to successful operations in China. The first chapter deals with the market size. This has not been an easy chapter to write because in this huge country, information is sparse and difficult to obtain. But we wanted to give an idea of the market potential and see if the economists and journalists who are presenting China as the second luxury market in the world, behind Japan, are right.

The second and third chapters describe the Chinese consumers. In Chapter 2, we have gathered all existing information about customer spending power and purchasing behavior. We have shown who is buying luxury goods and to what extent each customer group develops purchase patterns. We have focused particularly on the up-and-coming middle class which, in China like in every country in the world, is the primary source of business potential for the luxury market. In Chapter 3, we have focused on the attitudes of Chinese customers toward luxury and on how the purchase of expensive luxury items fits with traditional Chinese culture and accepted standards of behavior.

In Chapter 4, we explain the different ways to enter the Chinese market, be it through a subsidiary or, at the beginning at least, through a distributor. In a market which is changing very fast and which is very new to the luxury business, we felt it was necessary to explain who the major distributors and professionals of the market are. Chapter 5, outlines the considerations for retailing and licensing in China.

In Chapter 6, we examine what makes China different from other countries and concentrate on the specific communication tools that are the most effective there. In the last chapter, we speak about brand and design registration systems in China, of brand protection and of the best ways to curb counterfeit activities which remain an important area of concern for major brands.

At the end of each chapter, we present a business case of luxury brands operating in China. The aim here is to show different approaches to the Chinese market and to communicate how the diversity of situations and market positions fit into that complex luxury market. The case studies have all been written from outside sources and with no specific arrangements or agreements with the brands concerned. In each case, we describe the brand’s major achievements to date and discuss the specific business challenges and opportunities.

One of these case studies deals with Louis Vuitton, which is probably the leading luxury brand in China. We describe its positioning and its retail strength and the way it has learnt, over time, to deal with the Chinese consumer. But if there is a lot to learn from big success stories, it is also important to describe cases of brands that are not so successful at the worldwide level and this is why the Alfred Dunhill case finds its place here. A masculine brand, which has done well in the United Kingdom and in Japan, it started very early in China, and is moving up rapidly. The issue here is what it should do next and how this may change the company focus at the worldwide level.

We have also decided to present Chinese brand cases, because we believe China will, in the long term, be a major source of luxury brands. The first of these studies concerns Shiatzy Chen, a brand originating from Taiwan, which has worldwide potential, provided it can develop strongly in mainland China and is able to adjust its product offerings to the needs of an international market. Liuli Gongfang, which might be described as the Chinese equivalent of Daum, is another case in the same category. Also originating from Taiwan, it is very strong in mainland China.

Three other cases offer a mix of Chinese and worldwide activities. In The War of the Spirits, we look at the competition between major foreign alcohol brands and local traditional Chinese products. The Rolex case study examines the brand’s position in a market where Omega has established an extremely strong success story. Shanghai Tang is a brand created by a Hong Kong Chinese businessman, with a Shanghai label, belonging to the Richemont group, and managed from Shanghai by a French executive. This brand conveys a strong Chinese image, but one which is somehow internationalized and geared almost exclusively to foreign customers through establishing a very upscale European style, while maintaining a strong Chinese outlook.

In the appendices, we provide details of all the major cities, with special profiles of Beijing and Shanghai. There are details, too, of magazine audiences, of television channel ratings, of city sizes, that are necessary to operate in China and which we hope may become an indispensable handbook for the Chinese luxury executive.

If this book convinces the reader of the real opportunities of the Chinese market for luxury brands and conveys the diversity of winning marketing strategies to establish a brand in China, we would have met our objectives.

What is certain is that a luxury brand which is absent from, or has only a weak presence in, the Chinese market in 2015 or 2020 will simply no longer have claims to being a worldwide brand.

ENDNOTES

1 For this discussion, see Michel Chevalier and Gérald Mazzalovo’s Luxury Brand Management: A World of Privilege, John Wiley & Sons, 2008.

2 Quoted in Thomas (2007): 306.

3 Christopher Zanardi Landi, the CEO of Louis Vuitton in China, has been quoted as saying that the company has never lost any money in any store in China (see Thomas, op. cit.: 306.)

CHAPTER 1

Challenges and Market Size

To understand the challenges of luxury activities in China, one must look at the total size of the business worldwide and then, for each sector of activity, analyze the size of the Chinese market.

While many economists believe that China is the third-largest luxury market in the world, after the United States and Japan, the situation for individual brands is quite different. For example, for Italian fashion brands, Italy remains the primary market, with Japan in second place and the United States in third. When China develops, it will become fourth or fifth. For French fashion brands (with a few exceptions such as Louis Vuitton) the French market remains number one, with China often in fourth or fifth place—which is already quite a performance. For the industry as a whole, Korea is also very strong and profitable, as soon as a critical mass is reached, constituting the fourth-largest market for many brands.

A 2006 study by IPSOS, Paris found that the Chinese market is the fourth-largest in the world behind Japan (40%), the United States (20%) and Europe (17%). Of course, the figures need to be treated with some caution because they appear to be related to the ready-to-wear area rather than considering the luxury market as a whole. Nevertheless, they do give an indication of China’s importance in the field.

In global terms, Chinese economists used to include the figures for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan in their analyses. These three markets have been developing now for almost 30 years and have reached very high volumes and a high degree of sophistication. Hong Kong’s duty-free status enables it to benefit from a large number of tourist purchases, particularly from Japanese and American nationals. Taiwan, while not a duty-free territory, has limited duties and also constitutes another large market of luxury products sold to domestic customers and tourists.

So, when these three territories are included, China is the third- or fourth-largest luxury market in the world. However, it is also important to note the incredible growth that luxury products are experiencing in mainland China.

Also, one should add to such figures the market potential presented by Chinese tourists purchasing luxury products abroad. In 2006, some 35 million mainland Chinese traveled abroad and it is estimated that this figure will reach 100 million by 2015.

To understand the situation one has to start with an evolution of the general worldwide market before studying the specific market situation in China.

The size of the global market

A recent study places the value of the worldwide luxury market at close to US$265 billion at wholesale or corporate value.¹ A breakdown by category is shown in Table 1.1.

TABLE 1.1: Value of worldwide luxury market by category, 2008 (US$)

The size of the Chinese mainland market

A breakdown of our estimates of the figures for the Chinese mainland market is given in Table 1.2. The estimated amount of US$15 billion, representing 5.5% of the worldwide market, is very much in line with the figure of US$6 billion produced by the investment bank Goldman Sachs for 2004, taking into account the present growth rate of luxury goods in China, which, for all luxury categories, can reach 25% a year.

TABLE 1.2: Value of luxury market in mainland China by category, 2008 (US$)

If the figures for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan were included, the total for 2008 would probably amount to US$27 billion, or 10% of the worldwide market, but this figure would be skewed by double counting (many products sold in mainland China are imported through Hong Kong and may have been registered at export prices in Hong Kong and then at wholesale or retail prices on the mainland).

While we have mentioned an estimated average yearly growth rate of 25%, the actual figure is very difficult to come by because it depends very much on the sub-categories of luxury products that we may consider.

What is known for sure, however, is that many iconic brands were growing at around 30% in their existing stores and were expanding the number of stores by about 20% each year between 2001 and 2007. Together, they provided an additional annual sales growth of 50%. If they wanted to maintain their market position, and if they compare themselves to Prada, Louis Vuitton, or Gucci, they had to invest and keep growing at this rate.

Even if the current growth rate decreases, mainland China’s share of the luxury market will reach