Publishers tap rich Chinese

Boating and luxury lifestyle publication 'China Yachting'

Specialist publishers are expanding into China to tap into the growing appetite for luxury goods among the country's "new rich".

Auckland-based D&B Publishing has launched the first edition of its China Yachting magazine in mainland China and Taiwan, with editions in simplified and traditional Chinese.

Next month, home and garden specialist Trends Publishing, also Auckland-based, will roll out a pre-publication test title in China ahead of the launch of Shanghai Trends, which will come out in Chinese six times a year from February.

ACNielsen China managing director Glen Murphy said the country's new middle class was relatively young compared with more developed markets around the world.

"Though time poor, young urban Chinese are increasingly cash rich and are behind the growth of China's promising luxury market," said Murphy.

The sector was defined by the trend to pull away from traditional values and instead focus on image and branding, he said.

Of China's 1.3 billion people, around 60 million in key urban centres had discretionary income to spend on consumer goods.

Nielsen Media Research figures showed Chinese consumers could choose from more than 2000 magazines and around 10,000 newspapers and 2000 TV channels.

Trends and D&B were working with distribution partners in China.

D&B director Doug Dukeson said there was huge growth in yachting in China but few magazines in Chinese about the pastime.

"At the moment I think there's about 70 or 80 marinas being constructed. For the wealthy, it's where they want to be seen."

Existing advertisers were keen on the new edition: "The engines that we run here are the same as they sell there, they're all generic boating products."

China Yachting content was drawn from a database of stories the company had from its other titles, said Dukeson, Pacific MotorYacht, NZ Propeller and Australian Propeller.

It was mainly educational, covering what to look for when buying a boat and how to control a vessel in bad weather.

"Right now the Chinese are very hungry for that information," said Dukeson. "It's our point of difference with the other [Chinese language yachting] magazine produced in China ... we are trying to get a little bit more into the basics and the education whereas the other magazine is more of a who's who."

The print run, initially 15,000, was projected to double within the next year.

Dukeson said: "We are hoping to have a strong subscription base."

Trends publishes home and garden titles tailored for markets around the globe, including America, with General Electric, Armstrong Flooring and James Hardie among its advertisers,

The company had researched the market in China for two years, said publisher David Johnson, and already published for several markets in Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong.

Expanding into Shanghai, with a small circulation initially, would grow revenue and brand exposure.

Johnson said building and home renovation was booming in that part of the world.

"I thought I was going over to Peasantsville but, I mean, it's like we're Peasantsville," said Johnson.

He visited developments with dozens of multimillion-dollar apartments.

Johnson said clients wanted exposure in China and an edition tailored to Beijing was also in the pipeline.