Chinese shoppers tipped to remain world’s biggest luxury spenders
But Chinese are less willing to pay higher prices at stores at home as they travel abroad more
Despite stagnant sales of luxury goods at home, Chinese consumers are expected to remain the biggest spenders in the global market this year, accounting for 46 per cent of worldwide sales of the goods.
Chinese shoppers are forecast to spend US$117 billion, or 9 per cent more, on luxury goods in 2015, with 78 per cent of the purchases made overseas, according to a report by Shanghai-based consultants Fortune Character Institute.
But just 10 per cent of worldwide sales were expected to be in China, down from 11 per cent in 2014, the institute said in its “China Luxury Report 2015”. The report looked at sales of jewellery, watches, accessories and clothes, but not cars, yachts, jets or art.
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Institute director Zhou Ting said one top watch brand failed to sell a single timepiece in the past year, but she refused to name the company.
More than 80 per cent of global luxury brands had closed mainland stores and conditions were set to worsen, Zhou said.
“We expect more than 95 per cent of the brands will close some of their stores in the coming year, and upgrade the rest – to replace them with experience and service centres,” she said.
The latest case was Louis Vuitton, which closed three stores on the mainland, including its first one in Guangzhou.