In 2008, watch exportation to Asia rose by more than 13%, creating potentially significant business opportunities in this part of the world for the watchmaking industry. China is expected to become the 2nd largest consumer of luxury products by 2015, and its neighbour Japan now has more than 400 million Internet users, that is as many as North America and Europe combined.

In China, 81% of search intentions are related to a ?Brand? intention, the highest percentage of the whole analysis, while only 8% concern specific models, the lowest percentage of the analysis for this category.
How can such a strong interest towards brand names and such a low interest in specific models or collections be explained?

The arrival, less than 15 years ago, of big luxury brands, deeply modified the industry?s landscape in China. Despite a considerable urban and wealthy population, whose luxury goods consumption could represent 60% of international luxury sales (according to China Daily), the Chinese clientele do not seem to have a good knowledge of these products.
This is what their search intentions on the Internet regarding the 30 brands of the analysis tell. The attention given by Chinese consumers to watch brands seems to concern the brand name only, for now.
Despite a growing interest for this industry, Chinese consumers may still find difficulty in distinguishing the specific-ities of the watch offer due to the number of actors on the market: ?the country?s big spenders are often only aware of the most popular luxury labels? (Luxury Brands in China, KPMG, 2008).
Due to the awareness-building campaigns led by the main watch brands active in China, the Chinese clientele so far has been mainly exposed to visual elements translating only the names, logos and brand universe in the media or during specific events.
In this context, the question arises of how to support the promotion of the watch making culture, its heritage, its quality and the experience it brings? Isn?t this a strong differentiation potential for brands and retailers whose communication gives more visibility to collections, models and watchmaking know-how?

Source : IC-Agency / Europa Star

Source : Konaxis