Luxury Goods Market

Luxury goods can be defined by the following terms

• Products involve a large skilled labour content.
• The purchase of the product is not easily deferrable.

Luxury goods can also be split in:

• Hard goods: jewels, watches, etc.
• Soft goods: ready-to-wear, leather accessories, eyewear, perfumes, etc.
  

The main external economic factors that have an influence in the performance of listed luxury goods companies are:

• GDP growth
• €/US$ and US$/¥ exchange rates
• Inflation rate
• Unemployment rate
• Consumer confidence
• Personal income
• Retail sales.

The most important distribution markets are:

• Western Europe
• United States
• Japan.

Considering the market capitalization of listed luxury companies the main players in the industry are (Bloomberg codes in parenthesis):

• Bulgari (BUL IM)
• Burberry (BRBY LN)
• Gucci Group (GUC US)
• Hermès (RMS FP)
• LVMH (MC FP)
• Richemont (CFR VX)
• Swatch Group (UHR VX)
• Tiffany (TIF US).