Tuesday, September 22, 2020

COVID Accelerates Winners, Buries Losers

This is usually a busy month for the luxury industry. The second quarter of 2020 was the luxury fashion industry’s worst. 

According to estimates by Boston Consulting Group, global luxury sales are set to contract by 25 percent to 45 percent this year, with industry growth unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2023 or 2024. 

The luxury sector currently has more than double the amount of stock on its hands than it usually would at this time of year, much of which is now unlikely to be sold at full price. Many brands have been using brick-and-mortar discount outlets or online marketplaces to try to shift the designer clothes piling up in warehouses. Brands that fared better this year were generally those that relied on data to gain a granular understanding of where their stock was. This allowed them to move supply from the West to better performing regions like the Asian markets, where huge crowds unleashing pent-up demand for luxury goods.

China, which was already the fastest-growing luxury market before the pandemic, will become even more vital to brands’ success as North American and European markets remain unpredictable. And everywhere, offline retail has had to go online — and fast — as consumers turned rapidly to digital shopping. Last week, Amazon launched its mobile-only Luxury Stores with one brand: Oscar de la Renta. It said that more labels would be announced in the weeks to come. As the industry starts to offer up new looks, TikTok is hosting its own online fashion month for a potential audience of roughly 800 million users, with shows by Saint Laurent and JW Anderson.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/22/business/luxury-fashion-september-coronavirus.html



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