Some say that when China sneezes the rest of the world catches cold, but the high end luxury brands are catching on in China, becoming the most exclusive and desirable ones in fashion according to the wealthiest Chinese women.

Still, our ranking also reveals a stronger competition that is accentuated by the wealthy customers’ increasingly stronger maturity.

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This barometer Promise Consulting / BNP Exane classifies the 15 most exclusive and desirable brands in China in the universe of feminine Fashion. This Barometer is conducted amongst the wealthiest Chinese women, and is about the 30 luxury brands in ready-to-wear/handbags/shoes/accessories that have invested the most in communication (source: Industry Interviews, Exane Paribas).

Promise and BNP Exane already conducted the same survey amongst French wealthiest women in May 2015 (see: http://bit.ly/1ESTZGu).

This barometer in association with BNP Exane reflects our determination to move closer to the marketing and cross-section financial analysis. Our Monitoring Brand Assets® approach itself features very complementary analyzes with those conducted by BNP Exane’s experts. Hence, the obtained results from our joined barometer are based on two different angles of expertise, marketing and financial, which brings a unique added value to the managers and decision-makers in the Luxury sector. More concretely, our measure of the exclusivity of a brand takes into account the upper and more constant quality of products, the strong and unique valuation of the customer, the brand’s prestige, but also a matchless “savoir-faire” that justifies a very high price premium associated with top luxury.

"Finally, our measure of desirability synthesizes the dimensions of attractiveness of an intimate, social and symbolic nature, which are the strengths of exclusive brands, and characterize the particular relation that they maintain with their customers. In this respect, our Barometer synthesizes, in two proven scales, the numerous criteria to establish a ranking between the high-end brands from their customer’s point of view", states Pr. Philippe Jourdan, Promise’s CEO.

[29 January 2016]- British fashion house Burberry is putting model Brooklyn Beckham at the helm of its Snapchat account to promote the Burberry Brit fragrance.

Burberry reposted an Instagram image of Mr. Beckham, the son of David and Victoria Beckham, obscured by the lense of a Leica camera as his photo was taken. In the original posting, Mr. Beckham expressed his excitement to photograph the Burberry campaign on Saturday, Jan. 30, being shared via Snapchat.

Snap snap
While Mr. Beckham did not share the details of the campaign or what he would be photographing for Snapchat, he did use the hashtag #ThisIsBrit, used for Burberry’s Brit fragrance.

Likewise, Burberry did not share any details regarding the campaign opting to repost Mr. Beckham’s image. The brand also followed up with a teaser video posted to its account featuring the Snapchat ghost and gritty images of a city, a skatepark and references to the Brit fragrance.

What has been previewed in the Snapchat teaser and the brand’s selection of Mr. Beckham, who turns 17 in March, offers consumers a much younger aesthetic than Burberry traditionally expresses. By hosting the campaign on Snapchat, and likely Instagram afterwards, it is clear that Burberry is working toward establishing a connection with a young demographic of consumers.

[READ THE FULL ARTICLE] 

Business Tech, 06 March 2016

People who have a lot of money like to spend that money – and they like to invest in everything from classic cars to stamps and coins.

According to property group Knight Frank’s latest Wealth Report for 2016, the world’s ultra-high net worth individuals (worth more than $30 million) have increased spending on luxury goods by over 200% in the past decade.

Not all asset classes have grown equally, however, with super wealthy people finding favour with big buys such as classic cars, wines, coins and art over things like furniture, Chinese ceramics and diamonds.

[READ THE FULL ARTICLE AND DISCOVER THE TOP 11 PURCHASED LUXURY GOODS BY UHNWI]

Manisha Rao, 05 MArch 2016, Yourstory.com

Luxury as a concept is defined within the scope of socio-psychology as a result of its connection to a culture, state of being, and lifestyle, whether personal or collective. In the context of brands, it relates to a signature style, identity, and strong emotional and symbolic associations that are interpreted in terms of products of high aesthetic quality, controlled distribution, and premium pricing. And this is what we refer to as exclusivity.

Even as luxury brands are taking to the digital space a little later than the other industries, they are bringing in their own energies to it. So, the product perception in case of premium goods is not incidental, but a cultivated outcome of a carefully crafted positioning strategy that largely hinges on ‘exclusivity’ in its appeal and aura.

Exclusivity in tech
We take up the case of very prominent Apple smartwatch and its marketing as not just a piece of tech innovation but also a luxe accessory. The launch campaign was a mix with exclusive editorial spreads in various editions of Vogue (which is fashion-specific and not a tech magazine) and also tactics like limited retail distribution, tie-ups with upscale retailers (Colette in Paris and Opening Ceremony in London), individual sales appointments in stores, and celebrity endorsements. The result of all these strategies was the phenomenal buzz around the smartwatch that came to figure on the coveted lists of many jetsetters.

Exclusivity in E-commerce
Now there are luxury brands innovating to reinforce their unique brand USPs even as they creatively attempt to carve a distinct online echo for them to cut through the competition. By coming up with visually tempting and experiential digital platforms via short films, apps, microsites, and online events, luxury brands are revamping their digital personas and also influencing the Millennial consumer to look out for that special, singular brand experience like Flipkart’s exclusive Xiaomi phone launch in India.

Exclusivity in luxury clothing
Brands like Jimmy Choo, Tod’s, Louboutin, Gucci, Zegna and Burberry offer product customisation in terms of size, fit, personalisation such as monogramming and matching. These brands make up that section of luxury brands that have their fingers on the consumer’s pulse and study the fast-evolving consumer profile in terms of desires, buying behaviours. Such reflections then lead to creation of unique apps that enhance consumer’s interaction with the brand and also impart an exclusive experience, such as Hermès Tie Break and Burberry’s Art of the Trench15. Some luxury brands are also offering certain services availed only through their online portals and some are launching exclusive collections online first, for example, Ralph Lauren has launched its luxury pet essentials with Darveys.com, luxury brand Swiss military with Firefox bikes and designers like Manish Arora, Sabyasachi are tying up exclusively with portals like Jabong, Myntra, and Amazon.

Exclusivity in online departmental stores
In addition to the brand owned online offshoots, there are online departmental stores that are the other major outposts for the luxury shoppers. NET-A-PORTER is one of the most preferred leading online shopping sites in the UK and USA. Along with its high service ethic and unique content and exhaustive range of luxury brands, the site also marks out a preferred treatment strategy for its most valuable customers, the EIPS (extremely important people). Hence, they enjoy exclusive services like having their orders picked, packed, and dispatched, while also availing services like personalised look-books, personal shoppers, etc.

Consumer perspective
Customers need to feel special as they indulge their time and energy into a brand. According to a McKinsey report from February 2015, 60 per cent of US luxury consumers say they would be more likely to buy at an online shop if it offered luxury brands that no one else sold online, a sentiment echoed by their German counterparts. Forty-one per cent say they would be more likely to buy online if there were better prices offered.

Branching out further in the luxury domain are private shopping clubs that are members-only, where members are given special offers on big brands. Luxury flash-sale site Gilt Groupe has been offering exclusive sales to its Facebook fans – more reason for them to go online and buy and feel special.

[READ THE FULL ARTICLE]

Sales of super-yachts rose 40% last year despite number of millionaires and ultra rich falling, according to wealth report

The global super rich continued to splash out on super-yachts and luxury goods last year, despite a decline in their overall wealth in the wake of financial market turmoil.

According to the latest wealth report from estate agents Knight Frank, published on Wednesday, sales of super-yachts – boats longer than 24 metres – soared 40% in 2015, with the rich roaring off to ever more far-flung destinations, such as the Antarctic and outposts in Asia, rather than their traditional ports of call in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.

The number of ultra rich – people with $30m (£22m) or more in assets – fell 3% last year. There are now 187,500 with assets in excess of that benchmark, down from from 193,100 in 2014. This was the first decline since the financial crisis. Between them, they controlled $19.3tn in assets, down from $22tn the year before. This reflected the rollercoaster global stock markets, the slump in commodity prices and slowing economic growth in China and other countries.

The number of dollar millionaires around the globe also fell from 13.6 million in 2014 to 13.3 million last year. Together, they hold assets worth $66tn – more than the value of all global shares added together.

But the report believes that the decline in the number of millionaires is just a blip, and predicts that by 2025, there will be more than 18 million of them.

So-called investments of passion such as art, cars, stamps and jewellery remain popular among the super rich. Knight Frank’s art index rose by a muted 4% last year, but a number of records were set in the world’s auction houses.

Pablo Picasso’s Les Femmes d’Alger notched up a new record for a painting sold at auction after fetching more than $179m, while Reclining Nude by Amedeo Modigliani went under the hammer for $170m to a buyer from Shanghai.

Classic cars increased by 17% in value last year, while coins went up 13%. Knight Frank’s overall luxury investment index rose 7% in 2015. This compares with a 5% drop in the value of London’s leading share index, the FTSE 100, and a rise of just 1% forprime London residential property.

Andrew Shirley, the editor of the wealth report, said: “Although no classic car managed to beat the record set by Bonhams in 2014 when it auctioned a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta for $38m, eight of the 25 cars ever to have sold for over $10m at auction went under the hammer in 2015.”

Wine and luxury watches both posted 5% increases. A Hong Kong-based billionaire set a record for a gem or piece of jewellery when he paid $48.4m for the Blue Moon, a rare fancy vivid blue diamond auctioned by Sotheby’s in Geneva in November. The day before, he paid $28.5m for a vivid pink diamond sold by Christie’s.

The value of investment-grade Bordeaux wines slumped as a result of a sharp fall in demand from China, but they have now started to recover, said Nick Martin of Wine Owners.

Even furniture values, which generally had a poor year, set a new auction record for a living maker when the Lockheed Lounge sofa by the Australian designer Marc Newson sold for £2.4m in April 2015.

[READ THE FULL ARTICLE]