Buying in Hong Kong

Bateman

Just reading an article on the FT about how the luxury good market in Hong Kong is collapsing, and bricks and mortar retailers are slashing prices.

I don’t know how much an AD is allowed to “slash”, depending on what brands we are talking about, but has anyone here travelled through that part of the world lately and was anything noticeably cheap? Might be passing through over the next few months myself.

Homer

I presume most of the big brands operate their AD policies worldwide but they would be at risk of losing the dealership if word gets out that they are slashing prices. The AD may be more worried about putting food on the table and paying wages etc!!
I have noticed over recent years that both Paul Sheerans and Weirs have hired mandarin speakers to deal with the high volume of customers from the far east coming in with fistfuls of cash buying luxury watches. Exchange rates, VAT free prices and a bit of haggling would result in serious savings over buying at home.

Bluefoam

VAT free shopping is the key to Chinese spending. I see them come off buses here in Dubai in big groups and they swarm the watch shops...

However, Chinese currency is under threat at the moment & their spending habits are moving from a product based trend towards experiences. There is also a government crackdown on corporate gifting... Therefore they are not buying things like watches in the quantities that were expected... That means that all of the stock that was pushed to Asia now needs to be redistributed to the grey market or to be reduced in price.

If you are in that part of the world, set a realistic goal of what discount you'd like and see if you can work it out with an authorised dealer. Boutiques are more difficult, but IWC did offer me a discount in Singapore a couple of years ago.

Remember, you don't have to buy...