French Jewelry, Watch And Fragrance Company Counting On Continued Momentum In Top- And Second-Tier Cities#
Last year, China became the world's second-largest diamond market, behind only the US, and recently De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer, predicted that China could surpass the US to become the largest within the next decade.
As always, figures that quantify, rather than qualify, what's happening in the world's most populous country should be taken with a grain of salt, but with so much surplus capacity and room to grow in smaller (again, not by quantity but in context) cities throughout China, the world's jewelry producers see the country as a gold mine -- or a diamond mine -- that should bring them sustainable growth for the medium- to long-term.
Of these jewelry companies, France's Van Cleef & Arpels is the latest to announce their China expansion plans for 2010. According to ChinaKnowledge, the company is actively targeting emerging markets like mainland China and the Middle East this year, and plans to double their number of Chinese stores from four to eight. These four Chinese locations make up the largest proportion of the seven stores Van Cleef & Arpels is set to open over the course of the year.
China is "priority number one," and the company has boosted its presence online in China, [CEO Stanislas de Quercize] said.
Speaking to Reuters, Quercize said that Van Cleef & Arpels plans to reach out to Chinese consumers via social media -- something we've seen a growing number of luxury brands doing in the last couple of years. However, Quercize's plans to leverage Facebook and Twitter for the purpose might not prove as effective as he thinks -- both services are blocked in China.
We'd recommend he gives Kaixin and Zuosa a shot instead, if China truly is "priority number one."