Luxury market in China which includes jewelry, leather products, fashion apparels, perfumes etc reached around US $8 billion during 2007.
This attracted many international luxury brands. Numerous luxury brands like Versace, Rolex, Chanel, Omega, Dior, Prada, and Zegna have dipped their toes in the country.
Cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have attracted the investments of retail giants like Giorgio Armani.
China has 100 cities with population exceeding one million. With the increase in disposable income of consumers and their inclination to acquire a social strata and willingness to express uniqueness in their lifestyle, the luxury market is getting its momentum.
The II and III tier cities are also catching up fast with I tier cities. Middle class population in China is estimated to grow and reach 250 million by 2010.
With the growing interest of middle class people towards luxury products, the market is heating up. Social status is now becoming imperative for middle income people as well.
Luxury products enable the consumers to project a social class. Consumers from II and III tier cities feel the need to ‘close the gap’ and build up an I tier image and are willing to pay the high price that a luxury product commands in order to move up the social strata.
Source: www.fibre2fashion.com
