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Forget about Paris and New York. Chinese dying for haute couture gowns or the latest
luxury bags can now shop right at home.
Makers of luxury apparel, liquors and other goods increasingly are
looking to China, India and
other developing countries for growth they won't find in older,
established markets in Europe.
To meet soaring demand for Asia's newly affluent , venerable names such as
Prada and Giorgio Armani are setting up stores as quickly as they can —
and even considering making some of their products here.
"China is certainly the most prominent and most important market we
have in front of us," Paolo Fontanelli, chief financial officer for
Giorgio Armani SpA, told a conference on luxury brands held Thursday in
Shanghai.
Although China, Taiwan and Hong Kong together account for only a tiny
fraction of Armani's sales, the fashion group is quickly adding stores in
the country, both in major cities like Shanghai and in lesser known ones,
such as Shenyang in the northeast and Chengdu in the southwest.
And while the company led the way in setting up a flagship store on
Shanghai's riverfront Bund, just about all the big names now have
boutiques in the trendy
districts of Shanghai and Beijing.
China is the latest, biggest frontier in the luxury goods market, with
India and Russia close behind, said Melanie Flouquet, luxury goods
industry analyst for JP Morgan.
"Emerging markets are not only not insignificant but they are critical
for growth going forward," Flouquet said, adding that China accounts for 5
percent to 6 percent of sales of European luxury goods, with Russia at
about 3 percent and India at 1 percent, she said.
Chinese travelers have also joined the Japanese — long notorious for
their love of name brands — as an important clientele for luxury shops in
Paris, New York and Hong Kong.
"These days we need to have Mandarin (Chinese) speakers in our shops,
for not all our customers speak English," said Fontanelli.
Yet although shopping in Paris, Milan or Hong Kong still carries a
certain cachet, buying overseas is no longer the only way for shoppers to
dodge the fakes that are rampant here.
"Now they can happily shop in their own territory and be confident they
are buying the real products," said Raphael le Masne de Chermont,
executive chairman for Shanghai Tang — a fashion house founded in Hong
Kong that bills itself as China's first homegrown luxury brand.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2005-05-23 10:03
