The luxury industry is one of the most powerful and solid industries of all times. In 2015, it surpassed €1 trillion in retail sales value, increasing year after year with a constant growth rate around 5% at constant exchange rates. However, the luxury goods market found a slowdown in its growth, national economies started to recover step by step after the 2008-09 economic crisis and the market keeps attracting wealthy Chinese tourist's. Indeed, they bought half of the luxury goods sold in 2015.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the Global personal luxury goods evolution over the years and the increasing role of Chinese consumers who fuel its continued growth. It provides an historical overview, summarizes the economic analysis of the industry, and includes a literature about the motivations of Chinese luxury purchases.

Books
Cult of Luxury, 2006 - Radha Chadha

Inside Chinese Business, 2001 - Ming-Jer Chen

La Chine et Le Luxe, 2008 - As Jacqueline Tsai

The Luxury Strategy: Break the Rules of Marketing to Build Luxury Brands, 2009 - Bastien and Kapferer

Luxury, lies and marketing”, 2010 - Marie-Claude Sicard, author of “

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