China Herald: Luxury sales only drop slightly, despite anti-corruption drive

Rupert Hoogewerf

China state media framed the last week´s Hurun Report on the luxury industry a success for the anti-corruption struggle of president Xi Jinping. But the rich cut back their spending only marginally, and Hurun founder Rupert Hoogewerf calls 2014 even a "banner year".

The China Daily:

Polling 376 people with an average personal wealth of 41.7 million yuan ($6.67 million), the survey found that respondents' spending on gifts fell a further 5 percent in 2014, bringing their total cutbacks over the past two years to 30 percent.

Apple overtook Hermes to become their most-favored gift brand, followed by Louis Vuitton, with 2013's No 1 dropping to seventh on the latest list. Prada, Burberry and Giorgio Amarni dropped out of the top 10 men's gifts altogether, while among women recipients, Apple remained top followed by a previous longtime favorite Chanel. Prada and Bulgari no longer featured in their top 10.

Elsewhere, the report revealed that the popularity of giving wine as a gift fell by a third, and while healthcare products still remained the most popular gifts for people to give to the elderly, its overall share of total giving dropped to 29 percent.

But despite the falls in popularity of some global brands as gifts, Rupert Hoogewerf, the founder and chief researcher of Hurun Report, still called 2014 "a banner year for the globalization of Chinese consumers", given the continued popularity of international brand buying.

According to the study, nearly 70 percent of the luxury products bought by the Chinese super rich were bought from overseas last year, the combined result of a growing popularity of overseas department stores such as Neiman Marcus in the United States, the higher frequency of Chinese people traveling abroad, and the strength of the yuan.

The report also showed that collectively the Chinese billionaires said they had become more confident about how the domestic economy would perform over the next two years.

About 90 percent said that continued faith was based largely on a strong economic performance, especially, toward the end of the year.

"The year witnessed the biggest fluctuations in the Chinese luxury industry in a decade," said Hoogewerf.

More in the China Daily.

Rupert Hoogewerf 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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