A Chinese Shopping Spree

A Chinese Shopping Spree

Chinese luxury shoppers, especially ladies, love to shop as a form of retail therapy. Some of the essential items on the shopping list of the Chinese women I tagged along with on a Paris shopping spree were: Hermes bags, a couple of Chanel black jackets, cola seeds and Peony flower roots.

Brand loyalty is a fundamental fact followed by these Chinese shoppers. The first destination for the shopping spree was the Hermes store that we went to for about five times for the first three days. Second was a new concept store called Merci. Here, the ladies were very silent and did not want to try on the clothes. This specificity of preference of Birkins handbags from Hermes rather than being keen to experience new brands proved that Chinese customers are loyal to the traditional brands.

One of the ladies, a princess, got an antique stove from Merci. She expected the store to handle the shipping to her place via contacting her assistant through e-mail. This expectation showed that Chinese big spenders want service when they go on a shopping spree. Next, they hit Le Bon Marche for black jackets where they came out with six pairs of Repetto shoes and ten Diptyque candles instead due to a lack of variety. The only good experience for them from Le Bon Marche was that there were hardly any Chinese customers and no lines at the tax refund counter. After that, both ladies went to new stores for the afternoon shopping. One lady went to Azzedine Alaia and got four dresses.

The other bought nine black jackets from Comme des Garcons.

In conclusion, Chinese lady shoppers who are big spenders shop to get retail therapy. They prefer known brands to the upcoming ones but are willing to venture just a bit into the unknown names.