Luxury goods consumerism in China through Chinese e-commerce platforms

Abstract

Thanks to the fast growth of online economy, China has become one of the largest consumers of luxury goods in the world. The main object of this thesis is to analyze the luxury goods consumption in China with a focus on the different strategies adopted by luxury brands. The evolution of e-commerce has brought together a plurality of services that give considerable advantages to buyers and sellers and has changed the traditional commerce on a global level. For this reason, luxury brands have created personalize plans, for example through Chinese e-commerce platforms, for attracting new consumers and meets the needs of young generation. Today, for most of luxury brands, turning to Chinese e-commerce is no longer an option, but it’s a real necessity. First of all, the thesis will give a general overview of the development of cross-border e-commerce in China, with a focus on the different strategies adopted by luxury brands for reaching Chinese customers. Every day Chinese buyers are looking for a richer experience, they spend time for discovering brands and products: it is important that companies publish useful contents and elements of entertainment on e-commerce platforms. For understanding the importance of Chinese digital platforms, companies have decided to create an important presence across the digital networks and they are trying to link the marketing plan with the e-commerce one. Nowadays Chinese e-commerce market is affected by a real problem: the counterfeit market. Counterfeit products have an impact that goes beyond the purely commercial or folkloric aspect. It’s a real industry that with its illegal conduct creates serious damages not only to counterfeit brands, but also to world trade and consumers. For this reason, many luxury companies have decided to combat fake products on Chinese e-commerce platforms and adopt a uniform strategy. Recently the international holding Kering Group (which includes brands such as Gucci and YSL) filed a lawsuit accusing Alibaba’s of encouraging, assisting and profiting the sale of fake products. The last chapter of the thesis underlines how the COVID-19 crisis has changed the luxury goods consumption in China.