Asian report finds luxury goods demand strong

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Asia Market Intelligence (AMI), soon to be renamed Synovate, has just released the latest figures from the "Label Love" study on luxury brands in Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore

Nearly half the respondents across all three markets (45%) demonstrated awareness of one or more luxury brand, with Hong Kong consumers the most aware at 51%.

Out of the participants who were brand aware, the leading name was Gucci, with 19% mentioning the Italian design house first. When broken down by country, Hong Kong's most recalled brand was Louis Vuitton at 30%, in Singapore the leader was Rolex on 19% and in South Korea Gucci on 22%.

AMI Hong Kong managing director Jill Telford said the aim of the study was to not only track brand awareness, but more importantly to gain insights on buying behaviour and aspirations. She commented: "The luxury goods brand needs to understand its consumers and this study shows that Asia is not one big homogenous market. What works in Seoul may not impress in Singapore and vice versa."

Despite the recent downturn the survey showed consumers are still making purchases: 14% of all participants from Hong Kong have purchased one or more luxury brand in the past six months, 15% from Singapore and 12% from Korea. In the brand aware group, these figures increase to 27% for Hong Kong, 34% for Singapore and 28% in Korea.

"Those aware of luxury brands are most likely to be women aged from 25 to 39 and in white collar jobs," said Telford. "While the market appears relatively healthy, luxury brands need to assess whether they are optimising their approach to Asian markets."

The "Label Love" survey also questioned more than 3,000 consumers on their attitude to counterfeit products. In this area 13% refused to answer whether or not they had purchased a fake in the past six months, 18% acknowledged a fake purchase and 69% said they had not purchased counterfeits.

Full details of brand awareness measured in each country are shown below.

Hong Kong                  Singapore                  South Korea
Louis Vuitton 30%         Rolex 19%                   Gucci 22%
Rolex 21%                    Gucci 12%                   Chanel 19%
Gucci 12%                    Louis Vuitton 11%        Burberry 15%
Chanel 5%                    Chanel 7%                   Louis Vuitton 9%
Christian Dior 4%          Calvin Klein 7%             Prada 8%
Prada 4%                     Polo Ralph Lauren 5%   Salvatore Ferragamo 6%
Burberry 3%                 Giorgio Armani 4%         Giorgio Armani 5%
Cartier 3%                    Gianni Versace 3%        Polo Ralph Lauren 3%
Giorgio Armani 3%        Prada 3%                      Cartier 2%
Polo Ralph Lauren 3%   TAG Heuer 3%              Gianni Versace 2%
                                                                       Christian Dior 2%
                                                                       Rolex 2%
                                                                       Celine 1%
                                                                       Dolce & Gabbana 1%

• For more information on AMI link to www.ami-group.com