U.S. handbag maker Coach says the China region will make up over 4 percent of its turnover by 2013 as it expands into 100 cities across the country over the next 10 to 15 years, betting its increasingly well-heeled consumers will demand more brand-name products.

U.S. handbag maker Coach on Wednesday said it will acquire its own domestic retail businesses in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China from its current distributor, the ImagineX group.

Strong evidence is emerging that consumer spending, a bulwark against recession over the last year even as energy prices surged and the housing market sputtered, has begun to slow sharply at every level of the American economy, from the working class to the wealthy.

Shoppers jammed stores over the last weekend before Christmas to try to scoop up bargains. But the spending surge may not be enough to offset what is shaping up to be a mediocre December for some retailers.