Despite the popularity and discussion surrounding the Chinese consumer in recent years, it is still a developing market worth watching and studying for nuanced changes and opportunities.

? Samantha Shankman

China?s $751 billion e-commerce market took a leap forward this summer with the introduction of two new luxury platforms.
Earlier this month Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group launched Luxury Pavilion ? a invitation-only platform dedicated to premier brands housed within its business-to-consumer site T-mall. The minimum spending requirement is $15,000 a year, but Alibaba?s top spenders buy an average of $45,000 worth of goods annually.
Mirroring Alibaba?s efforts to cater to a ultra wealthy online shoppers, its main competitor JD.com introduced a white-glove delivery service with which purchases can be hand-delivered by black-tie staff. Interested in more stories like this" Subscribe to Skift’s New Luxury Newsletter to stay up-to-date on the business of modern luxury travel.
?Luxury Pavilion is of course much more content-driven while Tmall is a platform with tons of products like Amazon,? explains Louis Houdart, Chinese branding and creative agency Creative Capital China.
The new platforms come at a time in which the global luxury market is forecast to grow just 2 to 4 percent ? much slower than in previous years prompting luxury brands to overcome their perceptions of Chinese e-commerce.
Luxury brands have previously been vastly underrepresented on Chi...