China’s elite class overwhelmingly prefers Apple products for gift giving, even more so than luxury fashion brands like Gucci and Chanel.
An interesting survey conducted by Hurun asked 376 Mainland Chinese millionaires about their buying habits, and their responses also bode quite favorably for the forthcoming Apple Watch.
“Watches bucked the trend to become the preferred gift for Chinese millionaires,” according to the report. Luxury watches were the number one gift choice for men and the fourth option for women, with consumer electronics trailing closely behind at second for men and third for women.
We don’t know pricing for the Apple Watch beyond the base $350 model, but the gold-encased Edition model is expected to cost an upwards of thousands of dollars. The fact that Apple is already better regarded than brands like LV. Hermè says a lot about the Watch’s potential in China, and it helps explain why Apple chose Vogue China for a cover story on the Watch a few months ago.
China was one of the main contributing factors to Apple’s explosive growth last quarter. Apple is selling more iPhones in China than the U.S. now, and Apple made $16.1 billion there last quarter alone. More retail stores are being added throughout this year, and it’s easy to imagine Apple making more money in China than the U.S. in the near future.
Source: Hurun
