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What downturn? I need that Gucci bag
By Rong Jiaojiao |
December 31, 2009, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
JANE Shi strides into Beijing's Lane Crawford Seasons Place shopping mall, dashes to one of the up-market shops, snatches a bag, glances at the price tag and drags out her wallet, as if she were in the supermarket.
However, the purchase today is a Balenciaga motorcycle bag going for more than US$2,000. The owner of one Balenciaga, two Fendi, a Louis Vuitton, a Gucci, and two Vivian Westwood bags, Shi, 32, simply says, "I need them."
"It's not all about the vintage crafted lambskin, the platinum-plated metal, but the feelings and image the luxury bags give me. I feel pampered, and different from common people," says Shi, a manager in a multinational advertising company, earning more than US$150,000 a year.
Shi is one of a growing army of luxury shoppers in China. The China Brand Association estimates consumers of top-tier brands account for 13 percent of the total population, or 170 million people.
Whether it is yachts, limousines, haute couture fashion or hand-crafted watches, China's appetite for luxury goods has surged despite the global economic downturn.
A report by consulting firm Bain & Company in November showed consumption of luxury goods in China was expected to grow 12 percent in 2009 to reach US$9.6 billion at year's end, compared with a 16-percent slump in the US market, a drop of 10 percent in Japan and 8 percent in Europe.
Earlier this year, China's consumption reached US$8.6 billion, accounting for 25 percent of the world total, surpassing the United States to become the second largest market for luxury goods, according to the World Luxury Association.
Goldman Sachs has predicted that China will continue the spending spree and consume about 29 percent of the world's total luxury goods in 2015, leapfrogging Japan as the world's biggest luxury buyer.
More than 300,000 Chinese already have a net worth of more than US$1 million. A study by McKinsey and Co in July indicated China will be home to the world's fourth-largest population of wealthy households by 2015, an estimated 4.4 million.
Diana Gu, 37, a freelance writer in Shanghai, says luxury goods are recognizable and exclusive. "The sparkling diamond ring on your finger sends a message that your husband is rich. Sipping cognac indicates you belong to the elite. The designer watch means you are sophisticated."
(The author is a Xinhua writer.)
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