World Luxury Index China – Top 50 Most-Searched For Luxury Brands in China
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Luxury Society and Digital Luxury Group are pleased to launch the World Luxury Index, an international ranking and analysis of the most searched-for brands within the luxury industry.
Created as a way to provide luxury brands with a standardised way of measuring brand interest at an international level, Digital Luxury Group, in partnership with Luxury Society, is pleased to announce the launch of The World Luxury Index, an on-going international ranking and analysis of the most searched-for brands within the luxury industry.
Covering over 400 brands within six key segments (fashion, beauty, jewellery, cars, watches, and hospitality) in ten key luxury markets, the World Luxury Index provides insights on the unbiased search inputs coming from global luxury consumers in the world’s top search engines (Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex). The result is a one-of-a-kind benchmark of the luxury brands capturing the attention of luxury-minded consumers around the world.
“ The World Luxury Index provides insights on the unbiased search inputs coming from global luxury consumers in the world’s top search engines ”
“This is actually the first time that such powerful, yet seemingly basic, information is being made available,” explains Philippe Barnet, Managing Director, Luxury Society. “But we are excited about the prospect of regularly informing luxury brand executives about the desirability of their brands online, across various categories, geographical markets and even by specific product.”
“For the World Luxury Index China, we’ve looked at over 150 million consumer searches performed in China’s leading search engines, Baidu and Google, and analysed the findings to identify the most-searched luxury brands. In the process we uncovered some fascinating insights,” confirms David Sadigh, CEO and founder of Digital Luxury Group.
Conducting the report…
With new statistics on the luxury industry in China being shared each day, the time is right for a uniform benchmark. Using DLG’s proprietary technology, DemandTracker™, the World Luxury Index has been created to provide luxury brands with a standardised solution to measure brand interest at an international level.
Our key findings include…
Eighteen out of the top fifty most-searched for luxury brands (36%) in China are automobile brands. Audi is the most-searched, followed by BMW and Mercedes Benz. Audi has long held a privileged spot in China, it’s the official car of the Chinese government.
Chinese brand Chow Tai Fook is the most searched jewellery brand in China, far surpassing 2nd and 3rd ranked brands, Cartier and Swarovski. With a distribution network of over 1,500 locations across 320 cities in China, Hong Kong, and Macau, it’s no surprise that they lead. Cartier can be found in approximately 300 stores.
The top 3 most-searched fashion brands in the ranking, Louis Vuitton (#3), Chanel (#5), and Dior (#8) each lead through different segments. Interest for Dior is specifically related to beauty (and more specifically fragrance) over 80% of the time. For Chanel, beauty represents just fewer than 50%, and fashion and accessories at 40%, while it was noted 94% of searches are fashion/accessory-related for Louis Vuitton
“ Unlike the other parts of the world, Western brands in China often find that the public calls the brand something other than the official name ”
Unlike the other parts of the world, Western brands in China often find that the public calls the brand something other than the official name. This is illustrated by looking at the names used when Chinese search for Burberry:
– 76% by unofficial Chinese name
– 15% by official Chinese name
– 9% by English nameSome brands are more recognized for shortened versions of their official names, where 63% of searches for Louis Vuitton were made using “LV” instead of “Louis Vuitton”.
Other brands have adapted their names to paraphrases instead of using a literal translation of their brand name, to resonate more closely with Chinese consumers. For example, Hermès in Chinese [爱马仕] means “an elegant man who loves horsing” and Land Rover [路虎] means “a tiger on the road.”
Most surprisingly we found…
The World Luxury Index China revealed several luxury brand success stories. Take Moncler for example, the French fashion brand has been generating a surprisingly high level of interest in China thanks to its sponsorship of a widely watched television program in which the main characters all wore Moncler. This shows how important and influential TV in China can be.
Another really interesting example is Borghese, a beauty brand not particularly well known in the US and Europe is fascinatingly strong in China. Ranked #43, Borghese surpasses other notable beauty brands Benefit and Guerlain. Thanks to its highly regarded facemasks, Borghese, has been the talk of beauty forums and blogs even long before the brand’s official entry into the Chinese market. Here the impact of cult products and beauty forums and blogs is at work.
The full report is available online at: http://www.dlgr.com/chinarank. More detailed data and analysis on a particular segment or brand is available upon request.
For any further enquiries regarding the index or research, please contact Tamar Koifman of Digital Luxury Group, tkoifman@digital-luxury.com.
Digital Luxury Group is the first international company dedicated exclusively to the design and implementation of digital communication strategies for luxury brands, with offices in New York, Geneva and Shanghai.
Luxury Society is the world’s most influential online community of top luxury executives. Based in Paris, with members in more than 150 countries, Luxury Society informs and connects CEOs, managers, journalists, consultants, designers and analysts from across the luxury industry.
© Luxury Society, The Top 50 Most-Searched for Luxury Brands in China, 25 April 2012, by Sophie Duran.
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