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Accessing the Chinese consumer post Covid-19

I recently gave a presentation on this topic via a
livestream and felt that I should also include it in my blog as the more the
virus situation worsens in Europe and the USA, the more important these words
of advice have become.

Anybody working in or watching the global luxury markets
will have seen the decline in sales in every territory around the world since
the virus with the exception of China where domestic sales have increased
significantly for exactly the same reason; the Chinese consumer is now
‘trapped’ in mainland China, and is spending here.

Looking back prior to the virus, the Chinese consumers
became conditioned to recognise and desire global luxury brands, they were very
used to buying online after an initial experience of the brand and its
products, and are very accepting of cross border transactions, delivery and
duties. All the boxes were ticked to ensure that under circumstances like those
we now find ourselves in there would be little hesitation to continue spending
when the time arose.

The challenge for many but the largest global luxury brands
is the lack of visibility inside the invisible no-fly wall that surrounds
China. Their task was never an easy one even when the Chinese were flying to
London, Paris, Milan and New York because they still had relatively low
visibility. But now what are their options? كيف تلعب روليت

Simply put they need their brand and its products to be seen
and presented to the appropriate target audience inside China. Their challenge assuming that they don’t have an
office and staff in country boils down to finding an experienced partner that
has the necessary experience and connections with their target demographic to
do this.

This partner needs to ensure the brand has a voice that
resonates with local issues and trends inside China, the ability to bring
groups of target consumers together to experience the brands products, and a
means to maintain and develop the consumer connections with the brand. If the
partner does this and the brand has a means to offer an ecommerce cross border
sales channel, the doors are open.

It is not possible to do the latter on its own, and doing
the latter without the voice and physical product introductions first will not
work either. Trust and storytelling are two major pillars of Chinese culture,
there is no shortcut past or round them, and a physical team representing the
brand and singing the praises of the product, simply put is the only solution.

If you don’t want your brand left in the cold outside of the
wall surrounding China for the next few years at least, you need to take
positive action now and find that partner. We ourselves are fortunate to be on
the inside of the wall as we have been for over ten years working in the luxury
sector and building strong relationships with affluent consumers, we can help.

It wasn’t luck that got us here, and although the virus is
not a good thing for anyone, maybe it’s a case of the right place at the right
time.