After braving opening-day
crowds to check out Prada's brand-new, $85 million megastore in Tokyo,
Takako managed to snatch the last pair of $290 sunglasses. The 30-year-old
secretary was thrilled: Her friends had to make do with $115 key rings.
"I'm lucky," enthuses Takako, who declined to give her last
name. "Everybody likes Prada."
Well, this week, anyway. In April, everybody apparently liked Coach, as
thousands lined up to buy $625 straw purses -- which sold out in five
hours at the company's new outlet in young and trendy Shibuya. Last
September, everybody liked Louis Vuitton; 1,000-plus people waited in a
kilometer-long line for the grand opening of the world's largest Vuitton
store in the swank Omotesando district. They spent more than $1 million on
Vuitton goods that day, setting the company's single-day sales record.
Other luxury retailers just opening new stores or planning to do so soon:
Salvatore Ferragamo, Cartier, Christian Dior, and Gucci. "Despite the
recession, luxury brands still sell," says Seiko Yamazaki, associate
research director at the Dentsu Institute for Human Studies.
Sell they do. Even
after a decade of economic malaise, Japanese consumers have not given
up the love affair with European luxury goods they began in the go-go
1980s. Recession or no recession, a stunning 94.3% of Tokyo women in
their 20s own something made by Louis Vuitton, according to Saison
Research Institute. Goods made by Gucci sit in the closets of 92.2% of
Tokyo twentysomethings; 57.5% own Prada and 51.7% Chanel.
Problem is, the new shopping shrines are opening just as Japan's
luxury goods market appears to be ebbing. Overall sales are forecast
to shrink this year to $10.32 billion, from $10.75 billion last year
and $11.38 billion in 2001, according to Yano Research Institute Ltd.
So why the store-building binge? For one thing, some of the shops have
been in the works since 2000, when retail deregulation made it easier
for luxury brands to move out of their ghettos in department stores.
Cheaper real estate in Tokyo has also helped. The new stores, though,
are cannibalizing sales of luxury goods from department store
boutiques. Sales of most luxury goods at department stores are down as
much as 20% this spring, according to Goldman, Sachs & Co.
That leaves the stronger luxury goods makers scrambling to get a
bigger slice of the shrinking pie. Prada is hoping that its new store
-- a five-story building that looks like it's covered in a fishnet
stocking -- will help it grab market share from Vuitton and other
rivals. The store helps Prada "reinforce itself in this
market," says CEO Patrizio Bertelli, who flew to Tokyo for the
June 7 extravaganza. "Louis Vuitton has been working very hard in
this market and has been rewarded for that."
He's right. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton saw its yen sales jump
15% last year, to $1.16 billion. But Prada didn't do so badly, either:
Net profit in Japan leaped 260% in 2002, to $3.3 million, on a 10%
increase in sales over 2001. Bertelli says sales are on track to reach
10% growth in 2003 as well, and the company reported first-day sales
of $240,000 at the new megastore. Japanese consumers rewarded Coach
Inc. for its splashy openings, too. For the nine months ended Mar. 29,
sales in Japan were $123.3 million, about double those of the
year-earlier period. "We're building momentum in Japan,"
says Coach Chairman Lew Frankfort.
What makes the Japanese spend their dwindling disposable income on
luxury bags, belts, and shoes, even if they're marked up more than 40%
over European prices, as Louis Vuitton goods are? "Wearing any
kind of brand makes you feel more self-confident," says Mayumi, a
21-year- old dental assistant. Walking around Shibuya with her friends
sporting one of those must-have Vuitton purses, a Bulgari necklace,
and a Gucci watch, she said: "It just makes you feel good."
As long as luxury retailers intent on grabbing market share in Japan
can continue to lure Mayumi, Takako, and their friends, they'll be
feeling good, too. - By
Sheridan Prasso in Tokyo, with Diane Brady in New York
Business
Week 30 June 2003
As one can see, Asian women have a lot
more autonomy on money than their western counterparts. They
have refined their taste as they gain wealth and their
interest and range in many product types and brands globally
太太
sampled the
award-winning 'Best New Snack' at this year's Anaheim Organic Food Show
and liked it.
The
new Aman
Hotel at the Summer Palace in Beijing
has signed on for all the award-winning snacks. Organic,
no fillers, no gluten, no dairy. What could be healthier than
that?!
The products are currently aboard the private jet of
a few tycoons that you might know?! The Pili nuts by Stephen
James Luxury Organics will be served in First Class on Cathay Pacific
flights. >>
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