Bain & Co., a leading consulting firm, estimates that luxury goods sales will fall 20% in the first half of 2009 before stabilizing in the second half. In all, Bain expects luxury goods sales will fall 10% for the year. In October, Bain was forecasting a drop of just 7%, but conditions have deteriorated quite a bit since then.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that "The U.S., which accounts for roughly a third of luxury-goods sales, is one of the worst-hit markets. Bain expects U.S. sales of high-end clothing, accessories, tableware, cosmetics and jewelry will drop by 15% this year. That compares to expected sales declines of about 10% in both Europe and Japan."

Continue reading Luxury sales to fall 20% in first half of 2009

Luxury sales to fall 20% in first half of 2009 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Delphine Arnault should take up the reigns of LVMH, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

Delphine Arnault is a London School of Economics grad as well as being the daughter of Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world's largest luxury conglomerate -- a company with an astonishing 30 billion Euros (about $47 billion) in assets. She was just 28 when in 2003 her father had her installed on the board of LVMH, where she was the youngest board member and the only woman. Having joined the company in 2000, she came to head Dior's shoe and bag division. Colleagues say she can seem shy, but that she's a careful observer and she appears to have inherited her father's determination. That may be why she's been called the "wolf in the cashmere coat."

She can often be found by her father's side, or even in his place, at fashion shows such as last September's Paris Fashion Week, where she and her husband Alessandro Gancia were "swarmed by paparazzi as though they were film stars." Even though she flew under the radar for a few years, she is reportedly becoming increasingly a public face of the company.

Continue reading Heir apparent: Delphine Arnault, a wolf in cashmere

Heir apparent: Delphine Arnault, a wolf in cashmere originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Louis Vuitton to advertise on television originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Luxury goods category stays strong in face of depressed consumers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Posts for all the current Battle of the Brands match-ups have gone live this past week, and while there are some close races, some early favorites have already emerged as well.

In the Saks vs. Nordstrom match-up, for instance, Saks is a clear favorite with about 80% of of your votes. As for Splenda vs. Equal, its Splenda with about 75% of the vote. However, only about 100 of you have voted in each of these match-ups, so things could easily swing the other way.

It's probably no surprise that in the rivalry between Wal-Mart and Target, Target is clearly ahead with nearly two-thirds of your vote. The Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) affiliated Sam's Club isn't faring any better in its match-up with Costco, the latter currently holding about 75% of the votes.

The early surprise is with General Motors vs. Toyota. Despite Toyota's advantages as outlined in the post, more than two-thirds of you prefer down-but-not-out General Motors (NYSE: GM). This match-up has received more than 500 votes so far, and some lively back and forth in the comments. Check it out.

The monster match-up, though, and maybe an even bigger surprise, is FedEx vs. UPS. There have been more than 50 comments and more than 2,000 votes cast so far. About two-thirds of you prefer good old United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), but there are some strong opinions about each of these brands.

Other active vote getters so far have been Coke vs. Pepsi, with more than 400 votes, Apple vs. Microsoft, approaching 400 votes, and Bud Light vs. Miller Lite, with well over 300 votes. About two thirds of you prefer Coca-Cola and Bud light (though not at the same time, I'm sure), while about three-quarters of you prefer Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) products (hello all you iPod lovers).

In CNN vs. Fox News, the latter has jumped out to a quick lead. We could soon see some fireworks in the comments for this match-up as well.

Other match-ups showing clear favorites in the early running are Coach vs. Louis Vuitton, Yahoo! vs. Google, and Amazon vs. Barnes & Noble. And those favorites are Coach (64%), Google (68%), and Amazon (60%).

While all these are clear favorites right now, the polls are still open, and vote tallies are rising fast. Anything could happen. Be sure and let us know which brands you prefer by voting in our reader polls, and we'd love to hear why you're loyal to your favorites in the comments of any of our Battle of the Brands posts.

Battle of the Brands: Early favorites emerge originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 15 Apr 2007 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and watch out for more Battle of the Brands posts.

Recently, someone told me that only 1% of all Louis Vuitton handbags in the world are authentic, which is quite surprising considering how many people, young and old, tote the luxury status symbols. I guess what most of them don't realize is that some of these bags are the real McCoy, while it seems a lot more are just reproductions. Several weeks ago, I posted Coach bags: You're just not worthy because Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was stepping up their luxury handbag game with a new, more exclusive line of bags priced from $10,000 to $500 and adding hoity-toity boutiques to bring in a more elite clientele.

While both Coach and Louis Vuitton (LVMH) (EPA: MC) already have classic and luxury goods status among many, it seems that both companies are grasping for the top rung of the handbag ladder. LVMH may seem to be ahead of the game, since A-list celebrities such as Uma Thurman, Naomi Campbell, Scarlett Johansson, and even rapper Snoop Dog often travel in style and are photographed with LV bags. In comparison, I can't even think of an instance where I've spotted a celebrity with a Coach bag. After a quick Google search, I did however find a picture of Jessica Alba holding a cute Coach Daphne Straw Top Handle Bag ($168), which surprised me because most women I see with Coach bags tend to be older and middle class. In fact, a budding fashionista once told me that Coach bags were "mom" bags. So then it's understandable that Coach would spring this new Legacy line on us in a not-so-veiled attempt to lose its "mom" status.

Continue reading Coach vs. Louis Vuitton: Battle of the Brands

Coach vs. Louis Vuitton: Battle of the Brands originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Apr 2007 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As reported on Auctionbytes, eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) recently announced an initiative to thwart the listing of counterfeit goods on its auction site. The program will be targeted at a tiny selected group of particular product names. Most probably in reaction to pending litigation by companies such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior Couture, this move seems to be a bit of oil targeted at a few squeaky wheels.

The details of the program are obtuse and ill-defined, but in part, the initiative involves a smattering of criteria which when encountered will trigger a red flag and expose a seller to manual inspection of their item listings. Included in the program are new restrictions against the listing of certain items from the countries of China and Hong Kong. While on its face this program seems helpful and reasonable, overall it is an unimpressive effort according to sources who have contacted this writer.

"What an unmitigated load of bull----!" , was the response I received from one associate. She sees this program as nothing more than another stopgap PR play reflective of the same type of flimsy "solution" eBay employed to quiet the Skype overloading of servers issue. In part, the concern is that while this program may indeed reduce the number of attempts to sell a few counterfeit copies of a few specific items, it will do nothing to pursue or prosecute those who are habitually engaged in practices of illegal merchandising on eBay's site.

The eBay insider: Waving hello to potential counterfeiters originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Those French business folks are fiercely protective of their Louis Vuitton handbags, aren't they? Louis Vuitton has filed a $47 million lawsuit against online auction giant eBay for not "doing enough" to stop or stem the sale of counterfeit Vuitton goods on the auction site. It's another example of eBay being called out for not policing its auction site for counterfeit goods trafficking.
If Vuitton were to win this suit, eBay might as well shut down, as there are counterfeit and knockoff goods in just about every possible eBay category. Fraudsters out to make a quick buck have flooded the auction site with low-quality, cheap goods -- which buyers crave, apparently.

Should eBay be held responsible for all the commerce atrocities that happen daily at the online auction giant? If so, the company may need a few hundred people on staff just to keep up with all the apparent fraud and counterfeit goods being listed and sold every single day. If not, how much is "enough" when trying to counter the counterfeiters?

eBay gets sued by Louis Vuitton originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 20 Sep 2006 10:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google loses French trademark case to Louis Vuitton originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Jun 2006 15:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Luois Vuitton's Fendi brand takes on Wal-Mart originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.