Chinese Tourist-Shoppers Continue Spending Spree In South Korea, Japan
Rebecca Minkoff has the potential to crack China's affordable luxury market
American designer Rebecca Minkoff certainly knows where the balance of power lies in the global luxury market. Since opening a store in Tokyo’s swish Ginza district early last year, Minkoff has targeted the trendsetting, digitally savvy, youthful fashionista demographic not just in Japan but — by way of roving, free-spending tourist-shoppers in Tokyo — China as well.
Japan may have seen a sharp drop in the total number of Chinese tourists headed to the country in the wake of the ongoing territorial dispute between the two countries, but well- (and usually high-) heeled female Chinese shoppers continue to flock to temples of luxury commerce in Ginza to get their fix.
One reason Rebecca Minkoff in particular has found success among Chinese shoppers in Tokyo is that she is in the right place at the right time. Currently, lower-visibility prestige brands are growing in popularity among logo-fatigued Beijing or Shanghai fashion lovers, pushing the success of mid-range American brands like Michael Kors and Tory Burch. As Minkoff told FashionMag of Chinese buying habits at her store in Tokyo, “It’s refreshing for a tourist to walk in and buy several pieces when they were thinking of one designer handbag. Here they can walk in and buy three for the same price.”
As Minkoff added, her company has plans to open five retail locations within the next two to three years, “including some in China” and South Korea.