Chanel lowers prices to fit new market trend

Customers wait in a long queue outside a Chanel store at Shanghai International Financial Center in Shanghai on March 19, 2015. [Photo/CFP]

Chanel SA, the French luxury fashion and accessories house, announced on March 17 that it was cutting prices in China, and more European luxury brands have followed suit to trigger a wave of price cut to compete for Chinese consumers in the world's fastest growing consumer market. Comments:

Chanel's price adjustment initiative reduces the price gaps between its products in China and Europe. We welcome this change, and believe the move will promote the return of Chinese consumers to domestic buying. We will take measures to let Chinese consumers have access to high-end consumer goods at reasonable prices at home, so as to stabilize and expand domestic consumption.

Shen Danyang, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, March 31

Chanel's price adjustment follows changes in the market. Chinese people's consumption has become more rational than before. The new normal for Chinese consumers will make more businesses adjust their strategies.

People's Daily, March 31

The anti-graft campaign has cultivated a 'gift-giving phobia' among businesspeople and civil servants. The more rational consumption that has resulted has been felt by the luxury brands. The maturing of Chinese purchasing habits has caused Chanel to cut its prices rather than currency exchange rates and the parallel resell market.

Beijing Youth Daily, March 21

The lower prices of luxury goods will make them more affordable for the young. Chanel's price cuts are the bait with which it seeks to hook younger consumers in China.

Wang Rongjun, a middle-school teacher in Wuhan, Hubei province, March 21