Luxury consumers in Singapore and Japan favour leathergoods
Consumers in Singapore, Japan and India are among the Asia-Pacific region’s top luxury consumers, according to a survey by MasterCard titled ‘Consumer purchasing priorities – luxury shopping’.
The study suggests that robust economic growth has encouraged consumers in Singapore and India to have higher degrees of intentions to owning luxury goods than those of other Asia-Pacific countries. More than half of those polled for the survey said they planned to spend more, or the same, on these items over the next 12 months.
In terms of present ownership of luxury goods, around half of consumers in Singapore (57%), Japan (50%) and India (46%) own at least one ‘luxury’ item worth more than $500.
In contrast, consumers in Indonesia (8%), Malaysia (22%) and the Philippines (23%) own the least number of luxury items.
The survey was conducted from March to April 2011 and involved 6,022 consumers from eight markets (India, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand)
On average, close to 40% of those polled claimed to own luxury goods, with Indians more inclined to own jewellery. Singaporeans were found to prefer leathergoods, luxury watches, jewellery and designer clothes, while the Japanese favoured leathergoods, designer clothes and luxury watches.
“This survey shows that luxury shopping varies dramatically across emerging and developed markets,” Porush Singh, senior vice president and group head, product development, global products and solutions, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, MasterCard Worldwide, said. “As with other recent surveys, it is the most buoyant and resilient economies that can afford to spend on luxury items, and India and Singapore would certainly fall into that category. Luxury shoppers remain loyal to their brands, even when the economic climate isn’t favourable.”
