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| +Shaun Rein |
CNBC:
Chinese corporates and wealthy consumers are taking gift-giving down a notch this Lunar New Year, opting for iPhones instead of Birkin bags or Louis Vuitton wallets.
The annual holiday, which falls on February 19-20 this year, is a time of gift exchange between family, colleagues and business contacts.
"The iPhone 6 has replaced luxury items as a key gift this Chinese New Year," Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of the China Market Research Group told CNBC.
"Corporates, for example, used to buy luxury products to give their high performing employees, now they are giving iPhones because they more reasonably priced and still considered premium enough," he said.
Choosing to gift iPhones over a designer handbag fits in the vein of the government's corruption crackdown, Rein noted.
"When you gift a Berkin bag—it's too high profile everyone knows its super expensive and in this anti-graft campaign brings about questions of ill-gotten gains and corruption," he said...
China's luxury sector has been reeling from Beijing's crackdown on conspicuous spending, the economic slowdown and changing consumer preferences.
"The anti-corruption drive is more serious than most analysts realize," said Rein.
It impacts the luxury sector on three fronts: Government officials can no longer get away with using public funds to buy luxury items; businessman are buying fewer luxury gifts for government officials; and corporations are opting for less flashy products to reward their employees.More at CNBC.
Shaun Rein 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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