Luxury brands wrestle with slowing growth in emerging markets
22 Apr '09
4 min read
Though luxury companies will face increased pressures in 2009, Ms. D'Arpizio cautions them to resist overreacting to anticipated declines. Bain's analysis shows a long-term trend of continued growth in the number of luxury customers with the new segments emerging, including:
• newly affluent consumers in emerging markets, especially working women, • men who are more willing to pamper themselves, • younger generations with new tastes and styles, • the number of high net worth individuals. According to Bain's '2009 China Private Wealth Study,' the number of Chinese high net worth individuals (those with more than 10 million RMB, or approximately $1.5 million) is estimated to grow by 6% in 2009.
Concludes D'Arpizio, “Changing values and consumer habits are creating tremendous opportunities for brands to win new customers and strengthen their relationships with existing ones. While today's economic turbulence is requiring a hard look at costs, luxury goods producers would be wise to also keep an eye on the future.”