Site Designed To Tap In To China’s Budding Luxury Consumer Culture By Showcasing Many Of France’s Top Brands
Comite Colbert's site was launched this week at the Chinese embassy in Paris to much fanfare. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
While French luxury goods remain popular among China’s high-end shoppers, France has struggled over the last two years to shake a poor public image in China, which has dogged relations between the two countries to varying degrees since the Olympic torch relays of early 2008. Perhaps in an attempt to combat lingering PR issues, Comite Colbert — a Paris-based organization that represents roughly 70 French luxury brands — has partnered with Sina, China’s top ISP, to create a trilingual (English, French, and Chinese) luxury portal designed to showcase a wide range of French luxury goods. Although the site will not allow viewers to purchase any of these goods, the huge push that French luxury retailers and fashion boutiques have made in mainland China over the past few years should make it relatively easy for interested viewers to find many of these items in major Chinese cities.
As the AP writes, the launch of Comite Colbert took place in Paris this last week with the Chinese ambassador, Kong Quan, in attendance:
Outreach efforts like Comite Colbert’s site — which gains additional validity through the association with Sina — are probably going to be a popular PR idea for luxury brands from all over the world in China. If there is one thing that younger Chinese luxury fans have shown, it is that they’re plugged in to trends and love to learn as much as they can about the most popular brands and fashions. Interactive sites like Comite Colbert’s could, if done properly, improve Chinese perceptions of foreign luxury goods (perceptions that are already pretty favorable) and help foreign brands that have not yet entered China get their collective foot in the door.