This report differs from other Mintel retail reports in that it looks primarily at companies involved in design, manufacturing and distribution, rather than just traditional retailing. The consolidated revenues from these companies (and our market size – see definition below) therefore include elements of retail turnover, wholesale sales to franchisees and concessionaires plus income from licence agreements. Sometimes the last of these is included in wholesaling activities.

The report includes profiles of the top seven luxury operators by turnover including the major ‘multi-branded’ houses LVMH, Richemont and the Gucci Group, along with Polo Ralph Lauren. The other three in our top seven are beauty operators Estée Lauder, Shiseido and L’Oréal. The last two also have mass-market operations but in the case of L’Oréal we have been able to hone in on its luxury division. But Shiseido does not split this out separately and so it appears higher up our rankings than it would do otherwise.

We have also profiled a selection of nine other luxury players: Valentino Fashion Group, Tiffany &Co, Burberry, Hermès, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Bulgari, Christian Dior Couture, and Swatch (luxury division) providing a good spread of interest in terms of product categories and geographic markets.