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 February 11, 2014.#
The China Luxury Brief is now available as a daily email! Sign up here.#
Today’s stories:#
Liquor’s Loss Is Red Wine’s Gain For China Austerity Drive#
(Shutterstock )
“If you just look at red wine, however, you see a completely different story. Vinexpo also concluded that China including Hong Kong overtook France and Italy as the world’s largest red wine consumer in 2013. The amount of consumption has skyrocketed by 136 percent in five years. In fact, 155 million of China’s 181 million cases consumed during the past year were red."
Design Spotlight | Shanghai’s Vertical Glass House By Atelier FCJZ#
“With enclosed walls and transparent floors as well as roof, the house opens to the sky and the earth, positions the inhabitant right in the middle, and creates a place for meditation.”
What Chinese Consumers Were (And Weren’t) Buying Over Chinese New Year#
"China’s state-run media is touting the fact that luxury sales growth has slowed this year as a result of the government’s crackdown on corruption. Xinhua reports that sales of luxury gifts such as expensive alcohol and rare seafood have 'fallen sharply' during the Chinese New Year, with Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian province, reporting a 70 percent sales decline in luxury alcohol in the first four days of the holiday. In addition, rare seafood sales were down 50 percent, despite the fact that 'sales of ordinary goods went up in general.'”
What we’re reading:#
Guangzhou Auto To Make Honda Acura Cars In China#
“Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. will expand a 15-year-old joint venture with Honda Motor Co. to include production in China of the Japanese auto maker's Acura luxury-brand cars beginning in 2016.”
[WSJ ]
Deep Focus/Flipscript Becomes Hermès' Social-Media Agency In China#
"Wong said that he could not disclose the upcoming creative work at this stage, but pointed out the brand has little social-media presence in China at the moment, even though it has extensive retail presence in major cities."
Jaguar Sales Accelerate In China And The US#
"Sales in fast-growing China, which accounts for nearly a quarter of JLR sales, soared by 46 per cent. The firm’s US division grew by 33 per cent as the recovery in the world’s largest economy continued."
[Mail Online ]
Makin’ It Rain: Alibaba Gets Into Wealth Management Game#
"Alipay, the online payment affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., on Monday began taking reservations for a wealth management product it plans to sell on Friday. Though the scale of the product, at 300 million yuan ($49.5 million), is small, Alibaba has a proven ability to shepherd large amounts of cash from its users into investment products."
Genting Enters Luxury Casino Resort Market In South Korea#
“Genting Singapore, a unit of Genting Bhd, has tied up with Chinese firm Landing International Development to build its first integrated casino resort in South Korea."
