Jewelry sales in China have skyrocketed; wages have not
Image: HSBC
We find ourselves writing about life in China all the time, from insane hotel discounts aimed at virgins to a new drug plant that looks suspiciously like Versailles.These stories always catch our attention and we constantly find ourselves thinking, "another bizarre story out of China?"
Today, while reading a new luxury market research report from HBSC, we stumbled upon the reason for the endless stream of news nuggets about China's newly minted consumers.
In a sentence, China is at the "show-off" stage of its luxury evolution, and displays of wealth have become a trend with staying power.
According to HSBC:
The urge to splurge, China at the ‘show-off’ stage
In Chinese and Russian communist societies, individual property was not allowed and private wealth was traditionally suspicious. With the liberalization of the economy, a new class system was created where your place on the ladder may depend on how much money one earns, and owning luxury goods can help display the level of one’s wealth.
The report cites a book that details the five stages of luxury evolution in Asian countries from "subjugation" to "way of life," and China is smack dab in the middle at "show-off." (In comparison, India is still moving out of "subjugation," where people are deprived and start to build a desire for luxury brands. Japan has totally evolved to "way of life.")
Image : HSBC
The "show off" stage is when consumers start “tripping over each other trying to acquire symbols of wealth and displaying them in a conspicuous manner,” according to HSBC.
So that explains the saga of the 20-year-old Chinese blogger who enveloped the country's Red Cross in scandal when she posted photos of her luxury cars, handbags and villas online.
The report concludes that as long as people in China continue to care about showing off their money, the market for luxury goods will continue to stay strong.
We conclude that as long as China stays in the "show off" stage, we'll continue to hear interesting stories about spending and wealth from that corner of the world.
Via B.I
Luxury News / Golden Choice by Lux Creative International
