What a Hong Kong tai tai likes to spend her money on – and how luxury brands can help
The ultra-wealthy Hong Kong wife is a savvy consumer who appreciates personalised care and great customer service, yet brands have largely neglected her. Here’s why they shouldn’t
The “trophy wife” is a cliché that doesn’t apply to Hong Kong’s high-caste women. These women, who end up marrying the city’s high-status men, are almost always either highly-educated, super-sophisticated socialites or high-powered career women.
In fact, because of her immense fortune, we often see the tai tai as an extravagant, self-indulgent consumer – but don’t expect her to flaunt her wealth
The South China Morning Post points out that the number of Hong Kong career women marrying Chinese men has skyrocketed over the past few decades because “educated Hong Kong women are attracted to the ‘three highs’ in successful Chinese men: high education, high position at work, and high income.” But because of traditional family structures and cultural imprints, many of these women give up their careers after marriage to become caretakers and high-profile wives.
Interestingly enough, a global survey by HSBC shows that, compared to other Asians, Hong Kong women are more likely to sacrifice their career and embrace a homemaker role. Just to put things into perspective, only five per cent of working mothers in China would leave their careers after having a child, but 26 per cent of Hong Kong women in the workforce would be willing to do so.
According to Ruchika Tulshyan from Forbes, “in developed economies like Hong Kong and Singapore, it’s considered a gift if a woman can choose to leave her career if her husband earns enough to cover the family.” Ruchika also says that “Asian women will openly admit, even proudly, if their husbands are out-earning them,” and they don’t experience any social stigma for being housewives.
Naturally, once a woman becomes a tai tai (太太) she has a higher disposable income level and more time for leisure pursuits. Therefore, activities such as spa treatments, charitable projects, exclusive shopping sprees, and luxury holidays are included in daily tasks. Accordingly, the tai tai with her high-consumption lifestyle can be considered the quintessential luxury consumer.
Accordingly, the tai tai with her high-consumption lifestyle can be considered the quintessential luxury consumer
Interestingly enough, despite being brand-conscious and having significant purchasing power and luxury know-how, the tai tai consumer group is still largely neglected in luxury marketing campaigns in China. Although ernai (mistresses) and sheng nu (“leftover women”) have both been clearly targeted by luxury brands in the past, that’s not the case with this group of affluent wives who remain less understood.
