China has taken to online shopping with alacrity — it now accounts for more than a quarter of all sales there. After a slow start, makers of watches and other luxury goods are starting to capitalise on this trend.
The move to ecommerce is a major departure for brands with more than 100 years of history. For a long time, fears of sitting cheek-by-jowl with counterfeit goods, traditionally prevalent on Chinese ecommerce sites, deterred the makers of big-ticket items from signing up to platforms.
That left the broader luxury market with a conundrum. Chinese consumers are big luxury buyers — consultancy Bain estimates that by 2024 they will account for two-fifths of luxury sales — but while they are internet-savvy, they are spread across a huge landmass.