A woman walks past a Louis Vuitton advertisement in Fuzhou, capital of East China's Fujian province. (Photo by Chen Hao/For China Daily)
The 2017 Worldwide Luxury Market Monitor, jointly released in October by Bain & Company and Altagamma, revealed the business turnover of the global luxury market has reached a record high of 1.2 trillion euros (1.4 trillion US dollars), with Chinese consumers contributing to 32 percent of that total, Wednesday News reported.
McKinsey & Company also mentioned in its 2017 China Luxury Forecast in May, that Chinese consumers make up one-third of global consumption of luxury goods. This number will climb to 44 percent, or 1 trillion yuan (151.5 billion U.S. dollars) by 2025, providing strong momentum for the recovery of the global luxury market, they said.
According to reports, the Chinese middle class, professional females, and millennials constitute the major buying force for the global luxury market. With an annual disposable income from 10,000 to 16,000 U.S. dollars, the emerging middle class is increasingly becoming the engine for luxury consumption. Female-led consumption in China amounts to 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 62 percent of the total. While millennials account for 45 percent of the total luxury buyers, according to the Boston Consulting Group.
Early data released by McKinsey & Company indicated, taking service and price into consideration, only 70 percent of Chinese consumers buy luxury goods at home. But this trend is reversing as luxury brands have adjusted their marketing strategies to cater to the purchasing preferences of Chinese consumers. Taking the advantage of China's booming e-commerce platforms, luxury brands have launched WeChat accounts, opened flagship stores in Tmall.com, and reached cooperative agreements with JD.com. Also, against the backdrop of price globalization, Chinese consumers are seeing a more transparent and convenient domestic luxury market.
