Shaun Rein, a CNBC contributor, reported, “China is on the verge of overtaking Japan as the world’s largest consumer of luxury good, spending $13 billion, or 22 percent of the world total, in 2010.”
However, In Who Buys Guccis and Omegas in China? Not Just the Billionaires, Rein says, “Only 40 percent of the $13 billion worth of luxury items sold to the Chinese last year were transacted (bought) in the country.”
Reign says that is because it is 30 percent cheaper to buy luxury products in another country due to taxes and tariffs.
There is another reason why many Chinese tourists buy “Made in China” in other countries.
While my Chinese father-in-law and his wife were visiting in the US, I learned why Chinese buy in the US — quality.
If you read the China Law Blog, you may know that in China there are several levels of quality that do not exist in the US. When buying anything in China, there is always a risk you may end up buying a fake or the real thing but of a lower quality.
From what I have read at the China Law Blog, it seems there is no way to tell which level of quality you are buying when in China.
That doesn’t mean “Made in China” is always of a poor quality. The language of the contract between the foreign buyer such as Apple and the Chinese manufacturer is important.
In fact, most of the products Apple sells globally are assembled in China and many are manufactured there too (Apple has manufacturing facilities spread around the world but assembles most of its expensive electronic items such as the iPad in China).
This explains why the Chinese in China often if not always make sure a computer or a TV (along with other merchandise) works before buying and taking it home.
Continued on May 7, 2011 at Chinese tourists Buying “Made in China” in the US – Part 2 or discover the Copy Cat Middle Class in China.
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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