According to the Shanghai Daily, young Chinese people are turning more and more to the idea that “more is better,” and beginning to lose touch with a traditional Chinese value – frugality. The trend is most obvious in the current popular reading materials, which are “increasingly defined by an overabundance of advertising fore a luxury life style.” Shanghai Daily.
Although, Cory Doctorow over at boing boing recently suggested that the Chinese luxury goods market is all facade and many luxury goods retailers are actually losing money on some brands and covering the losses by having several brands under one roof and not revealing breakout figures. Photo Credit.
Rolls Royce on the other hand, seem to be going from strength to strength in China. Over 8million cars were sold in China last year and Rolls Royce sold around 100 units – more than half of which were purchased by China’s uber-wealthy, despite the $400,000 price tag of their latest flagship model, the Rolls Royce Phantom coupe.
The upcoming China Luxury Summit feels positive about the future of the Chinese luxury goods market, claiming an estimated 18,000 billionaires and 440,000 super-rich multimillionaires living in China. They estimate the Chinese consumption of luxury goods will continue to grow at at least 20% annually. The China Luxury Summit will run from 11th – 12th November 2008 in Shanghai. Giorgio Armani have no less than 12 stores in Shanghai alone and whatever evidence to the contrary, it would seem that the luxury retail market in China is still booming.
If this sounds a little “nouveau riche,” that is probably because it is – The Chinese market has yet to mature, and perhaps the most-valued aspect of luxury in China seems to be it’s flauntability.
