Luxury brands need a change of approach

There can be no doubt that the luxury market in China has been experiencing a tough winter, nor that the government's anti-corruption and frugality campaign has been a major factor in this, nor that it will continue to be a drag on the market's growth in 2014.

Growth in luxury spending on the Chinese mainland is expected to have cooled to just 2 percent in 2013, down from 7 percent the year before and a staggering 30 percent in 2011, according to Bain and Co's annual China's Luxury Goods Market Study published at the end of 2013.

Although Chinese consumers are still the biggest consumers of luxury goods worldwide - they accounted for 29 percent of the global market last year - it is reported that Chinese shoppers now do two-thirds of their luxury shopping abroad, which has triggered slowdowns in store traffic and store openings domestically. Therefore, in order to survive in China, luxury brands need to change their strategy to adapt to the shrinking demand in China.