Even before the Christmas tree grew for 124 years Bucherer watch boutique in town on Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, the store had already planned decorations for the Year of the Snake.
Chinese symbols that mark the beginning of the Lunar New Year on February 10 host bus filled with Asian buyers who visit every day Lucerne and invite them inside to see Tag Heuer, Rolex Replica and more than 20 other brands.
Less than half of watches bought in the shop in December Lucerne, perhaps for Christmas, said Joerg Baumann, director of marketing Bucherer.
"Other parts of the year captured" by Christmas, Baumann said, "This is good news for retailers, because everyone wants a stable and not very seasonal."
Asian consumers relax dependency of the Swiss Watch Industry on Christmas. While December is always the most important period of sales is decreasing importance and may be exceeded by the Chinese New Year in seven years, said Jean-Claude Biver, chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton brand Hublot watches.
"When I started 38 years ago, December and Christmas were 30% of the activity, but that has weakened sales are growing steadily over the last 12 months," Biver said in his office overlooking Lake Geneva and the French Alps. Christmas is now 15% to 20% of industry revenues shows, he said.
China and Hong Kong are the largest market for Swiss replica watches, which represents 30% of exports to about 200 countries registered in 2011, according to the Federation of Swiss Watch Industry. Exports to these destinations increased by 10% during the first 10 months of 2012.
Chinese interests in high-end watches remains strong despite concerns about an easing of economic growth, according to the research group and luxury marketing Digital. The number of online searches for brands of luxury watches in China increased by about 40% during the first half of the year, the company said.
Buy watches abroad allows Chinese consumers to bypass three layers of taxes on watches in China: an import duty of 11%, a 20% tax on high-end replica watches uk and 17.5% VAT, according to the HSBC.
Cie Financiere Richemont, the maker of Cartier and Vacheron Constantin, said last month that the euro's weakness was attracting more Asians leasing in Europe, helping to boost revenue in the region.
"Domestic consumption in Switzerland is not bad and there is probably still some growth, but the main thing is tourism," said Patrik Schwendimann, Zuercher Kantonalbank analyst.
Flagship store Bucherer Lucerne offers visitors six floors greeting cards red envelopes called China Hongbao that should bring good luck. A sign at the entrance lists some of the more than 20 languages spoken by sales staff, while the windows describe the characteristics of watches in Chinese.
To cope with the continuing influx of Chinese consumers, about 30 of the 200 staff speak Mandarin. Bucherer also offers Chinese language courses for employees, as well as training on how best to interact with Asian consumers.
Among the key selling periods Bucherer, who has more than 20 stores in Switzerland, Germany and Austria are the week around Chinese National Day on October 01 and Chinese New Year in January or February and Thai New Year in April, said Baumann.
"Planning begins a year before our themes and how to decorate the stores," said Baumann. "People want to know who is in Switzerland, but it is a small gesture that they are aware that we know it's the holidays."
No fewer than 3,000 tourists a day visit the Asian flagship store in Lucerne Bucherer after visiting the surrounding Alpine. Store sales could reach $ 1.1 billion per day during peak hours, said Rene Weber, an analyst at Vontobel in Zurich. The store does not disclose revenue.
More than 200,000 visitors from China stayed high in Lucerne or in the region during the first nine months of this year, more than double the same period in 2007, according to the Tourism Department of the city.
The streets surrounding the Bucherer lined ornate old buildings, show the growing importance of Asian tourists. In some stores replica watches in the field of Chinese characters are larger than those in European languages, and sometimes windows display phonetic interpretations of brands in Chinese characters.
Outside Bucherer, phone salesman Zheng Xianjun taken in view of the bustling city center and the lake, after spending about $ 3,000 for a Longines watch for his wife.
"I do not buy it for any special occasion," said Zheng, who was visiting from China Guangdong. "I'm not going out that much and my wife wanted me to make it a show while I was here."
没有评论:
发表评论