Why the Chinese consumer cannot be ignored anymore - Ben Cavender

Ben Cavender

Dolce&Gabbana was the latest fashion brand to feel the growing power of picky Chinese consumers, but it will certainly not be the last one, says consumer analyst Ben Cavender to the New York Times.  “The reality is this is probably going to kill growth for them,” he said on D&G.

The New York Times:

“The consumer is more selfish right now in feeling that China has a rich history and culture and is now a world power — that we know we are your most important customer base and you need to respect them,” said Ben Cavender, a senior analyst at China Market Research, a consultancy based in Shanghai. According to the Boston Consulting Group, Chinese consumers are currently responsible for 32 percent of luxury goods sales worldwide, a number expected to grow to 40 percent by 2024, at which point the Chinese will drive 75 percent of the growth of the global market... 

Chinese state media also sought to limit the fallout. Hu Xijin, the editor in chief of the Global Times, called on consumers to be “more open-minded.” 

“Dolce & Gabbana was undoubtedly wrong, but sins do not equate to death,” Mr. Hu wrote on Friday on his Weibo account. 

Mr. Cavender, the analyst, was not so sure. “The reality is this is probably going to kill growth for them,” he said. The last time a consumer boycott erupted on this scale in China was in 2017 over South Korea’s embrace of an American missile defense system that China feared could be used to spy on its territory. Back then, protesters besieged branches of Lotte Mart, a South Korean supermarket chain. This year, it closed all of its stores in China.

More at the New York Times.

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