Luxury Is Back in Vogue in China
- Mainland 2017 high-end spending gains may beat 10%, HSBC says
- Yuan’s rise has helped boost consumers’ spending power
Shoppers exit a Louis Vuitton store, operated by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, on Canton Road in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Hong Kong, China, on Saturday, April 18, 2015. Hong Kong is scheduled to release consumer price index (CPI) figures on April 21.
Photographer: Billy H.C. Kwok/BloombergChina’s luxury-goods market is growing steadily again, nearly five years after it was knocked off course by President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive.
But the sector looks very different from back in 2012, when conspicuous spending by officials greasing the wheels of contracts was a key driver -- spurring the crackdown on graft. Today, newly affluent consumers unaffected by government curbs are setting the pace. China’s rising middle class is so important that it’s set to be a main engine for luxury growth globally, Bain & Co. said in a recent report on the outlook to 2020.