Chinese consumers made up almost half of the world's buyers of luxury goods in 2015, spending a whopping 1.2 trillion yuan ($184 billion) overseas, according to China state-run news agency Xinhua.

Out of the amount, Chinese buyers purchased luxury products overseas last year amounting to $116.8 billion, representing 46 percent of the world's luxury goods sales, according to estimates made by Fortune Character--a luxury product consulting firm-- based on revenues of over 20,000 high end brands.

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The firm said about 91 billion luxury goods purchases were made by Chinese people abroad, accounting for 78 percent of the total Chinese luxury purchases.

                                                          Price difference

The report from Fortune Character showed that the main reason why Chinese people shop overseas is the 'price difference'.

The report said the price difference  of various items such as premium alcohol and high-end wristwatches abroad could reach 80 percent compared to the prices in the mainland. For clothes, perfumes, and cosmetics, the difference is usually 30 percent and below.

Chinese shoppers who prefer to shop abroad are reported to be usually in the age group ranging from 25-40. Shoppers between the ages of 25-30 usually shop for shoes, cosmetics, and clothes while those between 30-35 preferred bags and electronic gadgets, Those between the ages of 35-40 often purchase jewelry and health products.

                                                       Spending habits

Financial analysts say Chiinese consumers will continue to demand for luxury brands, but it will take some time before these consumers will focus their spending habits on the local market.

"The retail price of those products reflects the cost of taxes, delivery channels, rent and gross margins. Thus products we buy from duty-free stores in Hainan Province are still more expensive than those in foreign countries," Wang Weiqing, an expert with the Institute of Taxation at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said.

The Fortune Character report said the poor state of the development of the high-end retailing industry in Beijing, coupled with the lack of duty-free stores, have driven away the Chinese consumers, who have the spending power to pour in money into the domestic market.

                                                    Supply and demand

"We need to tackle the consumption outflow from both supply and demand," Zhou Ting, the President of the Fortune Character, said.

Zhou said China needs to reduce its taxes to lower retail price and improve the quality and technical level on its supply side to be able to attract Chinese consumers to the domestic market.

"Duty free stores in Japan and South Korea offer well-known international brands as well as domestically-made products. The quality improvement of national brands is the source of consumption," Zhou said. 

TagsFortune Character, Chinese shoppers, luxury goods, $184 billion worth of purchases, price difference, china