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Brands need to keep up with changes in China’s luxury consumption patterns

Consumption at high end enters aphase driven by socio-economic shifts and rise of a new elite

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Nespresso is giving back to coffee its luxury cachet.

Walk into a Nespresso boutique and you might be greeted by a picture of actor George Clooney, pleasantly smiling over a cup of jet-black espresso coffee.

The poster child of the high-end coffee brand oozes confidence and exclusivity. Customers feel part of his world and buy into the experience as well as the product.

Nespresso is giving coffee its luxury cachet back, after it fell out of luxury and was transformed into an everyday, mass product in the early 20th century.

Coffee was once a delicacy enjoyed by the nobility in the 17th and 18th century European courts. Such is the cycle of luxury, where products can move in and out of being perceived as high-end status symbols or experiences.

The ways in which consumers acquire and use luxury products depend on the social, cultural and economic environment, which affect perceptions of luxury brands.

China is a hotbed of these moving forces. With profound recent socio-economic changes and the rise of a new elite, the face of luxury consumption is changing.

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