British Luxury Summit 2012: "Luxury in China"

“The Walpole British Luxury Summit”, an event organised by Walpole British Luxury, was held in London on 9 May 2012. The event aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of the developments of the past 12 months and at enabling a forecast for 2012/13 for Greater China– mainland, Hong Kong, Macau.

The topic was addressed in the course of various speeches, including Anson Bailey (KMPG) with “Luxury Experience in China”, Jason Beckley (Dunhill) with “How do you say “inspire” in Mandarin? – Creative Marketing in China” and Lord Nat Wei with “The Chinese Dream?”.

The following demographic figures for Asia came to light during the event:

• China will become the largest market for luxury goods by 2020
• China’s extreme attractiveness is not just based on its huge population, but also on the large number of wealthy Chinese people
• The disposable income of city dwellers is growing at an average rate of 12 percent per year

The following insights were gained with regard to online operations in China:

• 457 million people use the internet and 975 million people use mobile phones
• Chinese people in China spend 18 hours per week online
• Online shopping grew by approx. 50 percent last year

The evidence is crystal clear: China poses an enormous economic potential that is currently nowhere near to being fully utilised.