Chuo Ward, Tokyo, Japan – February 23, 2018; Top luxury shopping streets with multi colored neon signs. Ginza avenues are lined with shops of expensive brands and restaurants in the heart of Tokyo. It is half past five p.m. on Friday. People flock to Ginza for shopping, dinner and drinking with their friends. Ginza became synonymous with major shopping districts in Japan.
Marco Ferrarin | Moment | Getty Images
SHANGHAI — Luxury brands are seeing a surge in sales in Japan, largely driven by purchases from Chinese travelers taking advantage of a weak yen, according to earnings results this month.
LVMH, Kering and Burberry all noted the uptick, despite weaker sales in China that weighed on overall results.
Japan sales for Kering-owned Yves Saint Laurent surged by 42% in the first half of the year “due to strong growth in the number of tourists visiting from China and Southeast Asia, who were attracted by the pricing differential arising from the favorable exchange rate,” the parent company said Wednesday of its second-largest brand.
For the first half of the year, luxury group LVMH this week reported “exceptional growth in Japan arising in particular from purchases made by Chinese travelers.”
The Chinese yuan has gained 6.9% against the yen so far this year after this month hitting its strongest level against the Japanese currency in at least 24 years, according to Wind Information data going back to 2000.
The yen has fallen to 38-year lows against the U.S. dollar as the interest rate differential between the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan remains wide.
Global visitors to Japan surged in the first half of the year, with South Korea accounting for the most travelers, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
But visitors from mainland China by far grew the most, surging by 415% in the first half of the year to 3.1 million visitors, the data showed.
Trip.com told CNBC it has seen an increase in spending from Chinese travelers heading to Japan in recent months compared to the previous three months. The travel service reported more than 60% growth both in bookings made through their customized travel team, and in their global shopping service, which partners with luxury brands worldwide. Trip did not specify which months, citing forthcoming earnings which have historically been released in September.
On Chinese social media sites like Weibo and Xiao Hong Shu, users have shared tips on where to luxury shop in Japan.
One netizen urged fellow netizens to save money — by shopping in Japan. She lauded a shopping mall in Sapporo for being the “top” standard for shopping with a “pretty” Gucci store.
Another post that CNBC viewed saw the creator saying that they “shopped till their legs turned jelly.”
Affluent Chinese households’ interest in visiting Japan rose by 5 percentage points in May versus a survey done last year in September, according to a study by consulting firm Oliver Wyman. The income segment covers families in mainland China earning at least…
Read More: Chinese shoppers flock to Japan to take advantage of the weak yen