China’s high-end consumers get doggone smart

In a week when the owner of China's -- and perhaps the world's -- most expensive dog has finally gone public, a survey has also shed some light on the spending habits of the rest of the nation's increasingly affluent countrymen and women.

(Relaxnews) -

In a week when the owner of China's - and perhaps the world's - most expensive dog has finally gone public, a survey has also shed some light on the spending habits of the rest of the nation's increasingly affluent countrymen and women.

The 2009 21st Century Deluxe Report (http://www.21deluxereport.com - in Chinese only) says that China's love affair with luxury shows no signs of abating - but people are now making "informed choices'' about what they buy.

Wu Jianchun certainly did when he splashed out eight million yuan (€800,000) for Chief, a two-year-old Tibetan mastiff who stands already at almost a meter high and daily wolfs down an estimated one kilo of dog food, along with ample servings of milk, raw chicken and beef.

Chinese media and chat rooms were aghast earlier in the year when Wu sent a limousine and an escort of luxury cars to greet Chief when he arrived in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in southwestern China.

Most people thought it was a shameful show of wealth but Wu is unrepentant, saying he has Chief lined up for a movie career and he would never now part company with his "favourite dog.''

Meanwhile, the Century Deluxe Report took a look at how China's high-end business community spends its money - polling 150,000 people from across the nation over three months.

According to one Professor Lu Xiao, who works out of the Fudan University in Shanghai and was in charge of the survey, decisions on spending made in China are now "knowledged-based."

Lu said his surveys concentrated on areas such as purchase motivation, lifestyle choices and social standing and showed that Chinese consumers were no longer "mindlessly chasing fashion,'' according to the China Daily.

The trickle-down effect of this, he said, was that luxury brands were now having to market their wares directly to the Chinese consumer, whereas in years gone by they would consider the Chinese market as part of global campaigns.