How rich Chinese students with huge allowances are reshaping the West’s retail scenes, creating an industry aimed at marketing goods to them
- Rich Chinese students studying abroad have annual allowances in the tens of thousands of US dollars, making them a massive target for brands
- Those students can also be invaluable in promoting Western brands through Chinese social media at a time when many are suffering domestically
Amid the glossy rails of Harvey Nichols, the ornate hallways of Harrods and the DJ-filled corridors of Selfridges in London lurks an entirely new type of customer. Rich retirees, European tourists and local fashion lovers still throng London’s department stores, but alongside them are young Chinese students spending their hefty allowances.
The boutiques of the British capital are not their only target. On Los Angeles’ most expensive shopping streets, Chinese students from the University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, and California State University shop elbow to elbow with Hollywood stars. Over on the US east coast, Parsons and Columbia students in New York are renting apartments on Fifth Avenue and buying from the department stores below their feet.
It is a similar story in Melbourne, Paris and Vancouver, where rents have increased in areas favoured by the young Chinese. Unlike domestic students in these cities, most of whom have a paltry allowance that sees them head to Primark rather than Prada, Chinese youngsters studying abroad often have a disposable income of which most adults can only dream.
Then there’s Wang Sicong, the son of one of China’s richest men, Wang Jianlin. He studied philosophy at UCL in London, where he is known for having bought an Apple Watch for his dog and paying £80 million (US$105 million) for a student pied-à-terre in the upscale Kensington neighbourhood.