In 2014， Chinese citizens purchased nearly half of the luxury items in the world. However, 76 percent of these luxuries were bought overseas.
Chinese consumers no longer focus on buying luxury goods in retail stores due to the rising popularity of the internet and E-commerce. Firstly, overseas purchasing agents are becoming known in the biggest E-commerce platform “Taobao.com”. There are also special overseas purchasing websites like “Haitao.com” where the Chinese can easily buy all kinds of luxuries at a much lower price. Later on, all kinds of luxury overseas purchasing information is posted and shared on social “apps” such as Weibo and Weixin.
For Chinese consumers, luxuries are not beyond reach anymore. In past years, luxuries cost far too much for the average Chinese after the 100% duty was added to the original price. This was especially true for young white collars workers. The popularity of overseas purchasing makes the luxury prices more acceptable for Chinese especially for young professionals in 1st and 2nd tier cities. They can buy a Coach purse or a Burberry coat or an Estee Lauder eye cream with a few thousand RMB. This not only meets young generation’s desire to impresss their friends but also provides a tangible reward for their hard work.
We can see the young generations taste for luxuries are still increasing. They will still make purchases overseas by any means possible. As for Luxury outlets in china, focus should be made on those Chinese consumers who are not particularly sensitive to price. They should get to know more of the motivations of these consumers and provide better service and more product variety in China.
