prevalent and luxury consumption... from xiexiexiexie's blog

Young people of Generation Z show their personality according to luxury goods. The picture shows a luxury brand boutique in Beijing.

Guo Bei, from Wuhan, started reading fashion weeklies at the 樂天集運 when luxury goods displayed by professional models were out of her reach; now, at 35, she has formed a unique luxury consumption habit.

Guo Bei told the Union-Tribune that she first looks for products from Chinese social media platforms Xiaohongshu and Weibo's outfit bloggers, and then cares about her WeChat circle of friends who are buying for her, and will start when she sees the same style of goods.

Nowadays, celebrities and style bloggers are more amiable than the high-flying models in magazines. The key opinion leaders bring high-end goods into young people's life, making luxury consumption change from "buying and selling" to "feeling" with social color.

Xia Xia from Qingdao is 30 years old, she is in the field of online advertising and is also a member of the group of celebrities. She often sees the knowledge about luxury goods on the internet, "there are always airport pictures of stars on Weibo hot search, so she will look at them". She also receives tweets of celebrity videos on other social media platforms such as ShakeYin.

Federica Levato, partner of global consulting firm Bain & Company, said in an interview: "Social media marketing is as critical in all regions, and key opinion leaders have merged into the circleofinfluence of luxury buying behavior. In China, the special social network environment highlights the role of key opinion leaders for brands."

Federica Lovato, partner at Bain & Company, says "social media marketing is just as critical in all regions."

The bloggers that Guo Bei cares about are in the 260,000 and 1.02 million follower range and "are very common people." They are not universally known, but they are well-targeted, taking a "lifestyle" approach to meet the needs of a specific demographic. Guo Bei, who works in the real estate industry, believes that luxury goods should be applied to the daily working environment, "the living dressing is more meaningful."

The "Future Consumer" report released by Ernst & Young China in April this year shows that customers are unprecedentedly pursuing feelings. Among them, young people, who are enthusiastically participating in the "tree planting economy", attach the most importance to the spiritual consumption experience. The "China Luxury Digital Trend Insight Report" highlights that 68% of the post-90s respondents are "planted" by celebrities and bloggers selling their products. The term "planting trees" is an internet buzzword describing the process of recommending a product and arousing customers' desire to buy it, and the customers are the ones who are "planted".

Xia Xia pursues a style of "softness, individuality and sensuality", and will refer to celebrities' 樂天JAPAN her aesthetic requirements. If she is recommended by celebrities to "plant a tree" of clothing and beauty luxury products, Xia Xia will look for and buy the same products.

When asked what is the real driving force of the order, Guo Bei admitted that "it is the momentary vanity"; Xia Xia's reply is more straightforward, "there is no vanity who goes to buy luxury goods!"

"Vanity" and "narcissism" have almost become the exclusive modifiers of millennials and Generation Z. But young people's vanity is not the same as money worship and blind pursuit of brands. Xia Xia will buy luxury goods when she has enough money, but she wants to be happy. She said, "Girls, like the flashy items, according to their ability."

In 2015, luxury brands were affected by European price cuts, which had caused shopping fever in China.

As a working woman, Guo Bei's consumption concept is also influenced by the social circle. "Almost all women in the business have big brand bags, so (I am also) just limited by the environment." Lovato analyzed that luxury consumption has always been related to social feeling; 樂天集運, the elders were for being among the upper class, now the young people want to belong.

Young people, who are working hard, are also buying luxury goods to record their development in work and life. Guo Bei said, "Usually they go shopping on the pretext of rewarding themselves for their achievements (at work)."