British retailers have spoken up by saying that luxury sales would increase in the UK if Chinese visa laws were more relaxed.
Reuters reports that bosses of top-end stores Harvey Nichols and Harrods who spoke at the Walpole Luxury Summit this week said that the British government should make it easier for Chinese to spend their money in London rather than other parts of Europe.
“If the government was going to do one thing for the British luxury industry it should relax visa requirements into the UK for Chinese visitors,” Michael Ward of Harrods said. “Four years ago, China represented about a third of our American business, now it is four times our American business.”
Ward went onto say that Chinese sales growth continued at “absolute record levels” and there had been no deterioration compared with last year.
Harvey Nichols are finding that only 13 per cent of their turnover is attributed from overseas spending, with Chinese travellers heading to Paris or Rome for their shopping where visa laws are more relaxed.
The luxury department store have one store in Hong Kong already and are looking to open another there. They have also flirted with the idea of opening a Harvey Nichols in China, but not anytime soon.
In other news, we know that luxury houses spend a fortune on advertising to entrap consumers in their weave for luxury, but Louis Vuitton could be in a bit of strife with an enormous suitcase advertisement in downtown Shanghai, which could see it destroyed.
The MO Down can attest to the trunk’s size and grandeur on a recent trip to Shanghai, this trunk is encasing a multi-level expansion and redevelopment of Louis Vuitton’s store in the exclusive Plaza 66 shopping mall in Shanghai….We would temper that there are certainly some very architecturally creative buildings emblazoning the Shanghai skyline which is a form of advertising (think building name rights), so what’s an oversized 20metre trunk or two amongst the expanding and dynamic horizon? You decide.
Image credit: thesocietypages.org
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