Chinese Consumer Report 2012 - Luxury - Roland Berger

Have you ever tried to buy some unfamiliar brands?
Buy unfamiliar brands
[mentioned %]
Never
1 out of 6 or 7
1 out of 4 or 5
1 out of 1 or 2
Almost every time
luxury goods
clothing
Channel predetermination
[mentioned %]
Q: Would you buy some unfamiliar brands?
Q: Do you decide on the brand and product category
before purchasing?
Source: 2011 Roland Berger’s Chinese Luxury Consumers Survey (n=1,393), accurate, Roland Berger Analysis
On-site decision factors
Determine
brands and
products
Determine
specific brand
Determine
specific product
category
On-site decision
luxury clothing skin care mobile
goods
phone
Chinese luxury consumers are not confident
about the credibility of the information they
receive. Cautious purchasing behavior is
the result. They rarely buy unknown brands
and do no buy on the spur of the moment.
Purchases are made only after very thorough
consideration.
Similarly, consumers buying skin care
products and mobile phones rarely make
purchases on impulse or before lengthy
consideration. For makers of luxury goods this
is an important insight: the competitive battle
begins at the earliest stage of the purchasing
process.
Reasons for buying the product
[mentioned %]
Reasons for not buying the product
[mentioned %]
On-site decisions
Brand
Design
Quality
Price
luxury goods
clothing
Q: Which factor do you consider first when choosing
the products?
Don’t know the brand
The brand culture/
style doesn’t suit me
The price is too high
Others
Source: 2011 Roland Berger’s Chinese Luxury Consumers Survey (n=1,393), accurate, Roland Berger analysis
Final purchase (taking high-end jewelry as an example)
luxury goods
Q: What kinds of brands won’t you buy?
clothing
Nothing is more important than brand for
Chinese consumers when purchasing luxury
goods in stores. Brand is more important than
design, quality or price. When affordability
is not an issue, Chinese consumers tend to
upgrade to top-tier brands.
Whereas it is common for consumers in more
mature markets to reject a brand because it
"doesn't suit them", this rarely occurs in China.
Brands are rejected in China because they are
not known.
market share [%; 2010]
Despite brand proliferation, the market is
relatively concentrated due to the presence
of certain more established brands. These
established brands enjoy high brand
awareness.
Upgrading brand awareness
operating history in China
Source: 2011 Roland Berger’s Chinese Luxury Consumers Survey (n=1,393), accurate, Roland Berger analysis
brand awareness [%]
Roland Berger believes that Chinese luxury
goods consumers are becoming more
sophisticated, evolving into buyers that
purchase goods that make them feel good and
give them a certain sense of self-satisfaction.
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