Luxury Brands in China Revise Marketing Tactics in Response to Growing Number of Female Entrepreneurs

The number of wealthy, self-made female entrepreneurs is growing so rapidly in China that luxury brands are changing their marketing tactics in the region.

Italian jeweler Bulgari SpA and sports-car maker Maserati SpA have succeeded in China largely by portraying themselves as the ultimate male status symbols.

But the two recently joined a growing number of luxury brands in China that have revamped their marketing tactics to also appeal to self-made female entrepreneurs, a rapidly emerging market segment that also wants high-end baubles and toys.

Chlo� says that in two years China will become its biggest market because of female shoppers.

Maserati has been hosting private cocktail parties with Giorgio Armani's cosmetics line and the Italian lingerie company La Perla to court newly rich female drivers in China. Thirty percent of the 400 cars Maserati sold in China last year were bought by women, compared with just 7% in 2005, according to the company. Maserati says the proportion of its Chinese drivers who are women dwarfs the ratio in the European and U.S. markets, where only 2% to 5% are women.

"Many people are inclined to believe that gentlemen are generously purchasing luxury gifts for women in China, but our observation is that the great majority [of the buyers] are women who have achieved great success in their business and are now rewarding themselves with the finer things in life," says Christian Gobber, managing director of Maserati China.

Women accounted for more than half of China's estimated $15 billion in luxury sales in 2010, according to a survey by consultancy McKinsey & Co. That compares with 45% in 2008, when McKinsey conducted its previous survey. The average female luxury consumer in China also spent 22% more in 2010 than in 2008, while men spent only 10% more.

China's luxury market, expected to become the world's largest by 2020, has been driven by men for the past decade. As they bought gifts for business associates, men spurred the growth in China of Swiss watchmakers, jewelry stores like Cartier and other luxury-goods purveyors like Louis Vuitton and Gucci, a unit of PPR SA. And while they often bought gifts for women, they were the ones making the luxury purchases.

The full and original article by The NextWomen gold partner The Wall Street Journal, can be read here.

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Source: http://www.thenextwomen.com/2011/06/16/luxury-brands-china-revise-marketing-tactics-response-growing-number-female-entrepreneurs

Victoria Silvstedt Rozonda Thomas Mia Kirshner Katie Cassidy Gina Gershon