Luxury Symposium 2022: All eyes on China

On 22 February 2022, the French Chamber in Hong Kong held the 6th edition of its Luxury Symposium in a fully virtual format, welcoming 550 viewers and 20+ expert speakers.

This year’s topic, ‘All eyes on China’, saw a diverse range of keynote talks, fireside chats, and panel discussions tackle the most pressing questions facing luxury brands in China today with speakers tuning in from Hong Kong, Europe, and our live studio in Shanghai.

Replays will be made available to all attendees directly, while the full replay of the conference will be available to purchase for 840 HKD for anyone who did not register for the event. Get your replay now!

Under the guidance of the Chamber’s Luxury & Retail Committee, this high-level programme kicked off with a detailed snapshot of where China stands today, where we examined the latest government policies such as ‘common prosperity’ as well as the nuances of understanding Chinese femininity in today’s luxury market. We then moved to the opportunities and challenges facing brands including the battle for talent and the common mistakes made by luxury brands.

In our final section, we looked ahead to the future of the industry by evaluating the impact of the sustainability revolution, the emergence of Chinese brands, and what to expect from the metaverse in China.

Thank you to everyone who tuned in on the day, our expert speakers, and our valuable sponsors.

Some of the key highlights:

- The middle class continues to drive China’s luxury spending boom – but also China’s youth, who tend to be increasingly nationalistic

- ‘Common prosperity’ means better balance in the economy, doesn’t mean the end of luxury spending

- Travel will return at some point, but the opportunities of domestic spending are here to stay

- As a brand, telling a story and articulating your history is still crucial

- To avoid the next big ‘faux pas’, brands must trust the input of locally-based teams

- Brands will need a very specific metaverse strategy for China, different to the rest of the world

Thank you to our sponsors:

Platinum sponsor: FARFETCH

Gold sponsors: Ekimetrics, Kering, LVMH Fashion Group Asia Pacific, Richemont

Strategic partner: Invest Hong Kong

Media partners: Jing Daily, Retail in Asia

Production partner: MintApe

Additional partner: Danish Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong