Italian luxury fashion brands in China: a retail perspective

China's consumption of luxury fashion goods is amongst the highest in the world. The importance of the high-end Chinese market for Western luxury fashion brands has been so far the centre of substantial scholarly interest. However, no research has been conducted on the retail strategies of Italian luxury fashion brands in China in terms of date of entry, reasons for entry, entry methods and store strategy to assess the impact they have on the success of those companies in such a complex but growing market. The aim is to provide insightful suggestions in terms of retail strategies for Italian luxury fashion brands operating in China, or considering entering the market. Qualitative research methods in the form of a cross-company examination of a sample of 20 Italian luxury fashion brands operating in China, followed by a second and later stage of the research consisting of interviews with property developers of Beijing's main luxury shopping malls, constitute the approaches used. This ‘on the ground’ research was necessary to complement the trends which emerged from the secondary data, and to gain a deeper, first-hand insight into the retail strategies of the analysed companies. The two subsequent stages of the research results were then combined to reach the final aim of the present study. The results show that a strong, consolidated retail strategy secured mainly but not exclusively by long-term establishment and continuous interest and investment on the Chinese market, to increase and maintain brand awareness, is the key to success. The results further indicate that important differences between traditional markets and the Chinese one regarding government regulations and cooperation with local business partners such as suppliers and distributors, as well as different types of consumers, have to be taken into serious consideration to formulate a successful Chinese strategy.

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