Chinese people bought nearly 1/4 of Swiss watches, and Tmall's hard luxury watch sales increased by more than 200% annually

Swiss watches, which firmly occupy the global high-end watch market, were bought by Chinese people nearly a quarter last year . According to data from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, mainland China was the only export market for Swiss watches with positive growth last year. In 2020 , Swiss watch exports to China accounted for about 24.09% of the world's total exports , and China has become the largest consumer market for Swiss watches.

On April 14 , the Geneva top watch exhibition "Watches & Wonders", one of the world's two major watch exhibitions , once again entered mainland China and opened in Shanghai. This year, while continuing to hold the "Cloud Watch Exhibition" digitally with Tmall , 11 hard luxury watch brands' new products, global limited editions, and concept customized models were also sold on Tmall simultaneously.

The "Excalibur Aventador S" watch, which is limited to only 88 pieces worldwide , is jointly launched by Roger Dubuis and Lamborghini. The Vacheron Constantin Platinum Collection series is limited to 15 pieces worldwide. The Montblanc 1858 series Northern and Southern Hemisphere World Time watch Desert Brown is limited to 1,858 pieces worldwide. The Panerai Lumino series mechanical watch, which was first launched in China, has all been sold on Tmall. Cartier, Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC, Chopard, Baume & Mercier, Lange and others have also launched a number of watches on Tmall.

The Geneva Watch Fair, which has always been famous for its luxury and privacy, accelerated its cooperation with domestic e-commerce after entering China, and opened to the public again through Tmall's "Cloud Watch Fair", narrowing the distance with online consumers.

(The Geneva Watch Fair once again cooperates with Tmall to hold the "Online Watch Fair")

"The Chinese market and e-commerce have become new opportunities for Swiss watch industry practitioners. " Watch industry insiders analyzed that in the past, the Swiss watch industry, which advocated tradition and history, has always been cautious about digitalization, but now facing a sharp drop in production and sales under the epidemic, they have begun to actively seek change online.

In 2020 , China, which was the first to recover economic growth from the epidemic, became the "lifeline" of global luxury goods , including hard luxury goods such as jewelry and watches. As luxury consumption returns to China and accelerates online, Tmall has become an important channel for high-end watches to seek growth. Data shows that the transaction volume of hard luxury watches on Tmall increased by more than 200% year-on-year in 2020 .

In addition to the world-class watch exhibitions, Swiss watch groups have also accelerated their cooperation with Tmall. Currently, core Swiss watch groups such as Richemont Group, Swatch Group, LVMH Group, as well as independent Swiss watch brands such as Chopard and Breitling have entered Tmall .

Take Richemont, one of the four largest watch groups in Switzerland, for example. Last year, its watch brands including Cartier, Vacheron Constantin, Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC, and Panerai all opened stores on Tmall. The group is “betting” on Tmall to help it recover. The first quarter report ending in June last year showed that while the overall sales of the jewelry department declined, sales in the Chinese market grew by 68%, with Tmall being an important driving force .

According to Tmall, high-end watches are very popular among consumers and are among the top three best-selling categories during the Lunar New Year Shopping Festival and Women's Day. With the entry of more and more hard luxury watch brands, the sales growth of watches with a unit price of more than 50,000 yuan has been significant.

Hard luxury watch brands have also used Tmall to reach more emerging groups and more areas that stores have not yet covered. Tmall data shows that a large number of consumers who bought luxury goods on Tmall for the first time chose watches as their first purchase . Consumers in third-tier and lower-tier cities have a clear preference for high-end watches, especially male users. On Double 11 in 2020 , a large number of heavy luxury watches with a unit price of more than 100,000 yuan were bought by consumers from Qingdao, Nanchang, Foshan and other places .

Tmall also uses the digital technology of the platform to equip luxury brand flagship stores with AR fittings, 3D store displays, online exhibitions , customized services , etc. , allowing brands to communicate with online consumers in a more friendly and younger way . During this watch exhibition, IWC launched the first AR trial experience of high-end watches on the entire network, and Chopard and IWC provided watch engraving services.

Tmall