LONDON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Powerful consumption driven by massive middle class, a sustainable and inclusive business climate, innovative dynamics, economic resilience, booming imports and exports trade ... These are reasons given by European business leaders for their confidence in the Chinese market and expanding investment in the promising country.

GIGANTIC CONSUMPTION
During the COVID-19 pandemic, luxury brand Rapport London shifted its focus to digital economy, seeing a strong double-digit percentage growth in its online business across the world, especially in the booming online market of China.

"The Chinese market is set to become the largest luxury market by 2025, and we want to be a part of this growth," said Oliver Rapport, the CEO of Rapport London, in an interview with Xinhua.

"The importance of the Chinese market is paramount," said Rapport, adding that the luxury goods market in the Chinese mainland saw a significant boost in consumer spending in 2020 and is expected to grow continuously into the year of 2025.

Noting that his company has set up online stores on Chinese e-commerce platforms, including WeChat and Alibaba, both well-known to Chinese consumers, Rapport said. "It's a great opportunity for us, and we have received very welcoming responses on our social platforms such as Little Red Book, Weibo and again, WeChat."

Talking about the company's next move in China in the post-pandemic era, Rapport said that in addition to digital sales, he plans to open offline stores in collaboration with Chinese partners.

Swiss chocolate brand Laderach is also eyeing a sweet spot in this growing market, with ambitious expansion plans into China.

Laderach CEO Johannes Laderach said it was time to expand beyond the chocolate-loving nation of Switzerland, and head East. This comes after the nation's chocolate industry took a hard hit during the pandemic and Swiss per capita consumption of chocolate decreased to its lowest level in 40 years.

"A year ago we started with an online presence at Tmall, and in our own online store with a small team in China. The sales exceeded our wildest expectations. We are now opening our retail presence earlier than planned," he told Xinhua in a recent interview.

He stressed that Shanghai would mark a first entry point into the vast Chinese market. "We really believe in the city of Shanghai as the business capital of China. Other cities will also follow, and of course with our e-commerce presence we are available in the whole of China," he said.

China is expected to see the size of its private consumption more than double in the next decade, making the world's second largest economy a global consumption powerhouse, matching the size of the current U.S. market, according to a research report released earlier this year by Morgan Stanley.

"China is probably going to be the number one GDP country in the world in 2030. At the same time, the number of middle-class people within China is growing significantly," said John McLean, newly-appointed chair of the Institute of Directors for the City of London.

"The Chinese market is very important to British companies, especially by 2030," McLean told Xinhua.


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