Global sales of luxury goods—including gold, precious jewelry, and watches—surged in recent months and have an even better outlook going forward, consulting firm Bain & Co. said this week.
The global luxury goods market was 172 billion euros (US$254 billion) in 2010, Bain said, which is 14 percent higher than a slump experienced by the industry in 2009, when much of the world was still mired in a recession.
Buoyed by demand from North America, Europe, and China, luxury goods sales are expected to grow another 8 percent this year, to 185 billion euros. Bain’s predictions are based on data from industry participants such as LVMH Moet Hennessy and Burberry.
“Luxury has made a brilliant return to the retail stage, but the script has been rewritten,” said Claudia D'Arpizio, Bain partner in Milan, Italy, and lead author of the firm’s 2011 study. “More demanding customers, generational shifts, new loyalty rules, an increasingly integrated offline and digital customer experience and the continued growth of China and other fast-growing markets are transforming the luxury industry.”
Bain predicts that the United States will remain the world’s biggest market for luxury goods, but the Greater China region (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) is expected to surpass Japan in demand for luxury goods with a 25 percent year-over-year gain. The recent earthquake in Japan is likely to affect consumer demand, which Bain expects to decline by 5 percent.
Other emerging markets, such as Russia, the Middle East, and Brazil, are also expected to be major importers of luxury goods.
The global luxury goods market was 172 billion euros (US$254 billion) in 2010, Bain said, which is 14 percent higher than a slump experienced by the industry in 2009, when much of the world was still mired in a recession.
Buoyed by demand from North America, Europe, and China, luxury goods sales are expected to grow another 8 percent this year, to 185 billion euros. Bain’s predictions are based on data from industry participants such as LVMH Moet Hennessy and Burberry.
“Luxury has made a brilliant return to the retail stage, but the script has been rewritten,” said Claudia D'Arpizio, Bain partner in Milan, Italy, and lead author of the firm’s 2011 study. “More demanding customers, generational shifts, new loyalty rules, an increasingly integrated offline and digital customer experience and the continued growth of China and other fast-growing markets are transforming the luxury industry.”
Bain predicts that the United States will remain the world’s biggest market for luxury goods, but the Greater China region (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) is expected to surpass Japan in demand for luxury goods with a 25 percent year-over-year gain. The recent earthquake in Japan is likely to affect consumer demand, which Bain expects to decline by 5 percent.
Other emerging markets, such as Russia, the Middle East, and Brazil, are also expected to be major importers of luxury goods.
