Luxury Fashion Brands And Generation Y Consumers In China

Now leading as the number one apparel and number two accessory market in the world, China’s consumer market explodes with tens of millions of people joining the middle class every year. China’s role in the global luxury fashion market is becoming increasingly more significant because Chinese are wealthier than ever and show a growing appetite for high-end fashion and luxury brands. Moreover, on the wave of a global trend, China shows a rapid increase in spending on luxury fashion branded products by young consumers, referred as Generation Y.The fast-growing China has become a top expansion priority, and dozens of world’s most notable luxury brands are extending their presence to chase Chinese consumers at home and abroad.As competition raises and the market gets more crowded, it is becoming more difficult for these brands to keep a sustainable success. Generation Y represents a good chance to strengthen the position in the Chinese market, so international companies need to understand what motivates these young Chinese consumers to purchase luxury and fashion branded goods, in order to target this new emerging segment more effectively.Besides a comprehensive description of the Chinese luxury fashion market, the aim of this thesis is to provide an overview about Chinese young consumers’behavior and the motivations behind it. Furthermore, I will investigate the experience of one of the most innovative Italian fashion brands in China:Diesel. I’ll discuss about the approach to Chinese market and the marketing strategy the company adopted and, through the submission of a direct questionnaire,I’ll try to to assess how much Diesel strategy in China was successful in enhancing brand awareness and perception among Generation Y consumers.By showing the motivations behind the purchasing of luxury fashion branded products in China, this study can help luxury fashion brands to understand why Chinese market is different and how they do have to adjust their strategy in order to attract new young luxury consumers as well as keep their current ones.