News are news, no matter if they are old or fresh. One of the biggest increase in the news business is the one for Luxury news. While the 2008 crisis is still hitting the board, the luxury industry has year after year a solid positive growth, between 4 to 6%. In 2016 the growth was 4% and it was leaded by Luxury cars, luxury hospitality and luxury personal goods. These 2 segments represented 80% of total luxury activity in 2016. The total luxury market represented sales for USD 1.20Trillion. The luxury car segment had the strongest growth with +8%. The very top level in this segments had a very solid growth thanks to new markets like Asia and South America. The personal luxury goods segments was mainly flat reaching a USD 2.75 billion.
In order to maintain this level of business, we need customers aware and educated in luxury. Nowadays the best way to get information about your preferred brands is the internet. Being one of the most fast growing segments of news, most of the established media has now a “luxury section” or a high-end lifestyle rubrique. Here is our top 3 best sources for luxury news:
1- CNN MONEY LUXURY
CNN is the world heavy weight champion on news. They are truly a global brand and a very important media for key influent people. With CNN money they started a full activity in more “lifestyle type of news” and the luxury section just grew a lot. The website was originally formed as a joint venture between CNN and Time Warner’s Fortune and Money magazines, launched in 2001. Since the spin-off of Time Warner’s publishing assets, CNNMoney now operates as a subsidiary of CNN.com and is no longer tied to these magazines.
http://money.cnn.com/luxury
2- THE TELEGRAPH LUXURY
The UK has very high qualitative media and one of them is The Telegraph. The Daily Telegraph, commonly referred to simply as The Telegraph, is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as The Daily Telegraph and Courier. The luxury section of the newspaper is very popular and provide great insights about all topics related to luxury.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury
3- CNBC WEALTH & LUXURY
CNBC is a very well know American media that over time has grown an intense and strong reputation around the world for business. They have a very interesting luxury section, especially about billionaires and millionaires. They cleverly blend investments tips, philanthropy, high-tech and luxury latest news. They are also known for their interview series of major CEOs.
http://www.cnbc.com/luxury
Luxury interests are everywhere and hyper-luxury customers are more demanding on the quality and exclusivity of what they buy. Hyper luxury consumers are no longer happy being targeted as common luxury consumers, they want products expensive enough to match their status. However, conversely, the common luxury consumer is finding it harder to keep up their prestigious lifestyle. Millionaires and billionaires are leading the way.
How do we define this new luxury segment? Hyper luxury represents products that are rare, exclusive, extremely high quality, often handmade and unapologetically expensive. The very (very,very) rich luxury consumer has a deep desire for very expensive goods and destination shopping which only they can afford. One of the side effects of this phenomenon is the fact that designers and retailers are obliged to increase their prices in order to meet the needs of this new market. It became one of the most international industries where millionaires and influencers live in many different countries.
The luxury business in China is suppose to cross the level of $ 20billion before 2018, knowing that 30% of total luxury buys by Chinese are done in Hong Kong, we let you imagine the potential in that area. Another region of interest in Luxury is Latin-America. Brazil and Mexico are definitely leading the way. Mexico has overcome Brazil with a total GDP of $ 1.2 Trillion (source: Forbes) Amazing businesses have opened in Mexico and abroad bringing a high level of wealth to the country. Brazil is a giant with its 200 million inhabitants. According to Forbes magazine study about Brazil and Luxury, Brazil has 36 billionaires and 136’000 millionaires. These people represent a strong purchase power and is lifting up the market, including the interior market.
Luxury goods consumers tend to look for special, unique and excellent quality pieces that will last for years. For this, they will be willing to pay more. Social trends show that people are moving away from consumerism, from buying things that don’t last. There will always be people who seek out exceptional luxury products. Maybe the next stage will be an even greater demand for artisanal craftsmanship, to balance our increasingly digital daily life.
In this new economy, ‘normal luxury consumers’, are finding it hard to stay up to speed with the increasingly inflated prices of luxury goods. Professional and successful women have been declared to be bankrupt in record numbers, spending all their money on designer clothes and extravagant social lives, reaching debts up to £100,000. Analyst, have commented that personal bankruptcies, especially for women, has been growing 25% per year, mainly because they have higher expectations of their standards of living, not realizing that they are spending beyond their means.
José Amorim
Info sourced at Euromonitor, Forbes, CNN Money, Telegraph Luxury, CNBC Luxury, BBC and Wikipedia. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only. Featured image from http://www.yolancris.com
