Four Asian Cities In This Year's Top Ten For Luxury Retailers#
#1 in Asia, #6 in the world: Hong Kong (Image by Flickr user Stuck in Customs)
This week, the fourth annual survey by real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis covering the top destinations for global retailers places four Asian cities -- Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing -- in its top ten. Topped by Hong Kong for the second year in a row, the luxury portion of the survey reflects what some would consider to be obvious, that the world's top high-end brands continue to see Asia as a key region driving growth in a still-reeling global market. Over the past year, many brands have been busy building new, lavish flagship stores (particularly in mainland China) and tapping demand from newly wealthy consumers.
According to the "How Global is the Business of Retail" report, Hong Kong now hosts 84 percent of the luxury brands surveyed, while Singapore and Tokyo placed seventh and eighth, both with 69 percent. Beijing came in at #10, with 67 percent of luxury brands surveyed having set up shop in the Chinese capital. While Dubai came in first in terms of total retail, surpassing last year's number one London with 56 percent of all retailers having a footprint there, Hong Kong was the most attractive city in all of Asia among retailers, coming in sixth with 40.9 percent, followed by Beijing and Shanghai at numbers ten and eleven, both with 37.9 percent of retailers active in those cities.
Overall, China remained the seventh-most attractive global destination for retailers for the second year in a row, with a total of 46.1 percent of surveyed retailers having a presence there.