OpinionAre labels ready for changing expectations of luxury shoppers?

This time next week I'll be in Italy, and a rather fashion-obsessed friend of mine from Hong Kong has booked me for a day of shopping in Rome. Reluctantly, I've agreed. She loves the whole experience, trying everything on, the tissue paper and boxes with ribbons, the whole shebang. I like to get in (preferably an empty store), browse with no interference, then get out, in minimal time.

Shopping in European luxury boutiques has changed for Chinese customers. I remember much snootiness whenever I accompanied a wealthy, older family friend into Bond Strret stores in London. But that was 10 years ago. Since then the luxury landscape has changed.

Anyone who has been to Galeries Lafayette or Louis Vuitton in central Paris will know what I'm talking about. Customers are mostly Chinese and out to buy big. Sales staff are rushing, often annoyed but still attentive. The crowds are big and long lines form outside.

In European luxury boutiques, the assumption is that we're all little emperors desperate to drop our parent's dollars for the tackiest item with the most shiny bits.

Of course, there is some logic to this. Like any nouveau riche group, Chinese tourists mostly favour bling, monograms and the most obvious branded models. It's Thornstein Veblen's conspicuous consumption at full throttle.