“We are on the cusp – in two respects. Longer term trends herald the usurpation by Asia of Europe as the largest luxury goods market by revenues. More immediately, and worryingly, financial crises in Europe and the US threaten a stalling of the global economic recovery and will certainly have dented the confidence of the luxury goods consumer.”

– John Mercer, European Retail Analyst

After China, where’s next?

Who is today’s luxury consumer?

What’s driving digital?

What new opportunities exist in the post-recession era?

During the course of our research we have come across a number of definitions of 'luxury goods', some of which were conflicting, however most were based upon the notion of 'luxury goods' as representing the top sector in any product market. For the purposes of this report we will follow this consensus definition.

However, we would also advise readers that it is helpful to consider the definition as referring to the special element of a luxury product that makes it desired for its own sake rather than any function that it may have.

With the development of the concept of 'accessible items' and the inherent 'aspirational' element in the notion of 'luxury', many luxury goods businesses have extended their reach to a broader audience of consumers, outside of their traditional target group (ie high net worth individuals). This makes a consistent definition of what constitutes a luxury good more difficult to establish. Therefore we believe that our relational definition, ie the 'top sector of any market', is the most useful.