Chinese consumers – accounting for 33 per cent of all luxury goods spending globally last year – to tighten purse strings in 2019

Spending on luxury goods in mainland China is expected to increase by 10 per cent in 2019, slowing from the 20 per cent recorded in the previous two years, according to a report on the country’s market for such items by global consultancy Bain & Company.

A slowing economy has affected people’s incomes and personal wealth, which will deter China’s affluent classes from buying luxury items, said Bruno Lannes, a partner at Bain.

“We need to realise that China’s economy is slowing down,” he said. “In particular, Chinese consumers are looking at their savings and asset values before making decisions to buy luxury items.”

Last year, mainland Chinese consumers spent 170 billion yuan (US$25.3 billion) – a 20 per cent increase over the previous year – on such items.

When purchases of luxury goods – ranging from leather bags, jewellery and watches to high-end cosmetics – abroad are factored in, Chinese consumers bought luxury items worth 630 billion yuan last year, nearly unchanged from 2017.

Luxury goes local as Chinese shoppers gravitate towards home-grown brands

Mainland Chinese consumers’ total spending on luxury items accounted for 33 per cent of the global total last year, according to Bain.