Price-sensitive brands are paving the way for a luxury revival in China
Analysis of global luxury spending shows that the US is now the most important market for brands, taking over from China. But brands that Chinese consumers perceive as offering good value for money are leading a revival there.
Global investment research Bernstein has said US consumers accounted for 31% of global luxury spending in 2025. Before the covid-19 pandemic, the US’s share of the market was 22%.
Things have gone in the opposite direction in China. In recent comments to the Wall Street Journal, Bernstein recently said that Chinese customers were “barely on luxury brands’ radar” in the early years of the century.
By Bernstein’s estimate, sales in China accounted for 35% of the luxury industry’s global sales by 2019. But following several more challenging years followed, caused by the pandemic and China’s property market crisis. In 2025, China accounted for 23% of global luxury sales.
It said brands that are doing better in China are those that consumers believe offer good value for money. It listed Ralph Lauren as an example because its most recently quarterly figures showed an increase in revenues in China of 30%.
In this bracket, it also quoted Coach, which saw growth of 21% in China in the last quarter, and Burberry. Bernstein said the London-based brand was having some success among younger consumers in China thanks to “a realistic pricing strategy”.
It also mentioned a local leathergoods brand, Songmont, as enjoying success among “price-sensitive” Chinese consumers. According to Bernstein, Songmont is enjoying growth while selling its leather bags for four or five times the cost of producing them, compared to the mark-up of ten times that it says many western brands have in place.
