Digital Luxury Group (DLG), the first international company to create luxury industry market intelligence, in partnership with Luxury Society, the world’s largest community of luxury executives, unveil the World Luxury Index™ China – 2nd Edition, a ranking and analysis of the most-sought after luxury brands in China.
This year’s report reveals that Chinese consumer interest in the luxury market is dominated by heavyweights: Cars (53.50%), Beauty (22.70%) and Fashion (14.90%). New brands to enter the Top 50 are: Elizabeth Arden (#43) and Rado (#50), whilst Salvatore Ferragamo and Moncler are “out” of this year’s rankings.
Chanel has become the #1 most sought-after global luxury brand in China, according to the World Luxury Index™ China – 2nd Edition. The brand overtook Louis Vuitton thanks to rising interest in various product segments, particularly beauty. Interest for Louis Vuitton on the other hand originated mainly from the fashion segment, accounting for almost three-quarters of total interest in the brand.
According to David Sadigh, Founder & CEO of Digital Luxury Group, “Louis Vuitton has reported a disappointing first quarter, while brands from different segments ranging from Chanel to Coach or Burberry are continuing to grow. Though rapidly evolving, the Chinese market is still developing. In order to stay ahead of the game, brands must have the ability to adapt quickly thus reducing the risk of brand saturation. In the case of Louis Vuitton, LVMH has already shifted gears, putting the brakes on its global expansion, whilst raising prices and developing more leather upmarket products.”
Among the key trends identified, shaping the China luxury market:**
Fashion – The Top 3 Most Sought-After Fashion Brands in China are: Chanel (#1), Louis Vuitton (#2) and Gucci (#3). Giorgio Armani, is the fastest growing fashion brand, up +17 spots since last year. Bags and wallets dominate the fashion market in China accounting for almost 90% of total interest. Celine’s “Luggage,” consolidates its iconic status in the mainland as the #1 most popular handbag model, followed by Hermès’ Birkin and Chanel’s 2.55.
Cars – Audi (#1) and BMW (#2) maintain their leadership position in the luxury car segment. Lexus (in 3rd place), breaks the German trio, moving ahead of Mercedes (now 4th). Jaguar is the rising star, showing the fastest evolution (+5 places since last year) followed by Cadillac and Lincoln. Maybach, Ferrari and Maserati experienced the biggest losses in the category.
Beauty – Estée Lauder, Lancôme and Dior retain their spot as the three most desired beauty brands in the Chinese market – Lancôme overtaking Dior as #2. Skincare accounts for almost 60% of all Beauty searches. American beauty brands Estée Lauder and Clinique are popular with skincare products, whilst European brands Dior and Chanel are more popular for fragrance. Lancôme’s demand is evenly distributed across the three main segments: skincare, fragrance and makeup. Most popular beauty products are: Clinique’s Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel and Benefit’s dr. feelgood makeup primer. Most popular fragrances are led by French classics: Dior J’adore, Chanel N°5 and Chanel Chance.
Watches – Omega, Rolex and Longines lead the Chinese luxury watch segment. Classic, elegant models dominate Chinese consumer interest lead by Omega’s De Ville, which becomes the number one most sought-after model (up 3 spots).
Jewelry – The Top 3 Jewelry leaders consolidate their stronghold on the market accounting for almost 90% of total interest, led by Chinese brand Chow Tai Fook (#1), Cartier (#2) and Swarovski (#3). Rings are the most sought-after jewelry product, representing over half of all searches, in majority for Cartier and Tiffany & Co.
Hospitality – Sheraton (#1), Hilton (#2) and Intercontinental (#3) maintain their lead as most sought-after hotel brands in China. For more information on the luxury hospitality market, see recently released, World Luxury Index™ Hotels.
The report is part of the World Luxury Index™, an international ranking and analysis of the most sought-after brands within the luxury industry. This study covers 400+ luxury brands within six key segments (fashion, cars, beauty, watches, jewelry and hospitality) and provides insights on the interest coming from luxury consumers in China. The unbiased information is derived from 680 million consumer online searches originating from leading search engines Baidu and Google.
**Data Range: January through December 2012.
A sample of the report is available for download at: http://dlgr.com/wlichina2
More detailed data and analysis on a particular brand or topic is available upon request.
Please use #WorldLuxuryIndex when mentioning the report.