German premium brand ESCADA inaugurated last week its mono-brand store in the Romanian ...
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Prada opened last week two stand alone stores, marking the official entry on the Moroccan ...
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French luxury group PPR, parent company of Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Boucheron has teamed up ...
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French luxury maison Chanel announced the opening of its 6th store in Australia, in the ...
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Italian luxury group TOD'S which includes the Tod's, Hogan, Fay and Roger Vivier brands, ...
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The biggest rally in three years for luxury-goods makers in Europe is fizzling on concern ...
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Luxury perfume brands becoming more and more ''mass market''
07 January 2010
Who would have estimated that famous fragrance brands such as CHANEL or GUERLAIN would one day be available in every mall and mass market shopping center, even hypermarket shopping galleries. The boom of retail development in the past decade, in many cases uncontrolled, especially in countries where operating under franchise has turned retail chains such as SEPHORA or DOUGLAS into perfume supermarkets ... read more
CPP announces first luxury market report on SLOVENIA
25 December 2009
During the month of December 2009, CPP Management Consultants Ltd, sole Central and Eastern European luxury industry consultancy, has conducted a thorough research of the Slovenian luxury market with the aim of identifying its potential. CPP has research all luxury market segments in Slovenia - hospitality, fashion, accessories, jewelry & watches, organic/gourmet, travel and auto.
A market ... read more
Does the new Louis Vuitton advertising campaign stretch too far ?
16 December 2009
Bling is out, enduring quality is in. That’s the message this holiday season from makers of luxury goods, who are betting that even in a shaky economy, shoppers will still pay serious money for fine craftsmanship.
Instead of sexy models flaunting handbags and lots of skin, Louis Vuitton’s current ad campaign features Vermeer-inspired images of demure young women hand-finishing ... read more
The present and future luxury market in Ukraine - an expert view by Maurizio Aschero
14 December 2009
Maurizio Aschero, one of the top luxury professionals in Ukraine with a vast experience internationally shares with CPP-LUXURY.COM his views on the world of luxury.
You are a luxury industry professional with an extensive career in retail. What are the most motivating aspects of the luxury business for you ? and which are the least motivating ?
I am convinced that behind real luxury lays a ... read more
Luxury watches - Eastern European consumer profile
11 December 2009
An interview with Mihai Ceciu, HOROLOGIVM / Maurice Lacroix (monobrand boutique - Bucharest)
What is the profile of the Romanian luxury watch consumer?
At least in the past year, we have perceived the luxury consumer as being more and more informed, more educated in the field. The connaisseurs take their time and after they gather all the information, they let time influence their decision. ... read more
Luxury jewelry defies crisis
10 December 2009
If you never noticed the recession, you are surely keeping good company: Haute joaillerie, or high jewelry, it seems, has not noticed it either.
In the past year, the topmost niche of the luxury jewelry market has seen the arrival of a new brand, the return of a defunct brand and the revitalization of a high jewelry brand that had lost its way.
In this lofty world, where prices start in the tens of ... read more
The impact of the financial turmoil in Dubai on the luxury market
28 November 2009
This week's debt crisis at Dubai World, the leading holding company of the Dubai Emirate has been sending shockwaves to stock markets worldwide particularly Asia and Europe. Dubai's financial reputation and stability has been highly questioned by investors worldwide. This will certainly impact on its luxury market and the ... read more
Eastern European luxury markets not to recover before mid 2010
10 November 2009
While China, Korea and Brasil make international headlines with their booming luxury markets, Eastern Europe, not long ago, a priority for luxury brands, continues to suffer from the international crisis. The majority of luxury markets in Eastern Europe countries are not likely to start recovering earlier than mid 2010. Moreover, Ukraine is likely to see a ... read more
Eastern Europe, part of the DNA of many top international luxury brands
28 October 2009
The most fabulous brands of the world often have a piece of their history related to Eastern European countries. While composers such as Chopin, dancers such as Baryshnikov or institutions such as the Theatre Kirov in Saint-Petersburg revealed the wonderful poetry of the East to a fascinated Western world, other talent from Prague, Warsaw, Bratislava, Bucharest or Moscow have contributed to the rise of ... read more
Eastern Europe: a new life for fine wine
13 October 2009
The Communist regime managed to compromise the wine civilization on its very birth grounds, on Dionysos’ hills and fields in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, on the ancient Thracian territories. After 1989, European and local government funding contributed to major technology upgrades in cellars, but also imposed more-than-average production in vineyards – some 500 ... read more
Eastern Europe sees more educated customers
06 October 2009
It may be difficult to believe, but the “bling culture” of the Central and Eastern Europe has finally come to a point where a new class of “true luxury connoisseurs” has started to take shape. The simple fact that there is a significant group of people – consumers, retailers, experts – able to issue a judgment call on the phenomenon ... read more
Does Eastern Europe produce luxury brands ?
03 October 2009
Despite its position as opening for the global luxury surplus, the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is, in fact, quite poor when it comes to proprietary luxury brands. A company here and there, making a name around the globe in a few cases but that’s all. One could not find a dozen significant names on the luxury market, except maybe for some brands tightly connected to history and heritage, ... read more
What if it’s not the crisis?
14 September 2009
Everyone points at the financial crisis as main cause for the poor sales on the luxury segment. It is only partly true. The main issue neither begin, nor end with the stuck credits. The entire luxury industry entered a time of lament, instead of adopting firm statements, of making moves towards the new values and the new communication principles – more than enough to re-open the thick ... read more
The days that should bring a new luxury
10 September 2009
No one remembers where the problems of the luxury market started. The roots go as deep as the success of the first “democratic luxury” brands, like Chanel and Dior. It also be about the strange mix between recession (2001-2004, 2007-2009) and fast economic growth we all saw this past decade. The certain thing is that luxury sells to a lot more people than the exclusive high-class. The ... read more
Romanian organic market - primitive and overpriced
31 August 2009
The process towards becoming fashionable opens the door for trend expolitation. The consumers’ trust, wallets and nerves are crushed under the heels of those who take improper advantage on the newly born opportunity. The latest segment exhibiting this phenomenon is the organic market, suffocated by “green”,”eco”, “organic” ... read more
Can celebrities ''save'' CAVALLI ?
30 August 2009
In VANITY FAIR's September 2009 issue Robert Cavalli poses more defiant than ever to the current economic crisis, without mentioning the deep financial troubles of the Italian brand. This year's openings, especially the 7 storey Cavalli department store in Paris and the Cavalli Club in Dubai could not have come at a worse time, considering the annoucement early August that the deal struck in June with an ... read more
HUGO BOSS franchised store in Constanta opened in a mass market area, neighbouring second hand shops
21 August 2009
CPP-LUXURY.COM has recently featured a review of BOSS's dramatic drop in sales in Eastern Europe. Romania, the second largest market in Eastern Europe after Poland and with a large customer base of luxury consumers, should have been an obvious priority for a brand such as HUGO BOSS. Instead more than 6 years ago the German brand signed a franchising agreement with company that has been distributing ... read more
Intelligent Luxury Objects
11 August 2009
The luxury industry is not commonly associated with techno-entrepreneurship. But disruptive ‘digital mobile’ technology that allows people to harness computing power away from their desks has the potential to reinvent the way we think about luxury goods and to create new opportunities for entrepreneurial brands to re-energise affluent consumers.
Over the last few ... read more
How efficient can be the travel in space positioning for luxury brands ?
22 July 2009
From recent Madonna campaign, Louis Vuitton seems to have taken abrupt shift in its positioning, creating an entire campaign around the celebration of travel to space. Is Louis Vuitton taking a strategic step to differentiate from previous predictable celebrity campaigns or is it just a rush decision part of a repositioning campaign, bringing Louis Vuitton back to exclusivity, desirability? Travelling ... read more
Art defeats luxury during crisis
19 July 2009
The days when hungry clients in emerging markets would clean out a Vuitton store’s handbag stock are gone, and in a similar vein auctions are no longer the site of breathless bidding frenzies, nor are gallery shows selling out before they open. The buzzword of “value” that has become gospel for the fashion and luxury world has caught on in art circles as well, as collectors ... read more