Beijing and Shanghai's Wealthy Consumers of Luxury Brands

Beijing and Shanghai Luxury Store Windows, Fall/Winter 2011

Wealthy consumers worldwide seek to pursue brands that represent status and allow them to be recognized as belonging to a certain modern, elite community. They want to experience the high quality of products, to stand out from the crowd and reward themselves, whether they come from a “developed” market like Japan and the United States or a “developing market” like China. Opportunities clearly exist for luxury brands in the booming Chinese consumer market. According to Hurun Research, traditional, male, high net worth individuals (HNWI) primarily live in the coastal regions and top Tier 1 cities of Beijing, Guangdong and Shanghai, which are home to 40% of China’s millionaires. According to McKinsey these wealthy consumers living in the three largest cities, tend to have more conservative attitudes toward saving and are more focused on family than their peers in smaller cities. Less surprisingly, they are more trusting of foreign brands like Bulgari, Giorgio Armani, Hermes and Dior.