The high ambitions of China's consumers - Tom Doctoroff

Tom Doctoroff

What sets China's consumers apart from those elsewhere is the high level of ambitions they have. They do not look for something good, they want the best, explains advertising guru and author Tom Doctoroff in the China Daily.

The China Daily:

Tom Doctoroff, chief executive officer Greater China and North Asia Area director for advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, based in Shanghai, says the desire for luxury brands reflects the fact that Chinese consumers can be summed up as "ambitious". 

"The Chinese are almost uniquely ambitious when it comes to buying luxury brands, even more so than the Japanese. They almost see such purchases as a declaration of intent and a down payment on their future," he says. 

"It is not just young affluent professional people making such purchases but people who are still not making a lot of money." 

An odd quirk of the China luxury goods market is that it is the only one in the world where men, and not women, make the most purchases despite the sometimes hysterical focus on Prada and Dolce & Gabbana handbags. 

Doctoroff says this is because in China such goods are used as commercial gifts. "Luxury is seen as a tool of trust lubrication and they are therefore exchanged as gifts," he says.

More in the China Daily.

Tom Doctoroff is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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