Скачать или смотреть Global high-end retail targets Chinese consumer pay-day

"The wealth is coming from the east in the future. It’s not coming from the west." said Michael Ward, Managing Director of Harrods. The British luxury department store has opened its first-ever private members’ club in Shanghai.



In China, there are more than 2 million high-net-worth households. 400 million people are in the middle-income group, and that number is expected to double by 2035.



This is a market that is now witnessing some changes in people's consumption preferences, which has led to the strong growth in sales at China’s outlet malls since 2020. And it’s proving to be more than a pandemic blip.



Italian property developer RDM Asia now owns more than 500,000 square meters of outlet plazas across China, hosting more than 1,300 stores. Bucking the slower sales growth reported by multiple luxury groups, with all 7 of its Chinese projects. At the end of last year it had 5 million members, and it’s getting around 30,000 new members each week.



Maurizio Lupi, CEO of Florentia Village and RDM Asia said, "There is some brands doing up and down. So it's a market that is a little bit in difficulties, but I think China market is very resilient, is a market very big and for sure is just a question of few months or next year, then the market will start again as before - I'm extremely confident. And so we see a long track of growth for us as well for the country."



And the company's planning for further expansion, as Lupi said, "We have a lot of brands that are willing to come in our asset. All our assets are fully leased. And so we are looking for expansion. We are expanding the third phase in Chengdu. We are adding around 30,000 additional square meters, that will host around a hundred brands more, giving the largest portfolio brands in Chengdu area as well in Sichuan in the outlet business. As well in Beijing, we are planning additional phases because we have a strong success - a big flow of people that are giving us the comfort of additional investment."

The other solution to people’s new consumption preferences has come from fashion brands. Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo has launched its first spring and summer collection cooperating with an haute couture designer.

Designer Clare Waight Keller said, "For me, it was really important to bring something of my experience working in the luxury industry to a much more affordable price. It's the first time really in my career that I have reached so many customers."

All products in the new series are priced similarly to the brand’s other products, most below 500 yuan, or 70 US dollars.

Uniqlo China PR director Serena Dong said, "We have been launching collections in cooperation with famous designers for 9 years now. China is a very important market for us. Every time we launch such series - whether in our offline stores or on our Tmall store, people snapped up the products. And in many social media app, there are loads of comments about the series. Sales are also constantly picking up."

The newest summer collection has only been on the market for around 2 weeks, many items have drawn thousands of orders online- among the top sellers on its Tmall store.

Consumption is always one of the keys to the economic growth in China - last year contributing 80% to the GDP growth. No surprise that the government has been constantly highlighting the priority to drive consumption. As a result - during the first 2 months of this year, retail sales of consumer goods jumped 5.5% from the same period last year.