By Jayce Crowther, Max Cheng, Josh Lunbeck, Alice Cheng and Chiu Chien-Kuo
Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) knows the importance of doing business in China. In its 2009 annual report, it stated that Asia excluding Japan, accounted for more that 28 percent of revenue in leather goods, more than any other region. LVMH’s flagship brand in this industry is Louis Vuitton (LV), and the report commented that “the brand has made spectacular headway in Asia (especially China.)”[i] In fact, LV already has stores in 27 Chinese cities and is one of the most popular luxury brands there. However, with great success comes imitation, and in LV’s case this isn’t done purely through rivals, but though counterfeit items - exact copies of the very same goods that LV sells. Although counterfeit goods can be found in any country, the problem is especially prevalent in China, where it is a major industry and fake goods can be found on the street and in major markets. The consumers are also different. In other countries customers may be duped into buying fake goods, but in China customers knowingly make purchases of counterfeit items. Thus far, tough stances taken by companies such as LV have been met with limited success. To successfully tackle the problem of piracy in China, LV will need to better understand Chinese consumers and culture.
