by: Alain Thys
Prada's has once again hired Rem Koolhaas to open up a flagship store in Shanghai (after NY and Tokyo). What is however much more interesting is the reason they are doing this.
According to Prada Chairman and CEO Patrizio Bertelli, the reason for the brand is not only to generate local sales, yet also to generate awareness and prestige for the brand to drive sales of their products to "chinese tourists visiting Europe".
In fact, since Europe has become an "authorised destination" in September 2004, already over 1 million chinese have visited the continent, and they are currently cathcing up fast to typical Japanese or Russian tourists who currently spend ca. € 1300 per trip.
Yet that there's probably a bit more to Prada's strategy than building an international shop window is also underwritten by the little statistic (Bain & Co) that China's 1% share of the global luxury goods market, is estimated to rise to 10% by 2010.
No further comment
Article source: China Daily
Original Post: http://alainthys.blogging.com/blog/_archives/2005/5/24/882934.html
