Chinese premium brands challenge Western rivals amidst weak spending

Wang calls sharing a frame with global names the only way to lift perception.

Chinese premium brands are challenging established Western names in their home market but may not yet qualify as luxury brands, and some are looking to Hong Kong to strengthen their international positioning.

Speaking at the Retail Asia Summit 2026 in Hong Kong, YCP managing partner and Greater China regional CEO Charles Wang said price is the first test of luxury, and the hero products of these brands cost a fraction of their Western peers’.

Asked whether the brands are truly luxury yet, Wang answered, “Probably not.”

He cited NIO’s flagship ES9 at about $75,000, which he called a “good value option” for wealthy buyers against Porsche. He also pointed to monthly sales of more than 10,000 units for NIO ES9.

He also showed a photo he took last year of about 50 Moutai bottles used as tributes in a Shenzhen restaurant.

Wang said basketball player Yao Ming bought the NIO ES8 as his personal car and did not receive it from the brand.

“I would say some of these brands are reaching some boundaries, some level or some sense of premiumness, at least for Chinese consumers,” Wang said.

Chinese brands are using Hong Kong in three ways: brand origin, brand expression, and partnerships.

Under brand origin, brands establish a position in Hong Kong to bring back domestic wealthy consumers and feed back into the home market.

Brand expression lets brands test how to express their products across cultures, drawing on Hong Kong’s bilingual environment, such as describing baijiu with wine-tasting terms like aged, vintage, and leather.

Partnerships let brands share a frame with global brands to lift their perception and reach the same customer base.

Wang said Hong Kong offers heavy consumption and high transience, and it ranks near the top of his chart alongside Singapore.

He traced the brands’ rise to consumer behaviour in China.

The average age for buying a first car in China is below 30, against 50 in Western Europe, citing a figure he read in the press.

A consensus on Chinese social media also said that white-collar women buy a Louis Vuitton Neverfull as their first bag after their first paycheque.

Wang said first-time buyers look at a brand’s facade and history, but after a first bag, car, or premium watch they look deeper at craftsmanship and value.

Consumers study ingredients and tests through social media, he said, and 80% of the 1970s and 1980s generation, which he described as the majority of consumers today, hold STEM degrees.

“They want to establish this causality in their minds to really understand the premiumness of a product,” Wang said.

Wang said he took a group of Western investors to China, who were struck by Chinese and international brands sharing one department-store floor, which he said forces brands to be smarter.

He named five levers for the brands: category innovation, value systems, product engineering, five-senses communication, and service execution.

On category innovation, Wang said lower battery and electric engine costs let electric vehicle makers add experiences such as multiple screens in the car.

On product engineering, he said a sportswear brand aimed to match global brands on yarn and finishing because Chinese consumers feel the fabric first and check the stitching.

On service execution, Wang described a 63-page tasting-event manual covering when to give a drunk guest a free taxi or laundry ticket.

“They want to be in the same frame with global brands, because that's the only way for those brands to elevate their brand perception and also reach future assets, the same actual customer base,” he said.