Chinese Luxury Consumer Types and the Buying Motivation - Research Proposal Example

Research Proposal: Comparative study for the Chinese luxury consumer types and the buying motivation

Table of Contents

1. Introduction3

1.1 Research purpose3

1.2 Research framework3

2.2 Chinese culture and economy5

2.3 Luxury goods market in the World and in China6

2.4 Chinese luxury buyer segmentation9

2.5 Motives behind luxury goods consumption among Chinese12

3. Methodology15

3.1 Chinese luxury consumer segmentation15

3.2 Comparative study of motivations in different luxury consumer segments15

4. Conclusion15

Reference List16

• 1. Introduction

According to a report published by The Guardian in October 2015, the spending on luxury has been €1 trillion where China leads the sales by 31% immediately followed by US (24%) and European nations (18%). A trend of buying luxury outside the home country has been quite evident wherein the Chinese are found heading towards Japan or European market due to weakening of Euro and Yen. It is estimated that 80% of luxury buying of China is done outside the country (The Guardian, 2015). This initiated the need for studying the consumer market of China and how the factors behind the buying patterns of luxury products varies among the different segment of consumers. This research proposal will brief about the purpose of the study which will be followed by the aims and objectives. The research questions will be answered with the help of structured methodology and a section will be dedicated towards the literature review to understand luxury goods, the Chinese market of buyers and the factors that affect their buying behaviour.

• • 1.1 Research purpose

The purpose of doing a comparative study on different types of luxury buyers in China and their buying motivation is to understand how the factors affect their pattern of buying. The reason behind conducting this research is supported by the fact that Chinese luxury buyers are shifting from their own shopping destinations like Hong Kong and Macau towards Japan, South Korea and Europe resulting in only 20% of global purchase from home country (Bain and Company, Inc., 2015). This study will help in further researches by marketers of luxury in China to boost up sale or understand the reasons behind change in buying patterns.

• • 1.2 Research framework

Aim: To do a comparative study on the Chinese luxury buyers and the factors acting as motivation of buying behind each type of buyer.

Objectives:

• To study the different types of luxury consumers.
• To study motivating factors behind the buying behaviours of luxury consumers.

Research questions:

• What are the different segments in which the luxury consumers can be classified?
• What are the factors that determine the pattern in which the classified consumers make their purchasing decisions?

2. Literature review: To conduct this research, there are certain aspects and terminologies that need to be discussed. This section will be highlighting the same and also discuss about the works of researchers who have previously worked on related topics.

2.1 Defining luxury:

The definition of luxury varies from one individual to another, so there is no universally accepted definition. Oxford dictionary defines it as ‘a state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense’ (Oxford dictionary, 2014). Another definition related to historical evidence of satisfaction of buying non-essential products that provides the sense of power, uniqueness and prosperity (Brun and Castelli, 2013). Yet another definition states that luxury is anything that cannot be purchased or afforded by everybody but only by few selected (Researchgate.net, 2007). However, with modernisation, the concept of luxury related to purchase capability has changed, with increasing number of people spending on luxury (Krapferer, 2012).

Luxury has always been interlinked with quality, comfort and elite lifestyle. The best consumer goods or services come with superior quality, unique designs or historical significance/inheritance (Heine, 2010). With the passage of time, price is no more a factor that determines state of luxury or luxury does not necessarily comes at a price. The factors that actually determine the state of luxury are:

Quality and scarcity- Better the quality and uniqueness lesser are its availability. Often products of luxury are results of outstanding workmanship which consumes lot of time behind its making. The time and effort spent increases its value and decreases its quantity resulting in its availability to very limited consumers giving it its exclusivity.

Price- Luxury always comes at a price which is usually not affordable by everyone.

History or origination- Luxury is also associated with originality or place of production. For example, it is a perception that French wine or champagne is of best quality and ‘made in France’ tag imprinted gives the customer a sense of satisfaction for buying the finest wine. Marketers usually use this phenomenon for competitive advantage (Wison, 2014). According to a report, consumers in Britain are demanding the manufacture of luxury products within Britain may be because they want products with heritage factor (Mintel, 2013).

In short, luxury is not meant to be confined in a definition as it has its own significance and definition depending on the user. This change in meaning as per perception of buyer makes marketers to be more innovative and have better communication with the buyers to understand their needs (Brun and Castelli, 2013).

• • 2.2 Chinese culture and economy

To understand China’s culture and economy, one needs to know its historical development. Its civilisation is considered one of the oldest and before the advent of industrial revolution, it was a distinguished economy (Lin, 2011). After industrial revolution, its economy faced downfall benefitting the western world but after 1979, it started its revival process and till 2010, it had jumped to twenty times of its population with a steady GDP at 9.9%. (Lin 2011).

Chinese culture reveals a dual outcome of unification through historical evidence and fragmentation through empirical evidence. The major difference in culture lies in urban, rural and indigenous society. This is the cause of division of societies in respect of per capita income. As a result of Maoist policies which rule the state, two distinct cultural groups have emerged; the rural society is strongly influenced by traditions even though the communist uprooted the system but succeeded superficially. On the other hand, the urban society has been touched by social modernization that brought about revolution in cultural aspect. The Chinese cultural diversity has resulted in diversified governance. This structure is a result of variety of cultures, political initiatives and prevalent socio-economic and political environment. With the introduction of some rules and policies supported by the government, the culture of socialist structure was strengthened until the latter half of nineties (Researchgate.net, 2005).

Agriculture had a superior role in the upliftment of the Chinese economy. It is the main source of raw materials and provides the market for establishment of secondary and tertiary business units. Industries lead the economy while agriculture forms the foundation and together it helps in the development of infrastructure for transportation leading to development of related services slowly adding to the betterment of the economy. According to a report by a daily, apart from agriculture industry, manufacturing industry shares 36% of the GDP (The Hindu, 2015). The fastest growing sector of China is the service or tertiary industry. It determines the rate of development of any nation so; the government also encourages investment in this segment. It is comparatively in a weak stage and has immense scope of growth.

Some facts and figures of Chinese population to understand the affluent composition in its population- As per the latest data after the sixth census in China, its present population stands at approx 1.38 billion contributing around 18.72% of world population (worldometer.info, 2016). Its GDP is world’s second largest (preceded by US) standing at $10,736 billion. However, the space between poor and rich is increasing and its gini-coefficient stood at 0.49 in 2012; world bank calculations reveal that more than 0.40 gini-coefficient indicates severe inequality in incomes of a nation (Financial times, 2016). According to World Bank report, only 1% of Chinese population holds 41.4% of the total wealth of the nation and the number of multimillionaires are approximately 9, 60,000 (Hurun group, 2013).

• • 2.3 Luxury goods market in the World and in China

The luxury goods as discussed above, constitutes of anything that is expensive and beyond the affordable range; but to understand the global market of luxury goods, it has been classified into following categories accessories like jewellery or elite brand watches, wearable goods like apparels, cosmetics, beverages like expensive wines, fragrances and miscellaneous. A report based on the global segmentation of luxury in terms of geography and product type revealed and forecasted that the major player is Europe and would remain so until 2020. It is due to the long period of market dominance of the manufacturers of luxury products by the European nations supported by its extensive retail network and tax-free outlets (Transparencymarketresearch.com, 2014). According to the forecast, European market is in its maturity phase and soon it will be facing stagnation which will directly boost up the markets of Asia-Pacific and Middle-East nations. The per capita income as well as disposable income of people in these regions is showing rapid growth indicating promising avenues for global market players of luxury goods.

The world has been divided into regions of luxury sales and different regions perform differently in terms of the type of the product. According to a report by CNBC, 2015; accessories outperformed sales of other luxury goods, contributing to 30% of global market share followed by apparel (24%). Following data shows the luxury markets of 2015 in chronological order.

Figure 1: Sales revenue of luxury in 2015

(Source: CNBC, 2015)

Though it is quite clear from the chart that US has topped in generating luxury sales revenue with 20% increase in euro growth, but it has not shown any growth of its local currency from previous year. The reason assumed (after surveys) is the lack of home country shoppers and increase in dollar value. Japan though immediately preceded US; fell short of revenue generation by more than three times of what US generated but it had 9% increase in its local currency growth which is in case of US showed no improvement. It was supported by increase in number of consumers mostly local and Chinese (CNBC, 2015).

China has gained two ranks from 2014 report of Bain consultancy and gave a good chase to Japan but lost most of its buyers to abroad purchases and suffered loss in growth of local currency. Its growth in euro currency showed 17% increase. Italy came down to 4th rank from its previous 3rd but showed 6% increase in growth of its euro as well as local currency (CNBC, 2015).

France has also dipped down one rank similar to Italy due to euro depreciation but its euro and local currency growth was steady at 10%. Paris happened to be the top three revenue generator and added €13 billion in 2015 to €11.3 billion in 2014. UK has been steady at its rank 6 with euro growth of 16% and local currency growth of 5% pushed by the factor of appreciation in Sterling value and support of sales from London which alone attributed €13 billion in 2015 (CNBC, 2015).

Germany too like France maintained its rank at 7 with 14% growth both in euro and local currency. South Korea ranked 8th with 16% growth in euro and 4% growth in local currency. Even though it faced a sluggish market due to outbreak of MERS virus and lesser Chinese consumers, yet it managed to generate € 10.8 billion (CNBC, 2015).

The Middle-East benefitted from the downfall of Hong Kong and Macau market and climbed up 1 rank to 9th position but like US, it also did not have any growth in its local currency. Its major sales came from Dubai (€ 3 billion). Hong Kong lost one position with de-growth of 11% in its euro currency and 25% in local currency. This major blow was due to the government’s intervention in checking corruption and prevalence of gray market (CNBC, 2015).

The European and U.S. markets of luxury have always been part of traditional market but Asian markets have started showing signs of potential growth (Gao et al, 2009). As per the report already mentioned above, China’s revenue in luxury sells is 3rd highest and giving a good competition to Japan luxury market which is dependent on Chinese buyers (Plus, 2007). China has grown ten times since 1978 and is the second largest economy in terms of GDP (Central Intelligence Agency, 2010). This has led to market oriented structure with the introduction of liberalisation and FDI (foreign direct investments) (Central Intelligence Agency, 2010). The positive economical changes created the manufacturers of luxury and their cumulative contribution helped its economy to become world’s 3rd largest purchaser of luxury goods (Gao et al., 2009). The present luxury market in China can be classified into foreign brands occupying the market compared to Chinese homemade brands. According to a survey, France and Italian brands are most popular among Chinese luxury buyers. Ever since the upliftment of one child policy and enforcement of two child policy, designer fashion brands for children has drawn lot of attention as parents are now more keen on buying luxury garments or toys for their children (Euromonitor international, 2015). The homeland brands in China are fewer compared to the foreign brands but they have grown quickly compared to the foreign luxury brands that have age old slow historical development. The purchasers of luxury is no more restricted to the affluent; with rising disposable incomes of middle-class, the latter takes away a major chunk of luxury sales revenue (Chen and Sethi, 2007).

• • 2.4 Chinese luxury buyer segmentation

There are various ways through which the luxury consumers of China have been classified. According to a study by Ernst and Young, 2005, there are two types of consumers; the wealthy ones and the white-collar job holders. The former leads an elite life, spends to live lavishly, prefer exclusivity and customisation of products. The latter chase luxury as a token of fashion and spend most of the salary in buying luxury goods for staying in fashion. They are mostly in the age group of 20-40 and gives away up to 40% of their income; whereas, the world’s average income spared for luxury is only 4%.

There is a significant difference in the age of luxury consumers between the western and eastern part of the world. In western nations, luxury consumers include age group of 40-70 while the eastern nations starts purchasing at 30 (Yang, 2011). In China, 13% of the population is indulged in luxury purchase (Ernst and Young, 2005). The difference in the age group of buyer is due to a comparatively younger demography and due to Chinese reforms the wealth generation is mostly in the hands of the young people (Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, 2012).

With economic development, the earning capacity of women has also improved and now more women are indulged in gifting themselves with luxury. According to a report, women comprised 40% of the population having wealth more than 10 million Yuan (Hurun, 2011). A report by BCG also showed that the percentage increase in luxury spending by women has gone up to 46% in 2012 from 25% in 2010 (Fung business intelligence centre, 2013).

Another section of the consumers comprises of those who are traditionally inclined; for them, the origin of the brand is more important than logo. These sections of people do not believe in showing off and are usually true desirers of the product. A study on this factor showed that 51% of the Chinese luxury consumers do not prefer showing off. On the other hand, people belonging from tier-3 or lower tier places having just started to enjoy higher income are keener on showing off their luxury to get recognised amongst the superior social status group (Wilson, 2014). These are the social buyers who enjoy and relate more to the status that comes with purchase of luxury rather than respecting its true value and gives more importance to the easily identifiable brand logo (RodMcColl, 2011).

A study conducted by McKinsey and group in 2010, the Chinese luxury consumers are distinctly divided into four categories; “Core Luxury Buyers”, “Luxury Role Models”, “Fashion Fanatics” and “Middle-class Aspirants”. The core luxury buyers are the luxury purchasing experience holders comprising of the wealthy section of the society that contributes 12-20% of their income for luxury expenditures (McKinsey, 2011). The second group of Luxury role models are those luxury desirers for whom feeling unique and distinguished gives them the sense of power and exclusiveness. The third group of Fashion Fanatics are those who are social buyers, they comprise of those who seek social recognition and relate luxury with status. The fourth group of “middle-class aspirants” are those who are very selective buyers. They are non-frequent buyers and less knowledgeable about brands or luxury, so they do not indulge in compulsive buying. Another study by Roland Berger Consultancy, 2012, showed that the Chinese luxury buyers can be further categorised into six archetypes

• Era-Leaders- They constitute about 25% of Chinese luxury buyers and are mostly enterprise owners or business executives. They are the group who follows and understands the importance of luxury products which are essential for their lifestyle.
• Wealthy 2nd generation- Usually falls under the age group of 20-35 enjoying the riches of first generation. They constitute 30% of luxury buyers of China and are highly conscious about brands.
• Ambitious elites- 10% of luxury buyers are from this class and mostly in the range of 25-35 years. These are the entrepreneurs or professionals with the awareness of necessity to maintain status and spend in luxury more than the average amount spent behind luxury around the world.
• Savvy investors- They contribute only 5% of the luxury buyers. Mostly people who are engaged in risky trade or not self-earner, gives a lot of thought before purchasing and tends to buy what is popular. They recognise with the logo more than the historical significance and are found in almost every age group (25-40).
• Stylish white-collars- These are the newly engaged professionals with higher disposable income and keenly interested on fashion and self appearance. They are in 20-30 age group and makes up for 10% of the luxury buyers.
• Gift-buyers- 20% of the buyers contribute to this category and has no identifiable distinct characteristic. They are frequent buyers and shops by the popularity of the brand so that the gift receiver easily identifies and relate to its value (Roland Berger Strategy Consultant, 2012).

Figure 2: Luxury consumer types evolving in China

(Source: McKinsey Insights China- Wealthy Consumer Study, 2010)

• • 2.5 Motives behind luxury goods consumption among Chinese

Motives are the reasons or forces that act behind a particular behaviour and in case of buying behaviour of consumers, it is very much necessary for marketers to understand the driving force that leads to a sell (Shukla and Purani, 2012). Chinese luxury market is in growing stage and a lot of top brands are seen penetrating lower tier cities. During recession (2008-09) Chinese market showed upward growth of luxury revenue and it is at the verge of crossing Japan’s luxury market revenue (Bain, 2009). The motives behind luxury consumptions has been studied thoroughly in the western nations due to their high market share but whether the same motives exists in eastern part of the world is yet to be studied elaborately.

In general, there are many studies conducted to understand the motives of buying. For example, a study conducted by De. Barniers and associates in 2008 brought about three types of motivations behind purchases namely quality, experience and status. People buy luxury because of the quality guarantee it comes with. These categories of people focus on the functionality of the product and relates to its features. Another section of people buys luxury out of satisfaction or experience. It is the sense of pleasure that they associate with after buying and repeats the same in pursuit of hedonism. The third category of buyers belongs to the prestige group who relate luxury to status (Ecoforum journal, 2016).

Another study by a researcher also revealed the urge of maintaining a certain social status as a major motivating factor behind buying luxury. Along with that, he pointed out the factor of flamboyance and snobbishness acting as motivating factors for luxury buyers (Ecoforum journal, 2016).

According to different reports studied by different researchers and collectively reported by Ecoforum journal, motivation has been divided into external and internal factors. The external factors depend on interpersonal relations and the internal factors are related to personal experiences or emotional bonding (Ecoforum journal, 2016).

Studies conducted in Asia-Pacific regions on the motives behind luxury purchase had varied outcomes. As per a study, Asians shows the factor of fulfilment of internal and external needs for buying luxury but Chinese specifically showed the urge of fulfilment of their external social requirements. They also give importance to the tradition or history attached to a product and relate well to the origin and popularity of a brand and its logo. A term “Saving Face” has been used by Zhou and Belk in 2004 from their study on motives that revealed Chinese gives more importance to saving face value even if there is lack of disposable income for spending on luxury (Li and Su, 2006).

Figure 3: Summary of motivation factors

(Source: Allison, 2008)

Another motive behind luxury purchase is gifting which is related to fulfilment of individual as well as group needs. By gifting expensive presents to family members or friends, Chinese people show off their wealth status. Some previous studies related gifting to “Guanxi” (Gu, Hung, Tse, 2008). Guanxi in Chinese means a tradition of creating, maintaining and expanding inter-personal relationships. Hence, with the help of exchange of gifts, Chinese people get involved in buying luxury even if it is beyond affordable range. They believe that the price of the gift will determine the strength of the relation (Wang, Sun and Song, 2011). A study by Ahlstrom in 2009 showed that Rolex watches were considered to be a perfect gifting product for high official dealings or tie-ups (Wang, Sun and Song, 2011).

• 3. Methodology

This section will discuss about the methods undertaken to do the research study. It was a desk-based research and did not involve any primary source like questionnaire survey. The entire research was based on secondary information with the help of online searches of previous studies conducted and then analysing those in the direction of purpose of this study.

• • 3.1 Chinese luxury consumer segmentation

To study the different types of consumers in luxury buying section, various researches based on this was studied from different periods of history. It was entirely based on extracting out the observations of researchers who had conducted questionnaire based surveys from various parts of the luxury buying population or from information collected from the luxury sellers.

• • 3.2 Comparative study of motivations in different luxury consumer segments

For doing a comparative analysis of motivation and consumers, firstly the various probable motivation factors were sorted out with the help of desk-based research through studying the works of previous researchers. After finding out all the reasons that invokes people to buy luxury, Chinese people (already segmented according to their luxury buying behaviour) were related to these factors to understand which segment gets motivated by what factor.

• 4. Conclusion

The first part of this research study showed the types of consumers that are prevalent in Chinese population who are involved in frequent or occasional luxury purchases and many researchers have classified them as per their buying behaviours. In comparison to their western counterparts, they show a bit different mind set-up when getting involved with luxury since they are in evolving phase. They are in the stage of getting acquainted with luxurious lifestyle as only a very small section of the population shows persistent buying tendencies. The second part of the paper talks about the motivating factors or reasons that compels people in China to purchase luxury. Usually the factors are prevalent all over the world in different percentages but in case of China, external social needs satisfaction has higher priority. This need is fulfilled mostly through gifting as it suffices to both internal satisfaction of being able to afford luxury and also through showing off the financial status.

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