Chinese Whispers: SKP is Looking to Venture into Chengdu, and More

In “Chinese Whispers,” we share the biggest news stories about the luxury industry in China that have yet to make it into the English language. In this week’s edition, we discuss: SKP is eying to venture into Chengdu Chinese male from Henan purchase the most oversea beauty product Chinese Jewelry Qeelin opens boutique at Paris Place Vendôme SKP is looking to venture into Chengdu – Jiemian Chengdu Transportation Investment Group Co., Ltd. revealed that it is about to introduce the Beijing SKP project to Chengdu and will promote the project landing in the second half of the year. Fashion media Jiemian reached out to Beijing SKP to confirm the news and has yet to hear back. If confirmed, this would be a significant development to the retail scene in Chengdu, given the popularity of SKP malls. In 2018, sales reached a whopping 13.5 billion yuan. According to the British architect firm Sybarite and GlobalData, in 2019, Beijing SKP become the second most expensive per square foot high-end department store in the world, after London's Harrods. Chinese males from Henan purchase the most overseas beauty products – ebrun Haitao, or 海淘, which describes the trend of Chinese shopping overseas online, is in vogue with young Chinese male consumers. On July 30th, e-commerce site Taobao released their latest report, revealing that consumers in coastal areas such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong are the main cities for cross-border shopping. According to the report, for three consecutive years Chinese males from the city Henan represented the fastest growth rate in purchasing beauty products, followed by males in Shandong and Guangdong. Perhaps this boom can be attributed to the throng of male beauty bloggers popping up in China now. The report also reported that post-95 males are the most interested in makeup. Chinese Jewelry Qeelin opens boutique at Paris Place Vendôme – Qeelin Paris Vendôme is known to be one of the world's most prestigious hotspots for shopping for top jewelry brands, namely Van Cleef & Arpels, Chaume, Chanel. On July 1, the high-end jewelry brand with a Chinese DNA, Qeelin, opened a boutique here, attempting to grab a slice of the market. It’s the first Chinese jewelry brand at Place Vendôme and the brand hoping to attract the attention of Chinese travelers looking for homegrown jewelry. Qeelin's opening signals that its parent group, Kering, is very interested in expanding into the jewelry sector. Shortly before Qeelin’s opening, Gucci also opened a boutique there and Fresh luxury jewelry brand Boucheron reopened one last year after a series of renovations. All three brands belong to the Kering group.

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Chinese Whispers: SKP is Looking to Venture into Chengdu, and More