Luxury goods group faces criticism over credibility issues

The World Luxury Association (WLA), a self-described U.S. international non-profit organization that has maintained a high profile in China's luxury industry in recent years, has been met with skepticism on the part of Chinese Internet users regarding the organization's credibility.

WLA is facing claims that it is a "fly-by-night" company and that its chief executive Ouyang Kun has used the company's name to fool luxury consumers into thinking it is a genuinely "global" organization.

Doubts about the WLA's credibility came after the association released a report on top global luxury brands earlier this year. The report included the names of many unknown companies, prompting microbloggers to investigate WLA's background.

On its official Chinese-language website (www.wla.hk), the WLA describes itself as an international non-profit organization "approved by the U.S. government and certified by the U.S. State Department." However, many of the website's links lead to blank pages with no content.

According to the Hong Kong regional government's Companies Registry, a company using the name "The World Luxury Association" was registered as a private and local company in Hong Kong on Feb. 4, 2006.

The WLA's English-language website uses a different domain (www.worldluxuryassociation.org) and is open only to registered members.

The authenticity of the organization's chief executive has even been called into question. An investigation by the Beijing News and several microbloggers revealed that "Ouyang Kun" previously went by the name "Mao Ouyangkun."

"I used to be Mao Ouyangkun," he told The Beijing News, "I changed it to my current name, Ouyang Kun, because the original name sounded awkward."

"All of the questions about the WLA have arisen because I am Chinese," the executive said.

The association has been very active in releasing data on China's luxury industry in recent years, earning itself a great deal of media coverage.

In a report released in January this year, the WLA said China had outstripped Japan to become the world's largest luxury goods market, with consumption of luxury goods reaching 12.6 billion U.S. dollars annually by the end of 2011, accounting for 28 percent of the global market.

McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm. said in a March report that China will not overtake Japan as the world's largest luxury market until 2015.

Ouyang argued that neither he nor his group has made any conscious efforts to trick anyone.

"If I'm a swindler, why have no victims come forward to testify?" he said. "None. Not a single client has said they have been dissatisfied with us."

Ouyang said he and the association have been treated unjustly because of his Chinese ethnicity, protesting what he believes to be a double-standard.

"If the founder of the WLA was a foreigner, would you recognize all he does?" he asked. "Why not question someone else, like the publisher of the Hurun Report?"

The Hurun Report is a monthly magazine that is known for its "China Rich List," a ranking of the wealthiest people in China. It is published by Rupert Hoogewerf, a Luxembourg accountant.

Hoogewerf was not immediately available for comment.