January 14, 2019
La Mer's account on Weibo desktop
When it comes to luxury on Chinese social media application Weibo, younger consumers are the prevalent force driving usage.
Seventy percent of luxury consumers on Weibo are younger consumers born in or after the 1990s, which is much greater than the percent of young consumers in the total population, according to a new whitepaper from Secoo. Weddings, children, apparel, food, housing, transportation, literature, fun, design and pets are the leading topics of discussion in the luxury space on the social network.
"Up to 70 percent of post-95s are influenced by social media when they go shopping," said Li Rixue, CEO of Secoo. "Second, Weibo became a significant platform for luxury brands to do promotion and exposure in China.
"Third, younger generations tend to buy luxury brands," he said. "Fourth, KOLs has a vital effect for Chinese consumers to pay attention to luxury brands and products. Fifth, more and more health and lifestyle topics has been focused by luxury groups."
Secoo looked at luxury consumers using the Weibo app from Nov. 1, 2019 to Oct. 30, 2018.
Luxury consumers on Weibo
American and European women’s brands are seeing much more attention on Weibo, compared to Japanese and Korean beauty brands.
Cosmetics brands La Mer and La Prairie see the most attention from luxury consumers on Weibo.
Secoo's graph on luxury consumer ages. Image credit: Secoo
Luxury automotive brands also have significant potential to capture their consumers, as affluents discuss high-end auto on the app much more than the general population. High-performance and sports cars are the most popular topics of discussion.
These luxury consumer groups are also more interested in comedians than most. The majority of luxury consumers come to Weibo to discuss celebrities, with 54 percent coming there for talk of film stars.
Fifty-two percent of luxury Weibo users discuss musicians, and 51 percent are interested in local celebrities.
Prominent Weibo user Mr. Bags, who often collaborates with luxury brands and is one of the most prominent influencers in the East, sees the most engagement from luxury consumers at 9 a.m., 1 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. This time frame is vastly different from his followers who are not luxury consumers.
When it comes to wedding discussion, luxury users are most interested in discussing traveling with their gowns, in addition to general celebration and photography topics.
Secoo graph on wedding discussion. Image credit: Secoo
More than 60 percent of the luxury consumer group on Weibo lives in first-tier and second-tier cities.
The Chinese luxury consumer
In recent years, China has proved to be a significant market for luxury brands.
However, ongoing trade tensions between China and the United States and signs of a slowdown in Chinese spending are causing a slump in luxury stock prices.
The Savigny Luxury Index, which measures the share performance of 18 of the largest luxury companies including conglomerates LVMH, Richemont and Kering, declined 1 percent during December. Investors seem apprehensive as geopolitical and economic uncertainties continue to loom over the luxury business (see story).
China ecommerce continued its strong growth in 2018, remaining the top luxury market in the world. To keep pace with the rapid expansion, China has unveiled a new set of laws for 2019 designed to protect consumers and encourage transparency.
The new laws will impact large ecommerce platforms such as Tmall, as well as retailers and brands.
However, the greatest impact will be to the luxury market and the way it affects cross-border ecommerce, specifically, the small to midsize resellers known as “Daigou.” The result could be short-term sales losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars (see story).
"The most surprising finding is that comedians has a better influence on luxury consumption groups," Mr. Rixue said. "Besides, the professional ability in luxury products will decide the purchase behaviors."
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