Ferrari: Chinese vs Western Consumer Behaviour

Can we start by describing the difference in the Chinese versus the Western consumer, in purchasing luxury vehicles?

It’s a huge difference, actually. The difference is not really between the Chinese and the West. It’s more about developing countries and developed countries. I think China is, to a certain extent, partly a developing country, so there is still not full recognition of certain iconic brands; at least what the Western world considers iconic brands. Their approach to the brand is a bit less emphatic. They take the brand, they use it. Sometimes it looks good and they keep it, tick the box. Done; what’s next? There is multi-experiencing of different brands. There is no historical heritage. There is no loyalty. At least, there was no loyalty or heritage. Now it is changing somewhat.

In practical terms, what does it mean? It means that I know that to accomplish my success, I need to have a Ferrari in the garage. I buy the Ferrari, I put it in the garage and I forget about it. Maybe next time, I will buy a McLaren and the time after, I will buy a Rolls Royce, if I can afford it. There is no real loyalty. The first round of purchasing was done absolutely in that way. Now, the ripple chasing is the rule of the game. When you sold your luxury item, for the first time – and it could be true for a car, a watch, a yacht or something else – an item that is a historical brand and is very iconic in the Western world that some people wanted to have it, then they bought it. After that, there is the repurchase process.

The repurchase process is not automatic because people tend to have the world range of iconic brands, before they go back and fall in love with one brand. This is, I think, the real challenge. This challenge is the challenge everywhere in the world but in China, particularly, it is to get the loyalty of the client. Get him or her to repurchase your product. Once they become a repeater, in that moment, you start to establish loyalty and you can leverage the worldwide tools to retain the clients. The real key issue is the repurchase.