2016 Emerging consumer survey
The Credit Suisse Research Institute publish their sixth Emerging Consumer Survey covering 16,000 consumers across nine EM countries. From this data we draw five key conclusions for the luxury goods sector:
■ Takeaway #1: The appetite for luxury goods in China has not faded. Both
the purchase actions and intentions of the Chinese have picked up. This is
valid across all product categories with notable strength in leather goods and
apparel (see Figure 1). Momentum in oil-rich countries is overall negative.
■ Takeaway #2: Jewellery penetration keeps rising. This stands out against
other categories whose penetration has stagnated in EM. Globally brands, but
not necessarily Western brands, are preferred among EM consumers. That
said, the Chinese continue to favour Western jewellery brands.
■ Takeaway #3: Affordable watches are faring better. Demand prospects for
watches in EM do not look alarming. However, the preference for low price
point watches has become increasingly marked. In China, purchase intentions
of affordable watches have been stable in the last couple of years against a
drop for high-end products.
■ Takeaway #4: The middle-class seems to be optimistic. Despite becoming
increasingly optimistic with a steady growth in purchase intentions, there has
been little change to the purchasing actions for the EM middle class.
However, this cannot be said for the Chinese, who have recorded an increase
in actual purchases in all categories bar jewellery.
■ Takeaway #5: Gucci, Dior, Hermes score top of our brand scorecard.
This year we rank brands using a scorecard that pulls data from across the
survey. Gucci shows impressive brand strength, retaining its #1 position for
the second year running. While Hermes jumps from #13 to #3.