China to become biggest luxury consumer market

For Chinese people, it’s not enough to be rich. They have to look rich, and buying luxury goods is the best way to show off their wealth.

Supported by this mentality and with incomes on the rise, consumers in Greater China are expected to account for 44% of global luxury brand sales by 2020. Luxury goods companies have and will continue to expand rapidly in China, where the prices of expensive items such as fine wines jumped 40% during 2010 on strong demand, CLSA has found in a study.

Greater China consumers currently account for 15% of global luxury goods sales.   

The brokerage also found that Hong Kong is the...