Mainland Chinese Account For 20% Of Brand’s Sales, Up From 3% In 2009

As Jing Daily pointed out earlier this month, lower luxury sales growth over the course of 2012 has been anything but uniform for major high-end brands, with the likes of Hermès, Dior and Prada enjoying strong growth particularly in second-tier cities while Louis Vuitton and Burberry encounter growing pains. One such brand that claims to be doing fine even as many Chinese luxury shoppers take a “wait-and-see” approach to consumption (in preparation for this autumn’s leadership transition) is Richemont-owned, Hong Kong-based Shanghai Tang (previously on Jing Daily).

Over the past year, Shanghai Tang has gotten a major boost in the market via charitable partnerships with Save China’s Tigers, Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and Pink Revolution, savvy brand partnerships with Shourouk, Moleskine, Nespresso, and Colossi Cycling, as well as artistic collaborations with contemporary artist Huang Rui. Having decamped from its original flagship in Hong Kong’s flagship Pedder Building, Shanghai Tang had even greater visibility this summer as the brand launched its sprawling new “Mansion” on Duddell Street.

Having seen China sales skyrocket in recent years, with mainland Chinese now accounting for 20 percent of Shanghai Tang sales — up from a minuscule three percent in 2009 – CEO Raphael Le-Masne-De-Chermont told the Wall Street Journal this week that he is optimistic about his company’s growing reliance on mainland China.