Luxury products' consumption declines in China

Domestic consumption of luxury products hit a five-year-record low during the previous one-month period, which covers the Spring Festival holiday, according to the Beijing-based World Luxury Association.

A report released by the association said that from Jan 20 to Feb 20, Chinese people spent $830 million on luxury goods at home, down 53 percent year-on-year, and less than one-tenth of the consumption overseas.

Overseas luxury products' consumption by Chinese people during the same period reached $8.5 billion, an 18 percent year-on-year rise. The number also accounted for about half of the global luxury products' consumption.

Although, as the report warned, the Chinese luxury market is slowing down from double-digit growth to single-digit growth, it is expected that by the end of 2015, the Chinese contribution to the global luxury market will increase to 60 percent, the largest in the world.

Price concerns have been a prime reason for Chinese buyers of luxury products to choose to travel overseas for their shopping, according to 93 percent of the interviewees surveyed by the association. Sixty-five percent of the respondents also mentioned the lower likelihood of running into fake products when shopping overseas.