China’s insatiable appetite for luxury items and brand names feeds the very nature of collectivism. For the phenomenon itself to survive however, it shall need to weather a more challenging storm; that of the growing generations of younger people (the future) who are, instead of pursuing the acquisition of wealth, increasingly seeking out life enriching experiences and other diversities that fly in the face of all that collectivism represents.
According to the annual report on the luxury goods market by global management consulting firm, Bain & Company, last year, 31 percent of luxury goods’ sales went to Chinese people. In itself, this is not news; the rising disposable income of the Middle Kingdom’s middle classes is now known the world over, as is the latter’s penchant for brand names, the more expensive the better.
What is interesting is the role that collectivism plays as a dominating factor in luxury consumption by the Chinese. For collectivism, as a part of Confucianism, can go along way toward explaining the very nature of Chinese luxury consumption.
It all comes down to this; the level in society at which we believe we are positioned. That is to say, where we and our peer group lie in the overall scheme of things. In such a society, people influenced by collectivistic values believe that conforming to the norms set by their in-group is the proper way to behave.
In a study of Asian luxury consumers made in 1998 by Wong & Ahuvia, it was found that where a peer group defines expensive and ostentatious possessions or activities as socially appropriate, then respectable members of said group must subscribe to such a public display of wealth in order to fit in and be accepted by the rest of the group. The study further revealed that many Asian consumers find the inherent image of a brand to be of little interest; they only care about how the brand is perceived among their peers. The Chinese therefore focus more on brands than on the products themselves.
The collectivist nature of luxury consumption in China is exemplified by such traits; the purchasing of goods similar to those consumed by members of the same peer group. Further compounding the argument is that the Rarity Principle (where consumers’ desire for a product increases with that same product’s rarity) existing in Western societies that could be defined as individualistic (the USA and UK for example, but not Portugual) does not apply in a Chinese luxury consumption context.
It would therefore appear that people dominated by the collective self are very concerned about their appearance to others and with the public meaning that is attached to them and the possessions that they place on ostentatious display.
As evidence, one may need look no further than the 2006 book, “Cult of the Luxury Brand” by Radha Chadha and Paul Husband, in which there is the fascinating story of a man from one of China’s northern provinces who, “walked into the Hermès store in Beijing and purchased an enormous amount of china. Hermès is most sought after for its leather goods, notably the Kelly and Birkin bags, but that day just for a change the shop windows featured a display of cups, saucers, and other porcelain products. Our man from the North assumed Hermès is best known for porcelain, and promptly proceeded to buy US$75,000 worth of it”.
While all of the above may well be true, that veracity is only now holding sway over the older generations. So why it may continue to be true that “saving face” is a central part of the lives of most Chinese people, that the purchasers of luxury brands be admired among the youth is now on the decline, in some cases to the degree of being considered shallow or vulgar.
The young, it would appear, are collectively seeking alternatives to cash, brand name and then more cash. The trick though, is for them to do so while still being seen to fit in with Confucian values of not standing out. Such values that remain dominant are not keen to to invite home any kind of rebellion against familial or societal norms.
Individuality in China is a twist on the conventional; one in which the youth of today do not break the rules, as they might enjoy going out of their way to do in many a western country; instead they apply creative interpretation, quite often to the media messages with which they are bombarded, messages that to the casual observer, appear more to be be endorsements of individualism.
The advertising campaign for China Mobile’s M-Zone service ran for a long period with the slogan, “My zone, I decide”. This goes a long way toward illustrating the dilemma that the younger Chinese people face today; standing out or fitting in.
It is also becoming harder and harder for the youth of today to internalise the latter. They have a world of experience up on their parents; many have studied abroad, the new China has offered them opportunity to take up sports and hobbies that their parents never had. It is possible that they have even opened their own business and it is more than possible they have been romanticaly involved with one not destined to become their spouse.
What the consumerism that has existed in China for, let’s be honest, their entire lives, offers them, is the opportunity to form identities based on the choices they make. Shunning peer group pressure, Chinese youth today associate brand identity with self-identity. No longer does the ability to purchase a brand make you a valuable person; it is the decision of which brand to purchase that presents your value worth to the world.
The pyscho analysts and marketeers have been quick to catch on, to the point of giving the new phenomenon displayed by this counter-revolutionary group a name; out with “conspicuous consumption” and in with “consumptive indulgence”. The Western media have also noted the new trend. In mid 2015, the Huffington Post reported on a salon entitled “Small Luxuries” and held by brand consultation setup Chinayouthology.com, that explored methods of consumptive indulgence among a focus group. These days the in-crowd do not go out and buy a new handbag; instead they collect retro postcards from places travelled or cook using unusual recipes and then take artistic pictures of the meal (to share on WeChat).
The word “travel” here is key. In the annual China Luxury Forecast produced by Public Relations firm Ruder Finn, consumers listed “travel” atop any other category when asked what type of luxury gift for themselves or others that they would be likely to choose.
Make no mistake, Collectivism as driven by the consumption of luxury products is far from dead. Chinese people might increasingly be making travel their number one choice, but they still love to shop when they get to the destination. Such an engagement in conspicuous consumption is not just because they want to but because they have to. The “wave of fashion consciousness” [China Daily; 29 Feb. 2016], as illustrated by the aforementioned with their vintage postcards, could well merely be collectivism in sheep’s clothing. After all, we do not buy clothes because everyone else is doing it. We buy them because they fit.
This article was first published in The Nanjinger Magazine, November 2015 Issue. If you would like to read the whole magazine, please follow this link.
