The Bling Dynasty: Why the Reign of Chinese Luxury Shoppers Has Only Just Begun

Chapter 9 The Chinese Luxury Empire

The world belongs to all.

—Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary and Father of the Nation

In this chapter, we see why Chinese consumers are dominating the luxury industry while other consumers just cannot move the needle as much. Luxury isn't a truly global industry. (See Figure 9.1.)

Figure 9.1 Front and Center: China in Simplified Chinese, the Middle Kingdom

Chinese, Not China

In Putonghua, China is known as Zhongguo, meaning the Central State or the Middle Kingdom. Indeed, in China maps of the world show the country bang in the center of planet Earth. In luxury, trends are strongly driven by the kingdom of Chinese purchasers, a rising tide of wealthy, enthusiastic consumers. But, unlike China, this kingdom has no territorial limits, as travel becomes the largest purveyor of business.

China is behind the United States, Japan and Korea in terms of relevance for leather goods and accessories. Given how limited China is in terms of the overall luxury landscape, it's funny that most investors are obsessed with the country. But of course, it's all about the Chinese, not about China. Looking at luxury sector sales by nationality, not country, is a great revelation. (See Table 9.1.)

Table 9.1 Luxury Sales by Nationality 2015 Whatever the Country of Purchase

Chinese	35%
American	15%
Japanese	10%
Western European	12%
Other Asian	15% ...