20 Jun 2023
Consumers in Southeast Asia are likely to maintain spending on luxury goods
Milieu Insight, Southeast Asia’s leading consumer research firm, has released its latest study on luxury goods consumption in the region. The study found that 42% of Southeast Asian consumers will likely maintain their spending on luxury goods despite inflation in mind, and almost 2 in 10 consumers will likely spend more. The top reasons respondents would consider purchasing luxury goods are superior product quality (57%), product longevity (57%), and uniqueness of products (44%) such as the design or craftsmanship.
According to the study, the top five luxury consumption categories in the region are tech gadgets (67%), fashion (56%), beauty and wellness (51%), jewellery (45%), and bags/wallets (43%).ฃ
The study also revealed 8 in 10 respondents bought luxury goods for their personal use, while 2 in 10 made luxury purchases as gifts to others. In the Philippines, there were some entrepreneurial individuals, with 2 in 10 buying luxury goods with the intention to resell them. Regionally, tech gadgets such as computers and mobile phones were the top luxury category that saw the most purchases in the past year. Vietnam topped other countries at 54%, and Singapore shoppers (45%) spent the most on luxury bags and wallets. When queried on the types of luxury goods that respondents would generally tend to purchase for themselves, 61% of respondents in Singapore picked bags and wallets. In both Singapore and Thailand, excellent craftsmanship was the first choice for many respondents when it came to picking their most important brand value, and jewellery purchases in both these markets were typically luxury goods that 4 in 10 respondents would generally tend to purchase for themselves. Overall, across the region, the top category that consumers would spend on themselves was still tech gadgets, with 5 in 10 respondents likely choosing to spend money on computers and mobile phones while considering these gadgets as luxury items.
Methodology: Based on Milieu Insight surveys with N=500 respondents each from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, conducted in March 2023
