Chinese Still Love To Buy Luxury Goods Abroad.

British media said that a recent quiet afternoon, a female customer in the empty Beijing Xin Guang world luxury shopping center to browse high priced handbags.

"I buy all kinds of brands, Louis Weedon (LV), Chanel (Chanel), Prada and Gucci," said the financial adviser. "Now the price of domestic luxury goods is much cheaper than before, but most of them are purchased abroad every year."

Britain has reported that she may be willing to pay large sums of money to buy luxury goods at home and abroad, but Chinese consumers like her are becoming more difficult to find.

The government's crackdown on expensive gifts and the impact of slowing economic growth are intertwined with changes in consumer tastes.

In recent years, the development of tourism in China has been noticeable even though only 6% of the population hold passports.

Last year, nearly 120 million Chinese tourists traveled overseas, two times more than 5 years ago.

These tourists are extremely important to the luxury industry, because 2/3 of Chinese luxury goods expenditure of 65 billion euros last year occurred outside China, some of which originated from consumers buying middlemen and bypassing high import tax on luxury goods, which made them cheaper to buy overseas.

South Korea and Japan are becoming more and more popular.

According to the "investment reference" data, this year, 1/4 of Chinese tourists take Korea as the first destination for outbound travel, two times the number of last year.

France ranks first in the list of destinations for Chinese outbound travel. Now it is too early to say whether the recent terrorist attacks will frighten tourists away.

Luxury companies have also tasted the bitter pill of expansion. Recently, a report by the "world demand big research institute" and its higher authorities, the World Federation of large enterprises, said that the expansion was based on "misleading foreign countries".

"Too optimistic growth and consumption forecast".

According to Bain & amp; Bain, luxury goods spending in mainland China fell for the first time last year, at around 15 billion euros, according to data from Co & Co.

The consulting firm predicts that this will fall further by 2% this year, compared with 1% last year.

That is a sharp reversal of the 10 years of substantial growth.

According to the Exane BNP Paribas (Exane BNP Paribas), Chinese luxury spending has jumped 10 times over the past 10 years, accounting for 3% of global luxury spending in 2004, to 30% last year.

but

Companies will have to come up with countermeasures quickly because they are too optimistic about the expected growth of the new middle class.

As the demand research institute points out, "most Chinese citizens still have a long way to go before they enter the middle class."

In recent years, luxury companies have been attracted by cheap rent provided by local governments and the huge population of the two or three line cities. Local government officials are eager to show off their achievements with brand-new glittering shopping centers.

But consumers there do not necessarily have the money to buy Gucci or Louis Weedon handbags.

The result of this rapid expansion is that the number of luxury stores in China exceeds that of any other country in the world. The data of Bernstein research show that the number of luxury stores in China is much higher than that in the United States and is approaching saturation.

Britain's Boboli and the United States have reduced their business in Hongkong, where rents are rising, but the number of tourists in mainland China is decreasing.

The beneficiaries of the shift include outdoor brands such as North Face and sports brands such as Nike and Adidas, reflecting the growing emphasis on healthier lifestyles.

Located in Shanghai

Benjamin, Cavender of the research group, said: "in the past two years, consumers have changed the concept of what products they buy."

He said that these consumers think big brands cater to the needs of the upstart.

He added: "in the past, people bought large brands of insurance products to show off their wealth.

Nowadays, we turn to buy according to personal interest and lifestyle. "

Emanuel is a managing partner of the leadership consulting company named after his name.

He also said consumers want to reflect their differences by spending money on experience (such as tourism, food and home) rather than buying another designer product.

He added that 7 years ago, Shanghai's Michelin (Michelin) Samsung restaurant Jean Georges "80% of the guests are French, and now 80% are Chinese."

Luxury companies are responding to these changes.

The United States leather products group in China is benefiting from the fact that its products are more affordable than many high-end competitors, but the group said that the expenditure of Chinese tourists is also increasing.