尚品了解中國奢侈品消費者

????盡管全球經濟陷入低谷，但中國的奢侈品市場仍然在以令人炫目的速度增長。據麥肯錫公司（McKinsey）的數據顯示，2010年中國奢侈品市場的增幅達到了16%。而與此同時，一家總部位于北京，且僅限于注冊會員的電子商務網站——尚品網（Shangpin），目前也正飛快發展。

????“尚品”二字在中文里別有深意?！吧小笔恰皶r尚”的簡寫，“品”代表“品味”。同時“品”也有“品質”的意思。尚品網2010年7月面世，主要面向中國消費者進行歐洲頂級奢侈品品牌（如Gucci等）的限時在線銷售。據該公司介紹，尚品網推出僅僅四個月，注冊會員就超過了100萬人，銷售額也達到了156萬美元，增勢令人矚目。一年前尚品剛剛創業時只有三名員工，但現在已經擁有300多名員工。2010年11月，尚品在第二輪融資中從晨興創投（Morning Side Ventures）融到1,000萬美元的資金。在今年七月的第三輪融資中，尚品更是從成為資本（Chenwei Capital）那里募得5,000萬美元巨資。

????盡管尚品令投資者和消費者興奮不已，但其實它的理念和歐美、日本的時尚購物網站大同小異，比如近年在歐美興起的Gilt Group和Vente-Privee等網站，消費者可以在上面購買各種時尚商品。另外尚品網現在正打算在網站里專門開辟出一塊空間，全價銷售剛從T臺上下來的最新款時尚商品。這種模式有點像奢侈品巨頭歷峰集團（Richemont）旗下的時尚購物網站Net-a-Porter。當然，尚品網之所以在眾多購物網站中鶴立雞群，主要還是歸功于它擁有大量富有且購買意愿強勁的中國消費者。尚品對這部分中國人消費需求的了解得可謂細致入微，這一點可能讓世界許多知名奢侈品品牌羨慕不已。

????尚品網之所以得以迅速發展，部分原因是由于現階段中國消費者很難在除了上海以外的城市買到高檔奢侈品。尚品CEO趙世誠稱：“中國消費者在奢侈品消費上存在很多不便之處，大多數奢侈品品牌只在北京和上海等一線城市開設了實體店。而在美國，奢侈品的分銷渠道根本不是問題?！壁w世誠補充道：“中國奢侈品消費的獨特之處，在于中國的二三線城市里也存在強勁的奢侈品消費需求和很大的消費潛力?！北热绗F在正在舉辦“夏季達沃斯”全球經濟論壇（the summer Davos，9月14日至16日舉行）的大連，以及南京和深圳等其它城市。這些城市在國際上不如北京和上海知名，但它們也有牢靠的基礎設施和不斷增長的產業。

????不少管理咨詢公司的研究都表明，這些城市里到處都是潛在的奢侈品消費者，他們不僅急于提高自己的生活條件，也急于改善自己的生活方式。波士頓咨詢集團（The Boston Consulting Group）2010年對全球消費者的消費意愿進行了調查，結果37%的中國受訪者稱打算購買更高檔的商品，即有購買奢侈品的愿望。這個比例在俄羅斯和印度為25%，在美國為18%，在歐洲更是低至13%。

????尚品銷售的奢侈品多種多樣，涵蓋手提包、鞋、時裝、內衣、配飾、珠寶和手表等，銷售的品牌包括杜嘉班納（Dolce & Gabbana）、萬寶龍（Mont Blanc）和范思哲（Versace）等。尚品網上銷售的商品都被這些品牌“授權”為正品。由于中國盛行山寨文化，因此這種“正品授權”對于在中國銷售奢侈品來說非常重要。

????尚品的獨特之處還在于它向會員提供了奢華的消費體驗。所有遞送給消費者的商品都用典雅的黑色購物袋進行包裝，包裝袋上點綴著奢華的金字和Logo。此外尚品還會為會員舉辦線下的購物和交流活動。如果消費者在尚品上訂購了商品，那么尚品在2日內就會用聯邦快遞（FedEx）免費把商品遞送到中國境內的任何地方。如果商品出了問題，尚品還提供上門客戶服務，每周七天無休。另外趙世誠還對《財富》雜志（Fortune）稱，目前尚品的客服電話每天開放12個小時，不過很快就會擴展成全天24小時。

????數不勝數的外部數據和分析顯示，尚品的推出和增長正逢其時，恰好能夠利用中國日益增長的奢侈品消費趨勢來盈利。管理咨詢機構貝恩公司（Bain & Company）今年五月發表的一份報告顯示，今年中國大陸的奢侈品市場將比去年增長25%。另外大中華區（包括港澳臺及新加坡）的奢侈品消費有望在今年首次超過日本（不過值得的注意的是，日本奢侈品消費的下降可能與今年的日本地震有關）。麥肯錫公司2011年3月的一份報告也預測道，中國的奢侈品消費將從2010年的160億美元增長到2015年的270億美元，

????Despite global economic turmoil, the Chinese luxury market is still expanding at a dizzying rate -- by 16% in 2010 according to McKinsey. Not surprisingly, Shangpin -- a new Beijing-based, members-only e-commerce site -- is growing dramatically too.

????The company's name refers to the Chinese characters for "fashion" ("shang" is a shortened version of "shi shang," the full character for "fashion") and "taste" ("pin"). Considering the nuances of the second character, the name also translates as "quality." Shangpin launched in July 2010, and offers top European labels, such as Gucci, to Chinese consumers during limited-time online sales. In the first four months of operation, the start-up had signed up 1 million members and reached $1.56 million in sales, according to the company. Growth has been startlingly quick. Shangpin started with 3 employees a year ago; now it has more than 300. In November 2010, it got $10 million in Series B funding by Morning Side Ventures, and this July, Chenwei Capital put in a stunning $50 million in Series C funding.

????Despite all of the early investor and consumer excitement surrounding Shangpin, the site's concept might seem very familiar to Web-savvy fashionistas in the United States, Europe and Japan, where stylish shoppers can order and receive designer fashions from the sites Gilt Groupe and Vente-Privee. Shangpin is also planning to offer a section of its site that offers full-price, just-off-the-runway goods as well, more parallel to the e-commerce site Net-a-Porter, which is owned by luxury conglomerate Richemont. What sets Shangpin apart, though, is of course its affluent, ambitious Chinese clientele. Its intimate understanding of those customers could become the envy of established luxury brands around the world.

????Shangpin has scaled so quickly, in part, because it's still hard for Chinese consumers to buy designer goods outside of major cities such as Shanghai. There are many "inconveniences for Chinese luxury shoppers," Says David Shi Cheng Zhao, Shangpin's Chinese-born CEO. "Most luxury brands run brick-and-mortar stores just in tier-one cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, while in the USA, the distribution channel is not an issue." Zhao adds that "the uniqueness of Chinese luxury shoppers lies in strong demand or high potential from second or third cities." He's referring to urban areas such as Dalian, which is getting some attention this week as the site of a World Economic Forum meeting known as "the summer Davos" (taking place from September 14-16) and other cities such as Nanjing or Shenzhen. They aren't as well-known or populous as Shanghai or Beiing, but have reliable infrastructure and growing industries in place.

????These cities are filled with potential luxury customers hungry to improve not only their lives but their lifestyles, suggests research from management consulting firms. The Boston Consulting Group surveyed consumers' intentions worldwide for a 2010 report and found that 37% of their survey's respondents in China planned to "trade up," or buy according to aspirations. That's compared to 25% of respondents in Russia and India, and only 18% in the U.S. and 13% in Europe.

????Shangpin offers plenty of aspirational offerings. The site sells its members handbags, shoes, clothing, lingerie, accessories, jewelry and watches by brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Mont Blanc and Versace. They're all "authorized" by these labels as authentic -- an important aspect to selling designer products in China, known for its rampant culture of believable knockoffs.

????But the company's service is what might be the most luxurious aspect of the Shangpin experience. Goods arrive in elegant black shopping bags with sumptuous gold lettering and logos. There are offline shopping and networking events only for Shangpin members. There's free FedEx two-day delivery anywhere in China. And if anything goes wrong, there's in-house customer service available, seven days a week. Customer service phone lines operate for 12 hours a day each day, and will soon expand to 24 hour service, Zhao told Fortune.

????Numerous outside data and analyses suggest that Shangpin's launch and growth are timed well to cash in on increasing luxury sales in China. Management consulting firm Bain & Company published a report in May noting that the luxury goods market in Mainland China will see 25% year-over-year growth this year. The report added that Greater China, which includes Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, is positioned to possibly exceed luxury sales in Japan for the first time (it should be noted that diminished sales in Japan could be due to the 2011 earthquake). And a March 2011 report from McKinsey predicts that by 2015, luxury sales in China will reach $27 billion, up from $16 billion in 2010.