It has been one year since the luxury sector reported the worst holiday season in the already-battered retail industry. The high-end retailers have been hoping for a variety of gambits, from increased exclusives to emphasis on telling why an item is special, which had cast magic to the past holiday and will give a bright tomorrow.
To return the scarcity luster to the sector they also have cut inventory, often by more than 20%. Stores had to cut prices by more than 70% to clear excess stock in the year before last year. Tiffany & Co is always the shining silver.
"It's still a difficult environment," said Saks Chief Executive Steve Sadove. "Consumers are still hesitant on the pace of recovery, but I'm also seeing some signs of the consumers feeling better. You are back to a more normalized state of what luxury is." seeing the new face of luxury at Saks, Deb Purcell of consultancy Pitney Bowes Business Insight made such a remark.
And another famous analysis said, "Luxury is going to be very slow in coming. Consumers wanting luxury [are] not in vogue now." Luxury "has been my biggest surprise," said Terry Lundgren, chief executive of Macy's Inc., the owner of Bloomingdale's. "That consumer is coming back and responding to luxury brands once again."

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Monday, January 04, 2010