The Rise of Chinese Luxury Brands

Trevor Lai from Thoughtful China, speaks with Mary Ching founder Alison Yeung and Shang Xia’s Philippe Lamy, about the emergence of homegrown Chinese luxury brands.

As of the end of March 2011, China’s total consumption of luxury goods reached $10.7 billion, and the country now accounts for a quarter of consumption worldwide. As foreign luxury brands have come to recognise the importance of the market, they have rolled out stores in second, third and fourth tier cities on the Mainland, in a bid to capture the new luxury hungry middle class consumer.

China’s luxury retail is dominated by foreign luxury marketers, who have been fighting for growth in the mainland. Whilst they have certainly ruled luxury’s very infant past in the region, will brands like Shang Xia and Mary Ching have the ability to change the landscape in the future? Can local luxury brands provide the status that Chinese shoppers want? And finally, are westerners ready to accept a “made in China” luxury brand?

Speaking at CEIBS’s 2011 Prestige Brand Forum, Professor Mark Ritson mused; “China will have some of the world’s greatest luxury brands but not in the old categories of the old world. There will be new categories…”

For Luxury Society conversations with the CEO’s of Shang Xia and Mary Ching, please see the below links:

- Jiang Qiong Er, Shang Xia’s CEO & artistic director
- Proudly Made in China: Alison Yeung, Mary Ching