Category	Winner
Super Luxury Car	Bentley
Luxury Car	BMW
Business Car	Buick
Hotel Chain	Shangri-La
Airline - Domestic	Air China
Airline - International	Singapore Airlines
Bank for RMB Services	China Merchants Bank
Bank for Foreign Currency Services	HSBC
Watch	Rolex
Designer Clothes / Accessories	Giorgio Armani
Cognac	Rémy Martin
Whiskey	Chivas
Champagne	Veuve Cliquot
Chinese Liquor	Wuliangye
Golf Course	Mission Hills
EMBA Program	CEIBS
Mobile Phone	Nokia
Credit Card Issuing Bank	China Merchants Bank
Credit Card Company	Visa

about Entrepreneurs Lifestyle Survey

EuromoneyChina's Entrepreneur's Lifestyle Survey highlit some interesting trends among China's fast-growing rich elite. Chinese are highly brand-conscious, and usually prefer foreign brands. But there were some surprises too: over half the respondents said they are teetotal. Rupert Hoogewerf reports.

The Entrepreneurs Lifestyle Survey highlights the brands with the biggest impact on the China's fast-growing rich elite, the country's new business role models. With the market now estimated at US$2 billion and growing at 20% a year according to the China Brand Strategy Association, it is little wonder that the luxury goods companies are salivating at the prospect of the market's potential.

“China's fast-growing consumer class makes it highly attractive to the luxury goods companies,” says Scilla Huang Sun, Senior Vice President of the Luxury Goods Equity Fund at the Switzerland-based Clariden Bank. “Chinese, like most Asians, are highly brand-conscious, and have a preference for foreign brands, not only for their high quality but also for social status.”

Making an impact on the richest Chinese consumers will benefit a luxury brand both locally in China, and also internationally. “As it becomes easier to travel abroad, so Chinese, who list shopping as one of their main hobbies when travelling, are beginning to make an impact on sales worldwide,” continues Ms Sun. “Many of the luxury goods companies are now hiring Mandarin speakers specifically to cater to this growing market abroad.”

The EuromoneyChina research team is well placed to examine the trends of China's richest, having compiled the China Rich List, a ranking of China's richest people for the past six years.

The Entrepreneurs Lifestyle Survey threw up some clear winners. Nokia easily won the Best Mobile Phone Category; HSBC the Best Bank Foreign Exchange Services; Air China the Best Domestic Airline; CMB the Best Bank for RMB Services; Shenzhen's Mission Hills the Best Golf Course; CEIBS the Best EMBA Programme; Giorgio Armani the Best Designer Clothes / Apparels Category Shangri-La the Best Hotel Chain.

The survey also threw up some curious patterns. More than half the respondents replied they never drink alcohol.

China's luxury goods market may still be at an early stage, but it is rapidly evolving. As the Chinese consumer market becomes more sophisticated the barriers to entry into the wallets of China's richest may be increasing, but for the brands that have made it to the top today, the prospect of tomorrow's rewards drives them forward.

analysis