Flower market in China: From festival gifting to everyday emotional consumption
While flowers remain important within Chinese gifting habits, market growth is increasingly being driven by daily consumption. In China’s emotional purchase economy, flowers are playing a more important role in bringing comfort, happiness, and a sense of healing into everyday life. Consumers either gift flowers for themselves or for others on non-special occasions, creating small […]
How does China’s Stock Market work and why does it lag behind the country’s economic growth?
Since the founding of China’s stock market with the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 1990, China’s economy has experienced tremendous growth. Hence, one would expect China’s stock returns to be equally fruitful, as stock market performance is normally closely tied with a nation’s economic performance. However, that is not the case. […]
The MZ Generation is becoming less trend-sensitive and more self-driven
The MZ Generation (MZ세대), a term used only in South Korea, refers collectively to Millennials (born in the 1980s to early 1990s) and Generation Z (born in the late 1990s to mid 2000s). While this grouping doesn’t fully capture the complexities of each generation, they share key similarities that make the combined category useful. Making […]
The Shifting Dynamics of Luxury in China Report
Since 2020, Chinese mainland consumers have consistently contributed 20% to 25% to the global luxury market. China’s luxury market is undoubtably one of the most strategically important markets for brands globally, and it’s undergoing significant shifts. This China luxury market report highlights these shifts as well as our hypotheses on the direction of luxury in […]
Sports footwear in China: International vs. local brands
For most of the past fifteen years, the real contest in China’s sports footwear market was between Nike and Adidas. That has changed. China’s sports footwear market reached RMB 229 billion in 2024, and the brands competing for it look nothing like they did a decade ago. ANTA Sports, the company behind FILA’s premium sneakers, […]
Wellness is the new luxury: How luxury brands are staying relevant through luxury and wellness partnerships in China
Luxury and wellness partnerships in China have enabled brands to connect with consumers who increasingly see health, discipline, and self-optimization as new markers of status. Health is the next big status symbol among China’s luxury consumers. Having a wellness practice indicates that one has constraints in one’s lifestyle choices and has taken time for self-exploration. […]
The Shanghai souvenir that doesn’t look Chinese: inside Pane’s cross-border playbook
During the 2026 Labor Day holiday, the line outside Pane on Shanghai’s Huaihai Road ran to the curb, with waits topping forty minutes. The notable part wasn’t the line; it was who stood in it. At Pane stores, foreign tourists make up an estimated 60–80% of buyers, many treating the shoe as a Shanghai souvenir. […]
Audemars Piguet in the Chinese market: From high-net-worth collectors to Gen Z
In 2025, China’s luxury market contracted by 3% to 5%, a significant slowdown compared to the sharp decline in 2024. Specifically, the watch category experienced challenges with a decline of 14% to 17%, highlighting that consumers are becoming more rational and turning to second-hand products in the luxury watch market in China. Amid this challenging […]
China’s golf market and why it’s about to look very different from the west
Golf is a sport traditionally characterized by vast, manicured nature with a high barrier to entry. For a country like China where the wealthy are clustered in tightly organized cities, often away from areas where hundreds of acres could be transformed into a golf course, it might not be a surprise that penetration is under […]
China’s tennis market: The fashion and frenzy behind the world’s second-largest tennis base
Racquet sports are one of the fastest-growing sport categories in China, and tennis is taking the lead. China’s tennis market has seen continued growth, bolstered by both celebrity and fashion. While the “Li Na effect” first sparked national interest in the 2010s, Zheng Qinwen’s recent triumphs have injected new momentum. This growth is proving more […]
China’s 2026 618 shopping festival: The quietest… and what that really means
According to Syntun, total online sales across all e-commerce platforms during the 2026 618 Shopping Festival totaled RMB 934 billion from May 13th to June 18th, representing slowed growth of 4% year-over-year. This shift is also evident in how brands are approaching the festival. Unlike in past years, major e-commerce platforms have generally stopped disclosing […]
Proya (珀莱雅): How a domestic beauty brand reached the top charts and what it faces next
In 2024, Proya became the first domestic beauty brand in China to record RMB 10.778 billion in annual revenue. More significant than the number was how it got there. Chinese skincare consumers had spent several years shifting from brand prestige to ingredient literacy. Proya built its product strategy entirely around that shift while international incumbents […]