This article is from WeChat official account:Data line SJX (ID: shujuxian_kuaikan) , author: Zhang Yuan, Meng thin, the original title: “the Chinese bought nearly a quarter of Swiss watches, and eventually became the world’s first” head Figure from: vision China
Did you know? High-end watches have quietly become popular in China. China imports an average of about 2.34 million mechanical watches each year, contributing nearly 70% of imports. Among Swiss watch exporting countries and regions in 2020, Hong Kong, China and Mainland China together accounted for approximately 24.09% of total exports, ranking first.
1. Mechanical watches contributed nearly 70% of the import value, and the growth rate far exceeded that of electric watches
According to data from the General Administration of Customs, from 2016 to 2020, China’s imports of mechanical watches increased from 2.05 million to 2.49 million, a cumulative increase of 21.46% in the five years. As of 2020, mechanical watches accounted for approximately 10.14% of total watch imports, an increase of 2.53 percentage points from 2019.
From the perspective of import momentum, since 2017, the import volume of mechanical watches has continued to increase year-on-year for 4 years, with a maximum increase of 12%. In 2020, when the epidemic broke out, the number of electric watch imports decreased by 26.1% compared with 2019, and the import of mechanical watches continued to rise.
Manipulators with only about 10% of importsTable, but contributed nearly 70% of the import value. From 2014 to 2020, the import value of mechanical watches increased from 8.731 billion yuan to 18.219 billion yuan, a cumulative increase of about 108.67% in the past seven years, and the proportion of total imports increased from 64.59% to 69.42%.
How strong is the rise? Since 2018, the year-on-year growth rate of imports of mechanical watches has continued to exceed that of electric watches. As of 2020, imports of mechanical watches have increased by nearly 40% compared to 2019, which is 39 percentage points higher than that of electric watches.
The iResearch report shows that in 2017, when imported mechanical watches “bottomed out”, the high-end watch market in mainland China reached 16.05 billion yuan, an increase of 21.3% over the previous year.
Second, China has become the largest customer of Swiss watches, accounting for nearly 1/4 of the total export volume
According to data from the Swiss Federal Customs Administration, from 2010 to 2019, Hong Kong, China has always been the region with the highest export volume of Swiss watches. In 2020, when the epidemic is raging, mainland China begins to rise. Swiss watch exports to China reached 2.394 billion Swiss francs, and China became the region with the highest Swiss watch exports for the first time.
Overall, the total value of Swiss watch exports to China in 2020 is about 4.091 billion Swiss francs, accounting for about 24.09% of the total global Swiss watch exports, ranking second in comparison.The United States is 12.39 percentage points higher. China has become the largest export customer of Swiss watches.
3. Quartz and smart watches successively impact mechanical watches “turning against the wind”
Globally, in the 1970s, Swiss mechanical watches encountered Japanese “quartz” challenges. In 1969, the Japanese Seiko (Seiko) Quartz Astron 35SQ quartz watch came out, which had a strong impact on the Swiss watch industry, and the low-end mechanical watch was wiped out. .
In response to the impact, brands such as Patek Philippe and Rolex turned to mechanical watches with complex structures. Swatch, Richemont and Louis Vuitton, whose watch division is located in Switzerland, began planned mergers and acquisitions.
As a result, the sales of mechanical watches with complex structures rebounded and returned to the ranks of “luxury goods”. Swiss foreign trade data show that from 1995 to 2010, the export volume of Swiss watches decreased by nearly 40%, but the average unit price increased by more than 5 times.
In China, the world’s major luxury market, Swiss watches are still the most popular. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, from 2014 to 2020, China’s imports of watches and parts from Switzerland increased from approximately 12.048 billion yuan to 21.45 billion yuan, a cumulative increase of over 78% in seven years. The amount of watches and parts imported from Japan basically remained at the level of 3 billion yuan, and fell to 2.568 billion yuan in 2020.
In recent years, with the rise of smart watches, mechanical watches are facing the second round of challenges. According to Euromonitor International, the sales of mechanical watches were overtaken by smart watches in 2016. According to Canalyst data, 20In 2017, Apple alone sold 18 million smart watches, which is equivalent to 75% of the total sales of Swiss watches. Can high-end mechanical watches continue to win?
Four. The increase in watch sales is much lower than that of other luxury goods
From the perspective of the global luxury goods market, China’s mainland market share will almost double in 2020. In 2025, China is expected to occupy the largest share of the global luxury goods market.
The McKinsey report analyzes that the growth of luxury consumption in China is the same as that of upper-middle income households(Monthly disposable income is between 17,450 and 26,180 yuan)< The rise of /span> is closely related. According to data from iResearch, in 2016, the proportion of Chinese urban households with a disposable income of between 103,000 yuan and 222,000 yuan accounted for about 43%, and this proportion will expand to 66% by 2025.
In the future, the luxury market will compete on the same platform. What is the chance of winning high-end watches? According to reports by Bain and others, in 2020, the growth of watch sales in the luxury goods market in mainland China is only 20%, which is much lower than that of luggage, leather goods and jewelry. 80%), ready-to-wear and shoes (40%~50%) and skin care products, makeup and perfumes(25%).
As a consumer, have you been tempted by high-end watches?
This article is from WeChat official account:Data line SJX (ID: shujuxian_kuaikan) , author: Zhang Yuan, Meng dilute