In challenging times, how can brands stay ahead in the world’s largest luxury market? That was the question posed at our Luxury Conversation talk, held at Harrods, London, on the 7th of February in front of an invitation-only audience of senior figures at leading global brands, groups and media. Continue reading “A Pivotal Year for Luxury in China: The Luxury Conversation in London, Feb 2019”
Joining one of China’s largest e-commerce platforms, JD.com in 2017 after a career leading both online and offline retail as VP with Nielsen, Xia Ding became President of JD International Fashion and Head of Toplife in 2018. Toplife, launched at the end of 2017, is JD’s stand-alone luxury platform which allows luxury brands to set up flagship online stores, delivering a high-end service to its users.
We spoke to Xia Ding at JD’s Shanghai base about their first year’s growth and future plans. Continue reading “5 Questions with: Xia Ding, President, JD International Fashion & Head of Toplife”
When Chinese consumers travel, of course they are still shopping. Yet this year just gone by has seen one of those ‘rapidly changing marketplace’ aspects that is the much lauded hallmark of the Chinese economy and society. Continue reading “What Increasing Domestic Chinese Spend Means for Luxury Brands”
China’s unique and continually evolving market creates exciting opportunities. Rather than try any crystal-ball predictions, here’s my summary of what this year can show us about the next, and what to look out for. Continue reading “The China Luxury Market in 2019 – 5 Things to Look For”
The second round of the China Luxury Summit in 2018 was held in Shanghai last week, with highlights including Chloe Reuter – co-founder of The Luxury Conversation – speaking on China’s next-gen luxury travellers, affluent Chinese families.
Presenting insights and learning from Farfetch in China was VP Commercial, Greater China, Alexis Bonhomme, who spoke about the consumer, the successes and the challenges that Farfetch is facing, and key trends for where the market is heading into 2019. Continue reading “Takeaways from Farfetch China – Alexis Bonhomme at the China Luxury Summit”
As has been made crystal clear thus far – it’s China leading luxury. China is also bossing it in the world of luxury automotive, accounting for almost 90% of the sales growth for leading luxury automakers in 2017.
China made up 27% of overall sales, three percentage points more than in 2016, and the number of luxury cars sold in China rose 17%, compared to the rest of the world according to a report from Nikkei Asian Review. Continue reading “How Luxury Car Brands Capture Their Customer with WeChat Mini Programs”
You’ll have noticed that we didn’t opt for a shout-y ‘big numbers’ headline that conveys no other information than China has a large population and many people bought many things. Whether hundreds of millions of people were buying billions of RMB of items or not (they were) is no simple bell-whether for strategy. In fact, luxury brands need to tread carefully during the sales mania of Double 11.
The most consumerist baby on Earth was conceived by Alibaba in 2009. If you’re new, then it’s called ‘singles’ day’ and falls on the 11th of November, with 11/11 marking out the ‘1’ of dreaded singledom into a hyped shopping fest. Now, it even has a reasonably nauseating ‘gala’ with colourful lighting and whichever western star is paid the most to perform in front of baying masses. This year it was Mariah Carey. Continue reading “How Luxury Brands Win in Double 11; Exclusivity – and Simplicity”
The next edition of the China Luxury Summit – hosted by the China Luxury Committee – is to be held in Shanghai, on November the 30th.
A very impressive speaker list matched with thought-provoking topics makes this a must-see event. Topics include luxury and sustainability, digital retail innovation, the new face of beauty in China, the balance of brand heritage and innovation – and many more. Continue reading “China Luxury Summit Shanghai – Nov. 30 – Insights on Innovation & Headline Speakers”
Millennials, yes fine. We get it. All of us have referenced the Chinese Millennial so often that the syllables may have lost all meaning by now, becoming some sort of ritualesque mantra chanted out on a weekly basis at the latest ‘can’t miss’ China expert panel discussion.
But what about Gen X? They matter too! They may be a little older, they may not be quite as sleek-sounding and the ‘Gen X mindset’ doesn’t seem quite as sexy (more like slippers and a good book), but logically speaking they are a crucial segment of consumer demographic. Continue reading “Move Over Millennials – Chinese Gen X are Just as Sexy”
With a completely unique digital playground, any travel and hospitality brand needs to engage with their affluent Chinese customer according to their App-based, mobile preference.
Players in the hospitality or travel sector should already realise the importance of Chinese travellers – Chinese tourists made 130 million overseas trips in 2017, with total spending amounting to US$115 billion, according to a report from China Tourism Academy, and the number is projected to jump to 390 million in the next decade.
A survey in 2017 revealed that 95 per cent of Chinese millennials had not bought print media in the last year. China is the global leader in proximity mobile payment adoption, accounting for 61.2 per cent of the worldwide user base in 2018.
So who are the key players in sales, marketing, reviews and content platforms that engage Chinese luxury travellers? Continue reading “China’s Luxury Travel Apps (Finally) Explained”