The luxury market in China is moving into uncharted territory.

In the past, growth was for all – as the Chinese consumer was exposed to luxury brands’ advertising and offering, an incremental share of wallet in line with a booming economy, helped unlocked growth.In our new reality, growth must be earned, not given. In most cases, this means that growth is taken from another brand’s existing share.

Let us also couple this consideration with another important factor:

The point of purchase and point of influence are diverging.

During COVID, Chinese consumers fuelled the domestic luxury market, however different avenues are now meeting this demand with a return to spending overseas (especially in Japan).

However, they are still being exposed to local marketing and being influenced in China.If we blend these two concepts together, there is no more important time than now for brands to be communicating their values in the Chinese market.

Which brands are driving favorable interest against the competition?A simple way to look at this is by who is growing when it comes to followership. In the image below we can see the top 5 brands official account following growth across Weibo, RED, and Douyin for H1 2024.

💥Smaller Watch Brands make an impact – Until 2024, Tudor was a relatively nascent brand in China. Often overlooked at Rolex’s little sibling, it has made an impact in bringing the brand to China this year. Similarly Breitling and Glashutte highlight the potential for watches.

💥Entry Luxury Fashion looks to stimulate – Lacoste and Maison Kitsune have strongly leveraged strong celebrity activation, Golden Goose with its focus on category expansion has also seen an increased notoriety, and Tory Burch had the most absolute number of new followers on our list, enjoying the success of selling directly on Douyin to drive interest.

💥Top Luxury sees frontrunners – Loewe, taking a page out of the Lacoste playbook, signed Wang Yibo in June, Balenciaga held their 2025 Spring/Summer show in Shanghai, and Zegna held their exclusive Oasi Zegna experiential exhibition in May in Shanghai.

💥Dolce & Gabbana makes a quiet comeback though their opening of a new store in the trendy Zhuangyuan area in Shanghai that has helped boost their following.

Followers is one part of the equation, and next week on Monday 8th July we will release another. The COMPASS Index for Q2 serves to highlight the top brands that have driven engagement across China social. Highlighting risers and fallers as a way of understanding which brands have had impact.