Jing Daily’s Top Posts For The Week#
In case you missed them the first time around, here are some of Jing Daily’s top posts for the week of August 9-13:
Last week, the Jing Daily team had the opportunity to speak with Linda Pilkington, the founder of the London-based perfumery Ormonde Jayne, about the changes she’s seen in the British luxury retail landscape as more Chinese tourists have headed to London. Although perfume and cologne are not as widely worn on a regular basis in China as they are in Western markets, Ms. Pilkinton has noticed a growing number of Chinese shoppers gradually replacing the Russian, Middle Eastern and American shoppers who make up much of Ormonde Jayne’s present customer base.
Discussing these and other trends in the London high-end retail market, Ms. Pilkington shared with us some of her observations — both personal and professional — on how Chinese shoppers are shaping, and will continue to shape, the global luxury market.
Jing Daily On Forbes China Tracker: Will Chinese Shoppers Embrace Luxury Goods–Sans Logo?
This week, Britain’s Telegraph reported on the recent luxury industry trend towards subtler, “antibling” collections that minimize conspicuous logos in favor of more low-key designs. According to the article, recent moves by Gucci to downplay its trademark “G emblem” have paid off, as the company recorded a surge in profits after moving in this direction. As Francois-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive of its French parent PPR, said: “Our groups are moving toward fewer logos, more discreet luxury. It’s a question of adapting our ranges very rapidly to this new perception of luxury, a luxury which is more subtle, more sophisticated.”
Noting the visible “de-logo-ification” seen among brands known for over-the-top embellishments in the pre-financial-crisis years, such as Louis Vuitton or Chanel, the Telegraph cites a new study by Joseph Nunes, professor of marketing at the University of Southern California, which found that big-spenders are “willing to pay a premium to have ‘quiet’ goods without a brand mark.”
Ganbei! Moutai Courts High Rollers With $20,000 “Red Diamond” Liquor
Last month, Jing Daily reported on the new “global push” announced by the premium Chinese spirits (baijiu) maker Moutai (茅台). Although Moutai remains arguably China’s most popular high-end native tipple (prices typically range anywhere from the hundreds to the thousands of dollars per bottle), it has yet to catch on outside of Chinatown restaurants overseas, and even then — unlike its Japanese cousin sake — it’s rarely consumed by non-Chinese drinkers. As part of its global push, Moutai plans a five-country marketing onslaught for France, Japan, the United States, Canada and Russia, and if this is successful in increasing international sales, it will be widened to further markets like Australia and Singapore.
So why is Moutai planning to push so aggressively into untested markets, primarily populated by people who have largely never heard of or tried baijiu before, or if they have, might not have enjoyed the experience? Rather than being a case of expansion for the sake of expansion — and bragging rights — it seems that Moutai is focused on the goal of establishing itself as one of China’s preeminent home-grown luxury brands overseas, as it has at home.
Zeng Fanzhi: “Artists Need To Be Narcissistic”
Today marks the opening of Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi’s retrospective at the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai, a wide-ranging exhibition curated by Wu Hung that includes not only Zeng’s signature oil paintings but new sculptures, installation works and pencil drawings, showing us another side of China’s “#1 contemporary artist.” It’s been a busy year for Zeng, with one of his paintings setting a record at a BAZAAR charity auction in May, 100% of his works at the Sotheby’s spring auctions selling, and his solo exhibition in Sofia, Bulgaria attracting huge media attention. With his new retrospective (running through October 12), Zeng gets a chance to show another side of himself — a goal he’s mentioned in recent interviews — and prove he lives up to his billing as one of China’s best living artists.
From YNet’s coverage of Zeng’s opening (translation by Jing Daily team):
The exhibition features more than 20 pieces never-before exhibited or published by Zeng Fanzhi, including oil paintings, sculpture, prints, pencil drawings and installation works, showing the new understanding that “China’s most expensive artist” has towards art.
China’s 10 Favorite Luxury Watches
As Jing Daily regularly points out, luxury watches are among the most lusted-after objects in the Chinese market, where they hold a particular sway over conspicuous consumption-obsessed buyers. China Daily, writing on the craze for Swiss watches that hasn’t diminished in China for the last 30 years, suggests, “ask any middle-class Chinese what would be his or her first luxury purchase and the answer will most likely be a Swiss watch.” Apparently a large number of these people aren’t just dreaming of buying a high-end watch, they’re actually doing it — even if they’re cutting back on basic necessities to save up for it. Last year, despite a 23% global drop in Swiss luxury watch sales, buyers in China accounted for a fifth of Swiss watch sales, and even that number is probably low considering the number of shoppers who purchased multiple watches on trips to Hong Kong or Europe.
Clearly Chinese consumers — along with their Middle Eastern counterparts — are a key market for the luxury watch industry, but looking at their specific “likes,” we can see what it is about these watch brands that appeals on a basic level to Chinese luxury lovers, whether they can afford them or not. This week, QQ Luxury posted a top 10 list of the watch brands most lusted-after by Chinese. Unsurprisingly, top brands like Patek Philippe and Omega feature high on the list, but as always there are a few interesting additions, such as Rado, which — incidentally — boasts the distinction of being the first foreign brand advertised on Chinese television in the late 1970s.