The scarves category remains a strong category in the luxury and fashion world. The Chinese market remains a land of opportunities for CEO and Marketing Directors who want to target a new market. But when brands are trying to enter the Chinese scarf market, they always see resistance from local brands. Where do these forces come from and how can brands stand out in the Chinese scarves market? China is the cradle of silk and silk scarves. The key for your brand will be to find out your real leverage in China and use the right strategy to promote your brand.
The Sales Volume of Scarves is Higher in China
Scarves have a huge market volume in China. According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS), the Chinese scarf market has a scale of 250 billion CNY (33.9 billion EUR) in 2022. This market volume was boosted by 2 factors:
- The strong manufacturing power of textile products
- The high demand for scarves products
A research by Statista in 2019 shows that clothing and accessories (including scarves) are the third most purchased luxury goods in China with a 44.6% acceptance rate.
China is the Biggest Export Country of Scarves
Although the Chinese scarf market volume is huge, entering the Chinese market is still not easy for scarf brands. This is because the manufacturing volume of scarves has exceeded the market volume. In 2020, China exported around 1.01 billion USD in the scarf sector, ranked first in the world. But the import of scarf products to China has only 127 million USD which is far less than the export volume. Brands need to be always clear that their competitors are not only other brands entering the Chinese market but also a huge amount of local brands.
What are the Top Countries for Imported Scarves in China?
Knowing who is currently winning the Chinese imported scarf market is important for brands who want to join this market. The following countries and regions are currently exporting the most scarves to mainland China:
- France: 56.2M USD
- Italy: 52.9M USD
- Hong Kong: 2.76M USD
- United Kingdom: 2.45M USD
- India: 2.07M USD
From this survey, France and Italy are the winners in the game of imported scarves exports to China.On one side, it shows that the origin of French and Italian scarves matters to Chinese consumers who see it as a unique selling point (USP). On the other side, you can see that promoting your scarf as French or Italian manufacturing will increase the trust of consumers in China since they value the high-quality of these items.
Things you Have to Know about Chinese Scarves Customers
What are the Preferred Scarf Materials in China?
The mainstream scarf materials in China include cotton, cashmere, silk, rayon, acrylic, and polyester. Among these materials, cotton, cashmere, and silk are always seen as better quality since they are natural materials with a premium touch. These 3 materials also have different personal value for Chinese consumers:
- Cotton is considered as Warm, Non-luxury, Daily use
- Cashmere is considered as Warm, Luxury, Fashion & Daily use
- Silk is seen as Decorative, Luxury, Fashion
Chinese consumers consider these materials from different perspectives including the function, price, and scenario. Based on the material used in your collection, you will position your scarves assortment with different storytelling and advertising. Proposing scenes in China with the use of your products will help local consumers incorporate your scarves into their daily outfits.
How Western Brands Can Succeed in China, the Birthplace of Silk?
Silk was first invented by ancient Chinese people 5,500 years ago, which made the luxury image of silk deep in Chinese culture. For silk products, the material, craftsmanship, and design are the top 3 important factors.
What is a good symbol of high-quality silk material? Purity is the most important one! The purity of silk is seen as the most important factor in China because pure silk is hard to produce and is more precious. Many brands are claiming their product is made from pure silk, but not many are really using 100% pure silk in their products. The touch, luster, and appearance are also important factors forming the quality of silk products.
Pure Natural Material is Always Better than Man-made Material
Many brands are used to mix a low percentage of these man-made materials in natural materials for better performance such as a scarf of 96% of cotton and 4% of polyester. Although this action is for a better wearing experience, it can be a disadvantage in the Chinese market.
How did Hermes Win the Chinese Scarf Market?
Regardless of the long history of silk and scarf in China, the modern silk scarf was actually started from the western culture in the mid-age. Hermes found the blank area of the western silk scarf culture in China, and they played a nice card on it. The Hermes Silk Knots app is a free app teaching their customers how to wear and tie their scarf with step-by-step tutorials and styling ideas. This move did a perfect market education and built up their brand image in the scarf sector.
Scarves are Ideal Gifts for Partners, Families, and VICs
Luxury scarves, especially from big brands such as Hermes, are very common business gifts. They are well known, and easily recognized for their value, and you can always buy different scarves as gifts. What made it even better than other luxury products is that you don’t even need to know the size! All these features made luxury scarves an ideal option for a business gift, especially for female objects. Many Chinese companies are buying many luxury scarves as their stock of business gifts, this boosted the demand for luxury scarves with a repeating frequency.
For non-luxury scarves, it’s still a good option as a gift for friends or family. Chinese people have the habit of buying and wearing new clothes and other textile accessories when celebrating the Chinese New Year. While this most important time is always in the winter, a scarf becomes a good gift to their family.
How to Market my Scarf Brand in China?
When so many Chinese customers are buying scarves as gifts, brands should make sure their scarf is a nice gift. The packaging, brand image, and promotion in festivals are very important. We don’t recommend over-packaging, but good-looking packaging does add value when customers are looking for a gift. Providing gift boxes/bundles with specially designed packaging is a solution in the middle.
Your brand image is also important because when customers are buying gifts from a brand, they need it to be a good brand. Even if your brand is not widely known as a newcomer in the Chinese market, your online reputation should be really positive. Otherwise giving a gift from an “unknown” brand can’t be a wise action and might make them lose “face”.
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