Nanjing road, the busiest street in Shanghai, is witnessing a fierce competition among world's luxury brands, as the purchasing power of the city expands with a rapid economic development.

In the West Gate Mall Shanghai on the west section of Nanjing road, a new boutique of "Dior Cosmetic" opened, which was designated as the most luxurious Dior boutique, and made China the third country of having such Dior boutique. The other two countries are France and Japan.

Confidence in China's market is the main reason for us to open top Dior boutique here, and Shanghai has become one of the leading cities in vogue in the world, said manager of Dior China, noting that before refurbishing the boutique, the annual sales of Dior in West Gate Mall was 11 million yuan (about 1.4 million US dollars),and he expected it will surpass 15 million yuan (about 1.8 million US dollars).

In China, the annual sales of Dior is now increasing by 40 percent to 50 percent. Dior has also selected an Asian actress as its image representative in order to promote the sales.

Just two minutes by walk from the West Gate Mall, the Shanghai flagship shop of Louis Vutton (LV) has opened in Plaza 66. The LV boutique, with its outlook similar to a classic LV box, exhibits its jewelry and watch series in a semi-reclusive way .

While in the east section of the Nanjing road, other brands as Armani, Cartier, Emengildo Zegna have also showed their faces.

A research by the China brand strategy association shows that the luxury consumers in China's mainland are 160 million, accounting for 13 percent of the country's total population.

Yang Qingshan, association secretary general said that luxury consumers in China, with annual income above 240,000 yuan (about 30,000 US dollars) are expected to reach 250 million in 2010.

Different to that of western countries, the majority of luxury consumers in China are people at a age below 40, and their consumption concentrate on personal accessories as cosmetics, perfume and watches, while luxury consumption in western countries imply house, cars and family tourism.

Chinese luxury consumption capability has attracted attention of many businessmen. Statistics from French Tourism Bureau show that the average consumption of Chinese tourists in France is far more than that of tourists from Europe and America. The consumption habits and psychology of Chinese people have already become a research topic of some luxury companies.

Luxury brands have also met difficulties in China. The infringes upon intellectual property rights and fake products are among the biggest problems many foreign brands have encountered.

Besides, high import tariff has also increased its price in China, and affect popularization of imported luxury articles among ordinary Chinese.   

(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2004)