How Gucci won China over

Gucci managed the tour de force to dethrone LV and Hermès in the heart and on the belts of Chinese consumers. The Kering brand led by CEO Marco Bizzarri, doubled its turnover and generates millions of online searches, and is again on top of the hottest luxury products in the Lyst index published this summer.

But how did Gucci make it? What can other brands targeting the Chinese market learn from it?

Gucci nailed it with Chinese shoppers from the patterns and fit to the cross-gender approach, and the brilliant idea to put China first. The brand is busy now exporting their successful recipe to other regions like the Middle East and Africa, with the help of oud and gold.

Floral and animal prints 

Marco Bizzarri, when shifting from Stella McCartney to Gucci, decided to replace fur with animal prints.

The animal and floral prints used by Gucci are very appealing to Chinese customers. New Gucci designer Michele Alessandro managed to capture the aesthetic values of the Chinese, through dynamic colors and floral prints. Thing is that the Chinese market is driving the global luxury consumption now, so whatever the Chinese like, becomes the trend.

Also, millennials are looking for authenticity and Gucci comes with very extravagant designs they can easily identify to, and that make them stand out. Shawqi Ghanem, Managing Director of Grand Optics explains: “Gucci is a great example of a brand that follows the trend quickly. If you go through their amazing designs of these past 2 to 3 years, you can see that Gucci looked into different cultural movements, they looked into music, arts and adapted their new designs to appeal to the young generation.”

A “China First” approach

Gucci understood indeed that China had the power to adopt or reject trends.

Chanel and Hermès seem to propose the same assortment worldwide but when you have a closer look you can notice that for instance the Chanel stores in Shanghai will reference and display more shiny jewelry then the flagship store in Paris. Gucci went even a step further by globally adapting the products for Chinese shoppers instead of just adapting their local assortment. And it paid off as Gucci sales have skyrocketed to represent two thirds of Kering Group revenues.

Some products were clearly rooted in Chinese culture and taste and rolled-out at global level. Charlie Wang, Fashion Curator, observes: “Gucci has performed well in the Chinese market. They give the Chinese customers a lot of options especially when it comes to styles, colors, and patterns. Whatever they design for the Chinese market is gathered from references in the Chinese history and culture. For example, this year with the “Year of the Dog” collection.” The capsule collection of 63 colorful items inspired by Bosco and Orso, Michele Alessandro Boston Terriers dogs, contributed to generating long queues in front of Gucci stores, like an LV shop would usually do.

Fit is everything

Fit can make or break a brand. Ermenegildo Zegna for instance took advantage of a physiological fact to build a tailor-made suit empire in China: Western men usually have longer arms than Eastern men and as a result Italian suits would have too long sleeves for Chinese men.

Learning from this observation, Prada and of course Gucci started proposing collections with ¾ sleeves. Fit is critical not only for clothes but also for accessories, as Shawqi Ghanem, Managing Director of Grand Optics, leading optical chain in the Middle East, reveals: “The Asian nose is different from the European or the Middle-Eastern nose. So brands like Gucci develop products specifically for the Asian market, with a special nose bridge style, and specific designs for the front of the sunglasses, that fit the Asian face.”

A cross-gender strategy

Even though you still find a “Men” and a “Women” entry on the Gucci website, the borders between genders are blurred.

Wai Wong, Buyer for Vanity Fair Lingerie in Paris and who participated in building the Sephora assortment in China, highlights: “The taste of the consumers is changing very frequently especially in the luxury sector but the brands do not study deep enough which trends people are going for. They should focus more on the persona or attitude of the consumers and dig deeper to know who they really are.” Following the example of Gucci.

Jean-Baptiste Andreani, Managing Director IFA Paris Fashion School explains: “We see that men today like to add some feminine element of style in their wardrobe while women like to add some masculine elements. Gucci managed to propose collections for men in florals but not in an overwhelming way,” making their collection attractive to the Chinese market. This is especially true in areas like Shanghai with local 女汉子 nǚhànzi (powerful women who are fierce and feminine) and小男人 xiǎo nánrén (literally “little husband”, and stylish men who spend more time grooming).

And if clothes are too bold, fashionistas can grab a unisex fragrance like Gucci Guilty Oud or beasty accessories like Gucci watches with an embroidered bee, snake, or tiger (3), spot on for our fierce Chinese shoppers, who already dare over the top pitbull t-shirts or gun holder clutches.

Oud and Gold

What is next for Gucci? The launch of Gucci Guilty Oud was seen as a typical move in direction to the Middle Eastern market but also Africa. Oud, known as agarwood or “the wood of gods”, can be as expensive as gold (6). That could be an interesting argument to try to convert Chinese too, even though they tend to prefer softer scents like Flower by Kenzo.

Kabir Wadhwani, Co-founder and Director of Nigeria Luxury Lifestyle Department Store, Temple Muse, explains: “Nigerians like heavy scents and fragrances like in Dubai. Women love strong fragrances like oud. Nigeria is more flamboyant with a taste for jewelry as well.”

Adele Dejak, Designer and Jewelry Brand Owner in Kenya, nicknamed the “modern Warrior designer” and working mostly with gold, confirms: “Nigerians are obsessed with status symbol, they have the Gucci logo, Louis Vuitton. It has to be seen from a distance. This is also true here in Kenya but nothing like in Nigeria.” According to Adele: “People want to belong to a certain gang.” So let’s see if the Gucci gang will also completely take over in these new areas for luxury while continuing to appeal to Chinese customers.

3 Take-Aways

The 3 key take-aways from the Gucci success story in order to create, revamp, and develop luxury and fashion brands in China are:

1. taking into account Chinese shoppers’ sensory preferences (colors, shapes, patterns, cross-gender) and morphology (fitted glasses, arm length, body shape, skin tones)

2. adapting the catalog not just the assortment, so that local stores can propose suitable items

3. adopting a China first approach, and accepting to deeply adapt the brand codes to fit Chinese taste 

Sources :

Derval, D. (2018). Designing Luxury Brands: The Science of Pleasing Customers Senses. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Derval, D. (2010). The Right Sensory Mix: Targeting Consumer Product Development Scientifically. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Read the article published on Harvard Business Review Arabia website.