while we struggle to maintain sales numbers here in luxury markets in the US, china seems to be booming. interesting little fact, the chinese population expands by 10,000 annually & is expected to peak at 1.86 billion by the year 2030. with those numbers, its no wonder demands are reaching elevated levels beyond the US & european markets. in accordance with the escalating demands, companies, like the gap, are looking to expand in the chinese republic as well. taking advantage of a booming population can only benefit the lackluster numbers of the san francisco based retailer. though sales aren’t as lively for the gap as they were around 1998, the company still has a hold on the apparel market as “the largest U.S. apparel retailer by revenue“. while remaining on top of their game in revenue with as a stateside company, its only necessary for china to be the brands next conquest as their poplation edges closer & closer to out-populating the globe. plans to open the gap in china are scheduled for the first quarter of 2010.

beyond the walls of the gap & its cohorts like banana republic & old navy, are high end markets. much like the gap, other brands are looking to seek a rise in profits for their own businesses in keeping up with the climbing numbers of the chinese population. while sales at the gucci group have reportedly fallen to 6.4%, brands like louis vuitton are at a higher revenue expectance; thanks to the higher demand for the label in china. LVMH (louis vuitton moët hennessy), which owns louis vuitton, holds steady staying on top as the worlds leading luxury producing conglomerate. while gucci is sitting back debating over deliveries in a whole sale market, louis vuitton steadily climbs. reports say that the vuitton brand is ahead of the game in china, already conquering expansion in china. percentage jumps for gucci are reported to be 37%, which is major- but dont speak too soon because those numbers fall flat against vuittons 56% sales hop. reasons for vuittons unstoppable success in china is the brands ‘exceptional‘ demand for handbags. known rivals in the fashion game, gucci is nothing compared to the marketing giant of the house of vuitton. LVMH seen €11.9 billion in revenue for the first nine months of this year. within those first nine months the demand for luxury goods & fashion reached with the management group rose 7%, giving good reason for the french based luxury brand to open a location in mongolia. contributions to the louis vuitton revenue rise are being credited to the newly presented high end jewlery & damier graphite collections. while china continues to cash out bringing luxury brands & apparel companies, their higher demands & revenue calculations still come second to japan, as they reign supreme as the world’s largest luxury market. [SOURCE]