"Italian Fashion Brands in China Report" by LuxeCO Intelligence

On June 2, Italian Republic Day, LuxeCO Intelligence, a research institute of the fashion industry owned by Luxe.CO issued its latest industry report Italian Fashion Brands in China!

The inaugural issue of Italian Luxury Brands in China was released in Milan by Luxe.CO in September 2018, which encompassed public business data of 50 Italian luxury brands in China and a survey for its readers.

In the beginning of 2022, LuxeCO Intelligence put the spotlight again on the international heart of fashion, Italy, and expanded its scope of research from mere luxury goods to fashion and lifestyle by issuing a brand-new 55-page report, Italian Fashion Brands in China, featuring the 123 most representative Italian brands. The selection of brands was based on four criteria, including scope of business, expansion in the Chinese market, how representative a brand’s product category is and accessibility of data.

The 123 Brands:

• Are in categories such as high-end clothing, jewelry, leather goods, shoes, furniture, cosmetics, yachts, luxury cars, motorcycles, just to name a few;
• Ranges from time-honored ones that enjoy a history of over 800 years to trending ones that are born in the 21^st century;
• Set foot in 14 regions across Italy, such as Langobard, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Tuscany, Piemonte, Umbria and so on; among all Italian cities, Milan, Florence and Bologna are home to most headquarters of fashion brands.

On January 4, 2022, LuxeCO Intelligence conducted a survey entitled “Italian Fashion Brands in China” through Luxe.CO’s official website, App and WeChat official account and collected 625 valid samples.

What’s worth noticing is that LuxeCO Intelligence introduced “NPS” (Net Promoter Score), a critical indicator that measures consumer loyalty as a groundbreaking measure to investigate the loyalty of Chinese consumers towards individual Italian fashion brands. Certain brands were uncovered as “hidden treasure!”

We have summaries of 9 significant insights based on abundant first-hand data from research:

1) 45.4% participants of the survey by LuxeCO Intelligence picked Italy as the “capital of fashion,” a drop from 60% compared to a survey conducted back in 2018. Italy was also second to France that enjoyed a slightly higher ratio (46.6%). We believe that there’s much room for improvement on communication and promotion for Italian fashion brands to boost their level of recognition and loyalty from China’s younger generation of consumers.

2) Chinese consumers are not just enchanted by fashion and luxury goods after Italy but also distinctive Italian cities and varied exhibitions and other events.

3) In the mind of Chinese consumers, clothing, shoes and bags are the top three fashion categories of the industry in Italy.

4) To Chinese consumers, the three buzzwords for Italian labels are craftsmanship, legacy and design. Among the survey participants, the younger generation pay more heed to legacy instead of status and identity embodied by a brand.

5) Ten most favored Italian brands by Chinese consumers are BVLGARI, Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Fendi, Prada, Armani, LoroPiana, Max Mara, Valentino and Brunello Cucinelli.

6) We found that among the TOP30 most popular brands, 10 enjoyed most word-of-mouth recommendations and consumer loyalty in the NPS They included Maserati, Loro Piana, Lamborghini, Buccellati, Brunello Cucinelli, Valextra, Moncler, Acqua Di Parma, Ferrari and BVLGARI. Besides the TOP30, another 12 titled as the “hidden treasure brands” were the much recommended brands by Chinese consumers. They included Chantecler, Baxter, Borsalino, Alessi, Frette, Kiton, B&B Italia, Giada, Herno, Natuzzi, Davines and Elisabetta Franchi.

7) Among the 625 participants, 94.4% of them had purchased products from Italian brands in the list; Products of 32 brands among the 123 had been purchased by more than 10% of the participants and only three brands’ products were never bought by any participant; Gucci ranked the first, whose products had been purchased by the highest ratio of participants (52.6%).

8) Brick-and-mortar stores are the main channels where Chinese consumers can buy products from Italian fashion brands. They are distributed in over 50 cities in Mainland China. Among the ten hallmark shopping centers in China, 6 of them enjoy the highest ratio of Italian brands on the first floor.

9) E-commerce is playing an ever more crucial role. 75% of the 24 most representative Italian luxury brands have launched T-mall and JD flagship stores. 83% of them have enabled online shopping through their WeChat official accounts, laid out various events such as brand promotion and online exhibition and provided VIP services.

| Writer: Xiaoyue Zhao

| Graphic Design: Qi Tang