Chinese set to buy almost half of world's luxury goods

Chinese consumers will spend $102 billion on luxury items, both home and abroad, in 2013, almost 47 percent of annual global luxury product sales, the Fortune Character Research Center said on Thursday.

Sales in the domestic luxury market are expected to hit $28 billion in 2013, with a 3-percent year-on-year rise, and over $74 billion will be spent overseas, the institute said in its annual report on luxury sales.

But China's luxury market also has challenges, as the main driving force of the market is new consumers and stores.

The increasing presence of luxury brands in smaller Chinese cities lured more Chinese residents to shop overseas.