Luxury brands look to lifestyle. CÉLINE. Luxury faces tough quest for next big market. The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own. With China demand slowing and a weaker yuan, luxury brands face less fashionable growth. Since the currency’s surprise devaluation on Aug. 11, shares of brands like LVMH and Swatch who rely heavily on China’s bauble-hunters have fallen 13 percent and 14 percent respectively.
Finding the right mix of scale, rising incomes and inequality for luxury’s next hotspot will be tricky. China has gone from a blip on luxury’s radar 15 years ago to the source of a third of global sales. The conditions for a luxury growth story are pretty specific. India has many of the same conditions. Brazil has also lost appeal as its currency has fallen in value. The most promising market might not be emerging but re-emerging. How Not to Extend Your Luxury Brand. In 1972, Diane von Furstenberg created the multifunctional wrap dress, which captured the imagination—and the pocketbooks—of a generation. By 1976, she had sold more than five million of her designs and was hailed by Newsweek as “the most marketable woman in fashion since Coco Chanel.”
Von Furstenberg didn’t stop there: She developed a line of beauty products and fragrances and stamped her name on everything from luggage to eyewear to jeans to books. The strategy worked at first. Von Furstenberg’s premium name generated high margins for every product it adorned, regardless of the category. What happened? But our study of 150 luxury brands, involving interviews with more than 300 executives worldwide and analyses of approximately ten years’ worth of financial data for each brand, shows that this rule doesn’t always hold.
Consider Louis Vuitton and Cartier, each of which has gross margins above 79%. Of course, some brands leap successfully among categories. What does the rise of digital marketing mean for luxury brands? | Marketing luxury goods (Feb 15) The rise of digital marketing is changing the way luxury brands engage with customers, and traditional companies must embrace what is now possible in today’s connected and mobile world or be left behind. “The luxury industry is at a turning point,” said Chris Moody, creative director at brand consultant Wolff Olins, speaking at a seminar hosted by the Guardian and held in association with Harrods Media. An invited audience joined industry experts to debate the risks and creative opportunities for luxury brands enabled by digital technology. Digital interaction was a feature of the event itself, as audience members participated through an iPad app, submitting questions and voting on which ones should be addressed by the panel.
The automotive industry is an example of the profound change wrought by digital, said Laura Schwab, marketing director at Jaguar Land Rover. “The amount of times people actually go to a car dealership has diminished. “We do no big bulk emails,” said Schwab. Digital Marketing Strategies of a Luxury Brand. Researchers dig into why global consumers buy luxury goods. 10:13 a.m., Feb. 6, 2013--A young woman in Tokyo pays 243,000 Yen for a Louis Vuitton suitcase emblazoned with the company’s iconic monogram. A continent away, another woman purchases the same suitcase at the company’s store on New York’s 5th Avenue for the equivalent price in dollars, $3,000. Why? What motivates their purchases? And, do those motivations hinge on their location? That is precisely what University of Delaware researcher Jaehee Jung and her collaborators at universities in nine other countries sought to answer.
Their findings published recently in the journal, Psychology & Marketing, compared consumers’ perceptions of luxury. Despite the glum worldwide economy, luxury goods are selling well. In the U.S. it’s about hedonism. “American consumers generally buy goods for self fulfillment, rather than to please others,” she said. Jung surveyed American college students. Hedonistic tendencies may be creeping into countries with developing economies. Article by Andrea Boyle Tippett. Why Do We Buy Luxury Brands—and How Do They Make Us Feel? From Givenchy and Alexander Wang, Competing Visions of New York. Photo On Sept. 11, as the sun set over the Hudson and bathed in silver and rose, Givenchy held a fashion show on Pier 26, on the far western edges of TriBeCa, in the shadows of the skyline. The decision, when first announced, seemed tone deaf.
After all, fashion, especially very expensive fashion, with its implied frivolity and self-indulgence (and self-aggrandizement) is generally seen as occupying the opposite extreme from tragedy and sacrifice. To juxtapose the two was to invite public opprobrium. Especially because Givenchy is based in Paris and had come to New York to celebrate the opening of a new temple to consumption (i.e., store), as well as the designer Riccardo Tisci’s 10th anniversary at the label. Nominally the subject was lingerie-meets-tuxedo dressing, masculine and feminine, but on a more abstract level it was oppositions, good and evil, and the endless choices we face in these areas every day.
Continue reading the main story Slide Show Continue reading the main story Ms. Mr. Luxe Strategy: Luxury Brands Using Social Media | WHY THIS WAY. Louis Vuitton - Ad Campaign How Should Luxury Brands Engage in Social Media? This past week, Women’s Wear Daily released an extensive recap of the WWD Luxury Forum. The consensus among luxury professionals is that luxury brands and retailers need to build solid marketing foundations online and those foundations (based off of social media) should focus on building communities and keeping audiences engaged.
Ogilvy Digital 360’s Rohit Bhargava and Forrester Research Analyst Jeremiah Owyang recently compiled better practice recommendations for luxury brands venturing into the social media arena. Can luxury retailers venture into social marketing without losing their prestige, aspirational values and sophistication? In order for luxury brands to distinguish themselves diluting their brand, Owyang suggests that luxury brands: 1. 2. My Thoughts: This is usually our first recommendation to clients: add social sharing buttons. 3. Fashism.com 4. 5. British luxury goods market set to double. The British luxury market is in rude health. In fact, it is predicted to practically double in size from 2013 – making it worth £51 to £57 billion by 2019. This intelligence comes as the result of a report conducted by Frontier Economics for British luxury trade group Walpole which has the UK's high-end and cultural industries growing at around 7.8%.
The figures comprise those taken from a range of luxury brands across fashion, accessories, jewellery, timepieces, premium beauty, automobiles, wines and spirits – not least British luxury behemoths Burberry and Rolls-Royce. The last set of data recorded in 2013 had sales within these areas totalling £32.3 billion. This forecast is extremely positive news for the industry, especially in view of decreased demand for luxury goods in the Chinese market due to its economic slowdown, and comes notwithstanding the release of weak sales figures from Burberry. Transgender Models Strike A Pose In New Barneys Ads, Catalogs: PHOTOSNewNowNext.
By Eric Shorey 1/30/2014 Valentijn (on left) wears Giorgio Armani. Ryley (center) wears Armani Collezioni. Leonard and Gloria wear their own clothes. Photo © Bruce Weber. Barneys has taken a progressive step forward with its new ad campaign and catalogs: Shot by legendary photographer Bruce Weber, “Brothers, Sisters, Sons & Daughters“ features some 17 trans men and women sporting high-end fashion available at the luxe retailer “I was exquisitely aware that in the last decade, the [lesbian, gay and bi] communities have made extraordinary advances, and the transgender community has not shared in that progress,” Barneys marketing exec Dennis Freedman, formerly the creative director of W magazine, told the New York Times. The models are depicted interacting with family members and loved ones (while still looking devastatingly gorgeous) and their personal stories are being shared on a Barney’s mini-site, The Window.
View some images from the “Brothers Sisters, Sons and Daughters” campaign below. How Premium Fashion Brands Are Maximizing Their Social Media ROI. Social media and digital technology have forever changed the retail industry. In 2011, brands and retailers have reached a tipping point, digital innovations have decentralized commerce, and real-time consumer demand for designer merchandise has forever changed retail production cycles. Many fashion brands, mocked for their inability to move with the web because of a fear of accessibility, are no longer fighting the flow.
Through their embrace of social media and social commerce, fashion brands are now innovating and profiting from their online marketing strategies. Luxury and premium brands are starting to lead the way for all retailers looking to connect with their customers and build online revenue channels. Fashion Brands and Social Commerce Online shopping is becoming a socially connected event.
During the past year, the luxury market experienced a digital tipping point, with many brands rolling out new e-commerce sites, social media campaigns and mobile applications.