Chinese customers now account for 31 % of global luxury shopping

According to Bain & Company’s 2015 Worldwide Luxury Report, Chinese customers represent the largest group of customers for luxury products, holding a 31 % share of luxury shopping globally, followed by the United States (24 %), and Europeans (18 %). Despite that, Bain & Company reports that Asia performed historically poorly in the luxury market, with demand in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau all seeing sharp drops in luxury shopping.

Instead, Chinese customers are responsible for a sharp rise in sales in the West, particularly in Europe, where tax-free luxury shopping has resulted in Chinese tax-free purchases in Europe climbing by 64 % year-over-year according to Global Blue.

“Undoubtedly, Chinese consumers play a primary role in the growth of luxury spending worldwide,” Federica Levato, principal at Bain & Company said.

“For years, we have known that they spend far more abroad than in Mainland China, but what’s changing is that they’re spending little money in historically popular destinations, such as Hong Kong and Macau, and are instead gravitating to new locales, such as Europe, South Korea or Japan, to benefit from currency fluctuations that drive favourable price gaps.”

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Source: Inside Retail Asia

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