China expert Klaus Heine: Luxury as a way out of the crisis
Can luxury be China's China Manufacturers way out of the crisis? Klaus Heine teaches luxury marketing to the EMLYON Business School in Shanghai. He thinks that the new Chinese noble brand in the Western world can gain a foothold.
Manager magazine online: you teach the trade of luxury brand management in Shanghai. What is the most important learning for your students?
Heine: What surprised many people, is that evolve at present completely new kinds of luxury. Of course, luxury needs more stories, but which can provide not only traditional manufacture products with a long history, but also Antelope high-tech training pants with built-in electrodes for more than 1000 euros or the digital Concert Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic. We examine the success factors for the development of such new luxury brands.
Founder personalities on. In contrast to the mass market is at the heart of a luxury strategy although a superior product, but a good idea is not enough. It was not a Chanel No Coco. Even in China, I see how much it depends on the people. As a Chinese Coco Qiongying Liu represents the Chinese dream. 26 years ago, she sold shoes from her bicycle; Today, she manages several factories, several thousand employees and the luxury brand sheme. A luxury product becomes basically a must have, if we succeed, to make an instrument that transports the vision and the life style of the founder. This brand should best be consistent with the desired "I", so the ideal self image of target customers. Who wants to be such a cultured man, dreaming of discerning connoisseur brands without maybe ever meet this perfect ideal. So, successful luxury brands represent a dream that appeals to deep needs of target group.
mm: Can a way out of the Chinese economic crisis be the creation of luxury brands?
Heine: I got the impression that Chinese entrepreneurs will actually see a luxury strategy as a possible way out of the crisis. China has developed into the extended workbench of the world and produced also a number of large companies, produce as so original equipment manufacturer, OEM, for most Western brands. Often, these companies have thousands of employees, high turnover, but a relatively thin margin, which is exposed to strong cost pressure. In times of crisis, such companies can easily get into the red. Chinese entrepreneurs watch Western brands achieve a far higher proportion of the value added of most products through marketing, than it is possible by their production. For this reason, many OEMs in China strive to establish its own brand, the best equal to a luxury brand. Some are quite successful, for example, the watch company of Sea Gull or a tiger, the wedding dresses establish.
