Luxury goods have more than the ordinary and necessary characteristics compared to other products of their category. Their characteristics can be divided into 6 parts Symbolism, Price, Extraordinariness, Rarity, Aesthetics and Quality.
The global market size for the industry has been at a growth rate of 9% per annum. This trend has been seen in the market since 1995 till 2000. The luxury market took a hit from 2000 to 2004 when incidents like the September 11 and SARS epidemic took place during those years. The market was at a standstill till 2005 when it caught pace again until the subprime & financial crisis. Recent years the growth rate has been at 11% average and this has been happening since 2009. At 2013 the market is sized at Euro 212 billion and has great potential going forward.
The 10 % growth estimated for the market in 2013 represents the fourth straight year following the great recession that luxury goods revenues will grow annually by double-digits. Americas region is also projected to benefit from the market, with revenues growing by 13 percent by year’s end and Asia-Pacific sales particularly driven by China & India are projected to grow by 18 percent. Growth in Europe is expected to be at 5 percent this year showing that the economic trends in these areas have affected the market for luxury goods. It is estimated that the luxury goods market will grow, in real terms by 4-6% per year between 2013-2015 increasing the market to between €240 and €250 billion by 2015.
There has been a shift towards online sales in this segment with this medium continuing to grow faster than the rest of the market, at 28% annual growth for the year and reaching close to 10b Euros, nearly 5% of total luxury sales which larger than the luxury revenues of Germany. In online sales, shoes are the top-performing category. This level of online penetration is when brands have to treat their online channel as a integral part of their