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Seoul has been chosen as the host city for a cultural project by Prada, the world-famous luxury fashion brand. Scheduled to run from March to July 2009 at Gyeonghui Palace, the Prada Transformer will bring a wide range of art, film and fashion events to one of the five grand palaces of the Chosun Dynasty in Seoul. ¡°The fact that we have selected Seoul to implement it [the project] is a recognition of the importance that we give to Asia, Korea particularly, because of its rapid growth, both in business and cultural spheres,¡± says Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli.
¡ß Aggressive advance of luxury brands
The Korean market is a battleground for global luxury product brands. They range from jewelry labels, like Cartier and Tiffany, and fashion labels, such as Prada, Hermes, Luis Vuitton and Cucci, to motor brands, like Porsche, Bentley, Maserati and Ferrari.
This spring, Tiffani and Cartier competed with jewelry exhibitions at the Seoul Arts Center and the National Museum of Art in Deoksu Palace. French jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels also had a show at the main branch of Shinsegae Department Store in Seoul around the same time.
From the fashion industry, Hermes opened its fourth global flagship store in Seoul in fall 2006 after Paris, New York and Tokyo. Maison Hermes Dosan Park symbolizes the company¡¯s determination to conquer Korea¡¯s upscale market. Hermes International CEO Patrick Thomas says around half its sales come from Asia, with Korea a particularly important market, and the figure should amount to two-thirds in the next decade.
¡ß Haven for Luxury Brands
Korea¡¯s premium product market is growing rapidly. Richemont Korea, an importer of jewelry and accessories brands like Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, saw its sales jump from W61.4 billion (US$1=W1,315) in 2000 to W113.4 billion in 2007. Shinsegae International, the fashion retailer that imports Armani among other luxury products, also posted a whopping increase in its sales, from W91.8 billion to W276.4 billion over the same period. The market is seeing 20-30 percent growth each year. It seems the economic downturn is not affecting sales at all.
Luxury cars are also selling remarkably well. Having recently opened its second dealership in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, the importer of Germany¡¯s Porsche expects to sell some 450 cars this year. Industry insiders say that other British and Italian cars, like Bentley, Maserati and Ferrari, also find it hard to meet growing demand.
The distribution industry predicts the premium market will continue to grow because Korea¡¯s growing economy has led to an increase in wealthy people with disposable income regardless of economic conditions. Another reason is that as society leans toward high-value consumption, more people tend to spend more than they earn.
¡°The expansion of the premium market is evidence that the country is becoming an advanced nation,¡± Roh Eun-jung, a manager at a Shinsegae institute, said. ¡°Korean brands should strive to raise standards to that of global premium labels to keep foreign luxury labels from dominating the local market.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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