In China, men spend more than women on luxury
█ The fashion industry in China has long recognised the purchasing power of young women. However, China has significantly more men than women. Statista reported that at the end of 2018, there were 713 million men compared to 682 million women in China.
Nowadays, China’s young men are looking for creative, personalised designs and are willing to pay to stand out. This is reflected in the growing male fashion industry in China, which is still in its infancy.
According to Questmobile, men currently account for 47 per cent of luxury spending in China, compared to 53 per cent for their female counterparts. However, male customers spend 6 per cent more per order than women. The frequency with which men purchase luxury is also 3 per cent higher than that of women. According to Ashley Galina Dudarenok, founder of research platform ChoZan.co, these numbers mean that "once a man pays attention to a brand, he will be more likely to be loyal to that brand and be interested consistently.”
There is a natural tendency for international brands to view China’s male fashion market as a mirror of the West’s – but experts say this perspective could be damaging to a brand’s potential success in the Chinese market.
“It is a convenient assumption that because [men in their 30s and 40s] are major buyers of fashion in the US, UK, Italy or elsewhere, that these men… are the best demographic to target in China,” says Domenica Di Lieto, CEO of Chinese marketing consultancy Emerging Communications. “However, in China, fashion often finds its biggest buyers among much younger men.”
In China, millennials and Gen Z account for 50 per cent of luxury purchases. In fact, the Chinese New Generation Fashion Consumer White Paper 2018 showed that 34.9 per cent of male Gen Z and millennial consumers in China bought at least one fashion item worth over RMB 5000 ($714) in 2018, signifying a massive opportunity for brands.
Nick Withycombe, content director of business intelligence platform The Luxury Conversation, agrees, saying, “Brands need to think outside of pre-existing boundaries and look at what Chinese male consumers want, not simply importing the same products, communications and identity as they have overseas. For example, Canada Goose has been smart by strategically expanding further afield with store openings and pop-ups, into cities [other than] only Shanghai and Beijing. There are lower-tier cities ripe [with] younger Chinese male consumers who are new to brands, and they appreciate the brand coming to their doorstep, building all-important brand-loyalty from the early stages.”
In April 2019, Italian luxury menswear brand Ermenegildo Zegna became the latest to join Tmall’s Luxury Pavilion. It was an attempt to bring menswear to consumers across all of China, not only those in top-tier locations. As the largest menswear brand in the world by revenue, Ermenegildo Zegna Group has been present in China since 1991, but the partnership with Tmall marks the Group’s first third-party e-commerce store in the region.
According to Zegna, by harnessing Alibaba’s advanced technology, they are now able to target new generations of young male consumers in China who shop almost exclusively online but still demand luxury levels of exclusive service. The brand provides VIP door-to-door delivery, ensuring seamless quality both online and offline.
”As the sophistication of men increases all over the world, so does their sense of style. China is no different. The only difference is the scale, the channels and the speed [with] which it grows. Brands need to keep up with this incredible pace and be nimble and agile enough to do so,” says a Zegna spokesperson.
E-commerce giant JD.com reported earlier this year that the top five luxury brands for Chinese men were Mont Blanc, Tumi, Coach, Versace and Gucci. However, across other sectors and lesser-known e-commerce platforms, younger Chinese men are seeking a combination of both style and comfort, such as cool streetwear designs with personalised touches. Streetwear sales have been booming in China over the past few seasons, and the market’s continued growth has enabled the emergence of online platforms specialising in streetwear for men.
Menswear apps Nice and Poison both target male millennial and Gen Z shoppers who have a keen desire for on-trend design and value for money. Nice is heaven for sneakerheads, offering a sneaker exchange platform on which to buy and sell the latest designs. Poison sells a range of streetwear fashion, and also offers a paid-for authentication service from “sneaker experts” so that shoppers can rely on the authenticity of the brands they buy. Key to both platforms is a B2C and C2C element allowing consumers to either buy directly from brands or sell directly to each other on an online second-hand market.
Both platforms have often been compared to Xiaohongshu, the better-known female-focused platform that melds beauty, social media, and e-commerce. All three platforms are not just for buying and selling, also offering an Instagram-like feed and social media content for shoppers to engage with.
However, unlike Xiaohongshu, Nice and Poison do not yet have the standalone social media power that brands need to thrive in the burgeoning Chinese market.
“Both platforms provide an interesting combination of a sales channel and a social media channel,” says Arnold Ma, CEO of digital marketing agency Qumin. “A ‘shop and content’ strategy like this can work really well if you are a brand targeting Chinese Gen Z and millennial males. It’s important to be aware though that these platforms are more e-commerce than social, so you will need other forms of activation for brand awareness. These platforms alone won’t be enough. But, again, if you are in the streetwear category, you absolutely cannot ignore these platforms. I’d go as far as to say they are more important for you than the likes of WeChat/Weibo.”
While menswear in China is set to continue growing, the brands that are likely to succeed are those capable of harnessing the power of China’s enormous online ecosystem. At present, it isn’t just Western luxury brands and international streetwear labels that are attempting to crack the Chinese male fashion market. Domestic labels such as Peacebird, HLA and Seven Wolves are gaining popularity both online and offline.
“Due to an in-depth knowledge of China’s young consumers, domestic brands are making full use of the country’s evolving online ecosystem, and gaining popularity ahead of some larger international competitors,” explains Dudanerok. “For example, Seven Wolves launched a WeChat mini program on JD.com’s Yunxiaodian, a secondary e-commerce platform where users can send links to others to upgrade their membership and earn store coupons. By making full use of JD’s e-commerce audience and WeChat’s social audience, Seven Wolves successfully entered China’s Tier 3 and 4 cities’ male markets.”
Zhejiang-based fashion brand Peacebird has also been expanding its menswear offerings following “many years of self-growth in the male fashion market in China,” says Wang.
Peacebird Men manager Mingfeng Wang says, “In order to cater for the next generation of consumers who are into fresh and personalised things, Peacebird insists on analysing consumer data both online and offline, including their attitudes towards fashion, shopping habits and consumption preferences. Taking the Peacebird Men Summer 2019 Collection as an example, Peacebird Men worked with Graffiti artist Trouble Andrew and launched the Peacebird Men X Sesame Street collaboration series, looking to break conventionality and create something interesting. In terms of brand marketing, Peacebird Men co-created with young artists to hold an offline art exhibition in Shanghai, to explore the state of life in modern young communities.”
Dudarenok also mentioned the recent development of Jinyi Box, a Chinese menswear membership platform similar to female-led Western equivalents Rent the Runway and Stitch Fix. Users pay RMB 99 ($14) to become a lifetime member and enjoy an unlimited number of outfit recommendations. Each box sent by Jinyi Box contains three outfits — the user then tries them on, keeps and pays for their favourites, and return the rest free of charge.
Awareness of the ever-changing interests and lifestyle patterns of young Chinese male consumers is crucial for brands looking to take advantage of the sector’s growing numbers. It appears that for now, domestic brands able to implement the newest elements of China’s online ecosystem have a significant advantage. However, this alone is not enough, and consumers are still looking for complete online-to-offline brand experiences.
“All consumers in China now understand they have the power in the buyer-seller relationship,” says Di Lieto. “In the past, all fashion was dictated to a large degree by brand name and reputation, but name and reputation are now only as relevant as the current proposition and communication. Brands have got to meet male consumers’ needs and satisfy their wants and desires, and those that understand this, and respond effectively, will succeed.”