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Business / Industries

Chinese demand keeps watchmakers ticking in Lucerne

By Bloomberg News in Geneva (China Daily) Updated: 2012-12-31 09:51

Chinese shoppers

To cope with the steady stream of Chinese shoppers, about 30 of the 200-odd staff speak Mandarin. Bucherer also offers Chinese-language lessons for employees, as well as training on how best to interact with Asian shoppers and what the concept of "face" means for them.

Among the key sales periods for Bucherer, which has more than 20 stores in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, are the week around Chinese National Day on Oct 1, as well as Chinese New Year in January or February and the Thai New Year in April, Baumann said.

"The planning starts one year ahead in our themes and how we decorate the stores," Baumann said. "People want to know they're in Switzerland, but it's a little gesture so they're aware we know it's their holiday."

As many as 3,000 Asian tourists a day visit the Bucherer flagship in Lucerne after sightseeing in the surrounding Alpine landscape. Sales at the shop could reach 1 million Swiss francs ($1.1 million) daily at peak times, said Rene Weber, an analyst at Bank Vontobel in Zurich. The store doesn't disclose revenue.

"It's like a machine," he said. "If a Chinese person goes on a trip to Europe, they tend to start in Italy and end in Paris or London. In between, they usually stop in Switzerland and buy something at Bucherer in Lucerne."

More than 200,000 visitors from greater China stayed in Lucerne or surrounding area during the first nine months of this year, more than double the number during the same period in 2007, according to the town's tourism bureau.

The winding streets around Bucherer, lined with ornate, century-old buildings, show the growing importance of Asian tourists. At some watch stores in the area Chinese signs are bigger than those in European languages, and shop windows sometimes display phonetic renderings of brand names in Chinese characters.

Outside Bucherer, Zheng Xianjun takes in views of the bustling town center and lake after spending almost 3,000 francs on a Longines watch for his wife.

"I'm not buying it for any special occasion," said Zheng, a 40-year-old mobile phone salesman from China's Guangdong province. "I don't go abroad all that much and my wife wanted me to get her a watch while I was here."

 

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