The Asian market of the Luxury Industry has a high growth potential

During a special interview, Michel Phan,  AssociateProfessor of Luxury Marketing at EMLYON Business School’s Asian Campus inShanghai, talks about his expertise on the luxury industry in Asia.

·In your opinion what are the fundamental keys to succeedin the luxury industry?

You need to be passionate about what you do and you needto be very thorough in your process and try to constantly achieve excellence.Everything you do needs to be excellent and perfect. Excellent in the process,in the design, in the manufacturing techniques, in the distribution, in yourcommunication skills etc…Excellence is the most common trait between all luxurybrands in this industry.

·Can you develop on the importance of the luxury industryin Asia?

You first have to distinguish different parts of Asia.India has a big market potential, followed by China, Japan and other countriesin Asia. Depending on which country you are talking about, the potential andevolution in the luxury industry is very different.

Japan is still one of the main luxury markets in Asia.However it has been stagnant for many years now and the evolution of the markethas slowed down a lot. One of the reasons is that Japanese people are realisingthat luxury consumer goods is not the only way of enjoying life.

India is still an emerging market in this sector despitethe huge population of the country. It’s a market that is very slow to developbecause of many infrastructure problems like the lack of luxury malls and thefact that they have no space for luxury flagship stores.  To find luxurygoods, people go to regular malls or hotel lobbies, which both have limited growthpotential.

China has been growing very fast for the past few yearsand the infrastructure is now greatly developing. Many stores have opened inthe past 5 or 6 years which has influenced market increase. Today China remainsthe first growing market in Asia.

·In your opinion, what other untapped markets have a highpotential in this industry?

There are still many businesses that have a lot ofgrowing potential in the luxury industry in Asia.  The sector of businessservices for people and companies is a good example. The hospitality servicesand private education for children are developing themselves. If you takeprivate education in China: Parents are becoming richer and want a bettereducation for their children.

In terms of untapped country markets, Brazil, SouthAfrica, India (if they can invest in infrastructures) and China, thanks to ahigher disposable income, have a high potential. Other countries in South EastAsia are also very interesting to look at such as Vietnam, Thailand, Burma andSouth Korea (proportionally to the size of the country, it is one of thefastest growing countries in terms of luxury goods).

Source：http://graduate.em-lyon.com/en/News/The-Asian-market-of-the-Luxury-Industry-has-a-high-growth-potential