Disney’s Mulan postponed, Prada joins Tmall and ‘lipstick king’ Li Jiaqi faces controversy – but will China’s luxury sector ever recover from the coronavirus?

Mar 20 , 2020

Li Jiaqi, China’s ‘Lipstick King’ has been successful despite the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Youku

The global pandemic has hurt sales in China and luxury brands are suffering, but now that China is slowing starting to recover, will these companies rebound as well?

As the coronavirus global pandemic, the virus known as SARS-coV-2, starts to slowly subside in China, people are starting to resume business as usual. The luxury sector, however, is still hurting from the tremendous drop in sales. STYLE examines which companies are on the rise and which are trending for the wrong reasons.

Prada joins Tmall

Italian fashion brand Prada is the latest international luxury label to join Tmall. The brand, which previously launched e-commerce in collaboration with JD.com and Secoo, announced the news on its Weibo account. Two limited-edition bags were offered in celebration of the Tmall store opening on March 13. Tmall is dubbed a gateway to Chinese e-commerce for luxury brands and featured the likes of Burberry, Givenchy, Valentino and more. As bricks-and-mortar stores face unprecedented challenges amid the coronavirus crisis, many brands are exploring alternative retail channels.

Private jet opportunities

Private jet Deer Jet has sold seats quickly during the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Handout

While most airline companies are hit hard by the pandemic, private jet operators offering chartered flights from Europe to China are selling seats quickly. A seat on Deer Jet’s privately charted flight from London to Shanghai on March 18 was priced more than 180,000 yuan (about US$26,000), yet 40 seats of the Deer Jet’s Boeing 787 filled up fast. However, the negative impact on the Chinese private jet sector is likely here to stay until after the global pandemic ends.

Li Jiaqi

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Disney’s Mulan postponed, Prada joins Tmall and ‘lipstick king’ Li Jiaqi faces controversy – but will China’s luxury sector ever recover from the coronavirus?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The global pandemic has hurt sales in China and luxury brands are suffering, but now that China is slowing starting to recover, will these companies rebound as well?

The global pandemic has hurt sales in China and luxury brands are suffering, but now that China is slowing starting to recover, will these companies rebound as well?