More Chinese are now buying luxury items online. (Photo : www.marketingtochina.com)
China is seeing a rise in the number of online deals for luxury goods, according to a study reported by KPMG. The news comes amid the concern that such goods are experiencing dwindling sales in the country.
In association with online luxury goods retailer mei.com, the global accounting firm released the report on Tuesday.
The report stated that China's growing middle class has turned to buying luxury items such as bags and watches from online platforms, instead of purchasing them from brick-and-mortar outlets.
According to the study, which is comprised of over 10,000 respondents, 45 percent has named e-commerce sites as their top choice for buying luxury products.
Online consumers spend an average of 2,300 yuan per transaction, the study added. This figure is almost a 33-percent increase from last year's data.
The KPMG report also noted that smartphones and social networking sites have become instrumental in luring more luxury-good buyers to online sites.
Additionally, the survey showed that respondents are willing to pay bills up to 4,200 yuan through third-party payment services, marking the reassurance that secured online payment platforms give to consumers.
Also noticeable in the report is the shift in the behavior of consumer about price sensitivity. Surprisingly, one-third of the respondents said that they purchased luxury items at full price for at least one time.
The report said that this change "indicates that more factors are weighing on consumers' purchasing decisions, such as whether the product is unique and where it is made or designed."
Sharing the same sentiment, mei.com CEO Thibault Villet remarked, "low price is playing an increasingly smaller role in driving online sales. Chinese consumers now can travel around the world or search through websites to know how a product is priced globally."
Apart from luxury goods, availing luxury services like hotel bookings and world travels through the Web is also seen to be appealing to more and more Chinese consumers.
