Tougher penalties for counterfeiters and increasing disposable income in major retail centers are driving sales of knock-off accessories down.
Gone are the days when tourists would trip over market stalls selling imitation Louis Vuitton bags and Rolex watches. A global crackdown on the sale of counterfeit goods hasn’t completely stamped out the trade, but it’s driven it underground. Nowadays word of the mouth is the best way to track down imitation luxury goods, and you’ll score them in inconspicuous looking buildings which are the fronts to counterfeiting rackets.
It’s not just the difficulty in finding knock-off goods that’s driving their sales down, but evolving consumer tastes, particularly in the booming Chinese market. A 2008 McKinsey study found 31% of consumers on the Chinese mainland wanted imitation designer goods. The research was recently repeated to see the number’s fallen to just 15%.
It seems Chinese tastes have matured, and so too has their spending capacity. Despite financial uncertainty in Europe, the United States, and even Japan the global luxury market grew 14% last year to around $254 billion. China led the charge, although emerging economies including Russia and Brazil also did their fair share of spending. In fact, sales in China account for around a third of all sales for leading luxury labels including Gucci and Prada.
I’m not sure we’ll ever see a world without counterfeiters, but it’s encouraging to see the planet’s becoming less enamored with the fakes. What do you think of the trend?
[Image Source: Zizzle Fizz/Flickr]
