Welcome to Jing Daily’s China Luxury Brief: the day’s top news on the business of luxury and culture in China, all in one place. Look below for the top industry news from January 16, 2014.#
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Today’s stories:#
How Brands Can Navigate Chinese Fashion Bloggers' 'Red Envelope' Culture#
"Customarily, journalists are offered a standard amount of money—a “red envelope”—in exchange for press coverage. This is a grey but accepted practice that is also applied to the online world, where bloggers have a standard price list that varies depending on factors such as how many fans they have on their blogs. Prices can range from USD$150 for reposting tweets up to USD$5000 for generating original content and endorsing products."
China: This Week In Digital Luxury Marketing#
"A roundup of ongoing campaigns in China through January 31, featuring Jaguar, Gucci, Rado, Tommy Hilfiger, and DKNY."
Chinese Travel Site Qunar Doesn’t Care About Any Labels Other Than 'Largest'#
(PlaceIt)
"Qunar was founded as a travel metasearch site in 2005, but by 2011 it had evolved into a hybrid to better-address the needs of the largely offline travel market in China."
What we’re reading:#
Luxury In China Loses Luster As Wealthy Flee#
"Overall spending by wealthy Chinese fell by 15 percent in 2013, the third consecutive year of decline, according to a survey by the Hurun Report. Spending on gifts in particular also declined by a quarter."
[Reuters]
Richemont Warns Of Luxury Slowdown In China As Third Quarter Sales Miss Estimates#
"The group’s watches and jewellery have been hit by a Chinese crackdown on alleged gif giving and bribes at a government level. A number of luxury brands have been hit by the change."
Don’t Bet On China’s Luxury Spenders: Goldman#
"'Recent policy comments suggest an intensification of efforts, particularly in terms of stricter supervision and firmer punishments,' it said. The anti-corruption language in the Third Plenum is firmer and more comprehensive than previous comments from President Xi Jinping and the recently released anti-corruption five-year plan adds more reform focus areas, including supervision and enforcement, it said."
[CNBC]
Bordeaux Vs. Burgundy: Wine Auction Showdown In Hong Kong#
"A trio of wine auctions kick off tonight in Hong Kong with Chinese collectors showing few signs that a crackdown by Beijing on luxury buying is denting their thirst for the world’s top bottles — especially if they’re from Burgundy."
Why Luxury Means More Than One Thing In China#
“China may well be seeing the emergence of a clearer, mid- high-end market - affluent customers willing to spend hundreds, but not thousands. There's luxury, and then there's luxury. "
More Chinese Renting Cars To Travel Home For Lunar New Year Celebrations#
"Zhang Xiaogao, assistant manager at China Auto Rental Beijing Branch, said: 'When going home to celebrate the Lunar New Year, ‘face’ is still important to the Chinese. Renting a car home means having more ‘face’. During the New Year season, middle- to high- end cars like the Audi and BMW are more popular than usual. It also has to do with rising affluence among people in Beijing.'"