Hotelfinity

Goodbye Louis Vuitton. China’s Gen Z leans into ‘dupe economy’ as growth prospects stall

These days, the Chinese are spending their more limited funds on so-called “pingti” products, high-quality replicas of branded goods known in English as dupes. Some are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, while others are inspired by the original design and offer more colors or textures. The popularity of this product category is soaring as consumer confidence in China nears a historic low, according to analysts.

The “obvious” economic slowdown has resulted in social media searches for dupes tripling from 2022 to 2024, said Laurel Gu, a Shanghai-based director of Mintel, a market research firm.

Gu said that unlike 10 years ago when Chinese shoppers, the world’s top luxury spenders, were clamoring for Western goods from famous brands, consumers are now increasingly turning to more affordable alternatives, a trend that is becoming “the new mainstream.”

Dupes can be considerably cheaper than their branded rivals. A pair of Lululemon’s (LULU) Align yoga pants costs 750 yuan ($106) on its official Chinese website. By contrast, a search of popular e-commerce sites including Tmall yields dozens of other options, often using Lulu in their store names, touting similar leggings for as little as $5 and claiming to be of comparable quality.

Cautious consumers

A year and a half after China reopened its borders following the Covid-19 pandemic, consumer confidence is still struggling to recover, economists at investment bank Nomura wrote in a research note earlier this month.

“Why dupe? Pay cut, of course!” she quipped.

To put that in perspective, they said, it’s as if each three-person household in China has lost around $60,000, an amount that is almost five times China’s per capita gross domestic product.

Robren Show: Expert Insights You Can Trust.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/23/business/china-dupe-economy-hnk-intl/index.html

.

Analysis: Goodbye Louis Vuitton. China’s Gen Z leans into ‘dupe economy’ as growth prospects stall | CNN Business China’s economic slowdown means people are spending their more limited funds on so-called “pingti” products, high-quality replicas of branded goods known in English as dupes.