Fair-value luxury goods for SW China

The Old Town of Lijiang, Yunnan province, expects to open an East Domain shopping center, this August, so that local consumers will have access to luxury goods at a lower price.

The shopping mall, which will cover 2,600 square meters, is being handled by Franshion Properties, a company under the real estate and hotel segments of Sinochem Group, one of the Fortune Global 500 companies, and Shanghai Yilang International Trade, an import and export business in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

It will have 15 international luxury brands, such as Armani and Burberry, according to the Franshion vice-president who explained that these "fair-value" luxury goods can enter the Chinese market at the same time and at the same price as foreign ones through greater cooperation with outside enterprises.

He went on to say that luxury goods in China have long suffered from price discrimination, with high tariffs and a large number of middlemen, so the prices are much higher than in western markets, causing a number of Chinese to travel abroad for luxury goods.