Abstracts

Chinese luxury fashion buying behaviour

by Kit Ying Canie Chu Lo

This thesis investigates the buying motivations, buying behaviour, and buying preferences of Chinese luxury fashion consumers. The Chinese market is now the second largest market for luxury products, and it is forecast to become the largest market over the next decade. However, the vast bulk of research into the behaviour and motivations of luxury goods buyers has been with Western consumers. Although there is now an increasing amount of research with Chinese and other Asian consumers, much of that research has been with students (most of whom are unlikely to purchase luxury products, except perhaps for the lowest priced products, such as key rings or coin purses), and/or with Asians living in developed cultures, such as Singapore, Hong Kong or Western countries. This relative lack of research with actual Chinese purchasers of luxury products presents an obvious gap in the literature. Research with Chinese consumers is particularly important because there are theoretical arguments and empirical evidence suggesting that Chinese consumers will make decisions about luxury products differently from Western consumers. This thesis addresses the relative lack of research with Chinese luxury goods consumers in three separate but inter-related papers investigating the motivations, behaviours and preferences of Chinese luxury goods buyers, and in a large quantitative study, the preferences of a diverse sample of Chinese consumers. The first two studies used in-depth interviews to explore the buying motivations and behaviour of wealthy Chinese consumers who are repeat buyers of luxury fashion products. The first study identified that many of the study’s participants bought luxury products outside China, and that it was common for Chinese to ask someone who was travelling outside China to buy a luxury product for them while travelling. The second study was therefore designed to explore where Chinese consumers buy luxury products, and why. Finally, the third study – in a large discrete choice analysis study – examined the impact of product characteristics, attitudinal and social factors on consumers’ preferences regarding luxury fashion products. Many of the findings from the research are consistent with prior research – for example, the use of luxury products for status signalling, and for affiliation with attractive reference groups and differentiation from undesirable groups. However, the research also identified characteristics of the Chinese luxury goods market that have not been identified in previous research. For example, the research is the first to identify a luxury brand becoming the subject of a social taboo, after a perception that it has become popular with an undesirable social group. The research also shows evidence to support untested propositions from previous research – for example, the suggestion that hedonic features will be less important for Asian luxury goods buyers. Despite the frequent discussion in the Western literature of the importance of hedonic features for luxury goods buyers, the wealthy…