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Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: Luxury goods execs discuss global demand
Check out what executives at luxury retailers around the world are saying about consumer demand.
Early feedback from the Reuters Global Luxury Summit, which gathered top executives from Asia, Europe and the United States, sounds positive. Some executives even predicted that the sector will rebound this year after suffering during the weak economy.
Paris-based luxury fund SG Gestion, for instance, said watches and spirits are set for a solid comeback, with LVMH, Swatch and Richemont topping the list of companies with the biggest upside.
Meanwhile, sales at British luxury fashion brand Jaeger have grown strongly, helped by a booming online business that is set to double in size over three years. Italian fashion house Valentino is building up its business and Japanese upscale jeweler Mikimoto and Japanese cosmetics firm Shiseido are eyeing growth in China.
Consumer industry eyes more cost cuts than other sectors
Consumer product manufacturers and retailers have a relatively sharp eye for cost-cutting, speed and expanding into new markets, a report released on Thursday showed.
Sixty two percent of consumer and retail firms see additional opportunities to lower costs in their supply chains, compared with just 48 percent across all sectors, according to Ernst & Young‘s Opportunity in Adversity research. That means cuts above and beyond the trimming that has already been completed.
Check Out Line: Austerity the “must-have” item for luxury buyers
Check out what top executives from the global luxury sector have to say.
Chief executives from Burberry Group, Hermes, Tiffany, Rolls-Royce and Richmont’s Van Cleef & Arpels are among the many officials who will speak this week at Reuters’ first-ever Global Luxury Summit about what their sector is facing amid a recession that has even well-heeled consumers dialing back spending.
In a new report, Bain & Co predicts sales of luxury goods are expected to drop 10 percent this year and not recover fully until 2012.
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