Is it the end of the "logomania" in China's luxury market? An analysis of 1st tier Chinese consumers of Aspirational Luxury within the "Clothing" and "Accessories" segments of "Personal Luxury Goods"

Details

Supervisors

Schuiling, Isabelle

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en Ingénieur de gestion

Abstract

Before the 80’s, China was considered as an alien territory, doomed in poverty due to Mao’s vision of a closed, classless and property-less society. Since the economic reform in 1978, however, China opened itself to the world and made history’s most remarkable comeback, dazzling investors and taking all analysts by surprise. China’s status as economic and consumer powerhouse is not anodyne for Luxury brands. Indeed, Chinese consumers have been discovered to be rapacious luxury spenders, wearing expensive watches, paying gigantic amounts of money on conspicuously branded goods and deluging Louis Vuitton showrooms. The Chinese have for a long time been depicted as excessive, conspicuous and logo-driven consumers. However, things have quickly changed in China, according to the press and luxury industry specialists. We are now witnessing a distancing from loud and flashy products in favour of a more unique and authentic expression of the self. This evolution in consumer behaviour and preferences towards luxury brands makes the Chinese market a more complex arena to compete in. And, whilst consumers are turning towards understated luxury and emerging brands, well-established brands cannot grow content with their leading position, as they risk loosing their appeal to an increasingly discerning and sophisticated consumer. The aims of this thesis are the following: first it aims to understand China’s love affaire with luxury. Then, as industry experts have often argued that Chinese consumers are conspicuous, the thesis ambitions to analyse whether this trend is still topical or if China is evolving towards a more discreet consumption of luxury as defended by recent press articles. To understand if this evolution is indeed happening, the thesis aims to analyse what development stage of luxury consumption China has reached and to cluster Chinese consumers according to socio-demographic characteristics and luxury consumption behaviours.