As global luxury brands saturate first and even second-tier mainland cities, Hong Kong-based luxury menswear group Trinity is pushing its frontiers in third and fourth-tier cities.
The group is setting up a central China regional office in Wuhan in the middle of this year, riding on the business opportunities that will come with the construction of high-speed railway lines in the region.
Group managing director Sunny Wong Yat-ming said he was bullish about the markets in provincial capitals like Wuhan, Nanchang and Changsha.
He believes the luxury menswear market on the mainland is still under-penetrated by global brands, especially in third and fourth-tier cities.
'There are three types of luxury menswear customers: entrepreneurs, senior management of local or foreign companies, and the professionals,' he said.
'You have senior management and professionals in first and second-tier cities. But if you are talking about entrepreneurs, like department store bosses and coal mine owners, they are everywhere in China - in Taiyuan, in Xian, in Inner Mongolia. You don't have a lot of professionals, but then you don't need that many customers. The entrepreneurs will spend a lot.'
