Luxury market may have negative record, says consulting

The global market for personal luxury goods is heading towards the weakest year since 2009, because the turbulence of stock exchanges, the strong dollar and the crisis of the commodity prices are limiting demand.
Sales of items such as designer dresses and shoes will increase only 1 percent, to 253 billion euros ($ 280 billion) in 2015, according to the Bain Co., which had designed in may a growth of 2% to 4%.
The estimate, based on a calculation that excludes currency fluctuations, it would be the weakest gain since sales dropped 11% in the year following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Burberry, are finding it more difficult in China because the slowing economy is exacerbating the effect of the Government's campaign against overt spending, which hurts demand for handbags and coats. At the same time, the u.s. growth has slowed because the volatility of the stock market and the strong dollar are limiting the acquisitions made by locals and tourists. Sales of luxury goods will fall for the second consecutive year in China and will not grow in the United States, said Bain.
"It's getting more difficult to compete," said Claudia D ' Arpizio, partner at Bain and main author of the study, in a telephone interview. At best, the market will expand 2%, assuming a strong demand in the end of the year, she said.
Euro
At least the depreciation of the euro is helping. Currency movements will give a boost of 26 billion euros to the value of sales of luxury goods this year, estimates the Bain.
And Chinese consumers are still buying where weak currencies give them power to influence on prices//a foreign exchange advantage with regard to prices, especially in Europe and Japan. The research firm projects that Chinese buyers will respond by almost a third of the world's spending on luxury goods, 28% in 2014.
The Russians, in turn, are noted for the absence. They have reduced the duty-free shopping in Europe in more than a third between January and August, the company said.
The Bain anticipates that the jewels are the best income in 2015, with a high of 6%, in contrast to the drop in sales of clocks caused by weakness in Asia. Items like Diamond necklaces are increasingly seen as a safe investment in an uncertain economic and financial environment, according to the consulting firm.
D Arpizio said projecting that growth will strengthen from the second quarter of 2016. The "new standard" for the luxury products market is a growth of 3% to 4%, she said. This estimate excludes the wave of middle-class Chinese consumers could boost consumption.
The total spending on luxury products will be more than 1 trillion euros in 2015, headed by accelerating sales of luxury cars, hotels and art works, said Bain in the study, which is published twice a year by the company by the Altagamma, an Italian luxury sector Foundation.