A cause for optimism?
Though luxury brands have been slumping this year, it should be a decent holiday season for the sector, at least based on findings from the latest Saks Luxury Pulse, set to be released Tuesday to the industry.
Eighty-two percent of luxury consumers celebrating the holidays plan to spend at least the same on holiday shopping compared with a year earlier. But that means 18 percent of luxury consumers will spend less this year on gifts.
Still, 82 percent is an improvement from last year when Saks Luxury Pulse found that 75 percent of luxury consumers planned to spend the same or more on holiday gifts.
Among those luxury consumers not planning to partake in holiday celebrations, 65 percent surveyed said they plan to spend the same or more on luxury in the next three months (the fourth quarter) compared with the prior three months, 8 percentage points higher than the same time last year.
“There was more enthusiasm across the board for holiday than we expected,” said Emily Essner, Saks’ chief marketing officer. The upbeat mood, Essner said, was driven primarily by luxury consumers feeling better about the macro economy and their personal finances.
Seventy percent of those surveyed indicated they were planning to start their holiday shopping before Thanksgiving. That’s a 14 percentage-point increase from last year. Saks attributes the earlier start to consumers responding to the shorter holiday shopping season this year, where there are five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than last year.
Demographically, Millennials plan to begin their holiday shopping slightly later than Generation X, Baby Boomer and the Silent Generation, Saks indicated.
The survey also found “a ton of interest” in traveling and preparing for trips, with more than half of those surveyed saying they would travel during the holiday season, and more than a third of those surveyed indicating they plan to travel more than last year, Essner said.
The Saks Luxury Pulse is a quarterly online survey conducted by Saks, the luxury e-commerce operation of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand, gauging attitudes of luxury consumers toward shopping, spending, and the economy as well as insights into fashion trends, social media inspiration and travel. The latest Luxury Pulse was based on responses from 1,196 U.S.-based luxury consumers over age 18 and was fielded from Oct. 11 to 15. Those surveyed are engaged Saks shoppers who could also be shopping other luxury retailers, and they were not queried on the Saks business specifically.
While the most recent Saks Luxury Pulse projects a positive outlook for the holiday season, recent results from certain major purveyors of luxury goods have not been good. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s biggest luxury group missed market expectations with a 4.4 percent drop in revenues in the third quarter, blaming lower growth in Japan and a “marked deterioration” in sales of clothing and accessories to Chinese nationals. Compagnie Financière Richemont’s sales fell 1 percent to 10.1 billion euros in the first half, dented by weak demand in Asia-Pacific, and in the specialist watch category. Kering reported that revenues fell 15 percent to 3.79 billion euros in the three months to Sept. 30, representing a decline of 16 percent in comparable terms.
“Luxury has had a tough year but with the holidays, it’s a different thing,” Essner said. “Consumers are going to spend for the holiday. Consumers will make sure they celebrate during the holidays. Vis-a-vis the holidays, there is a lot of enthusiasm.”
The Saks Luxury Pulse also found that 64 percent of those surveyed said they prefer to shop online for the holidays, especially Millennial respondents, at 70 percent. However, when shopping for home décor and fine jewelry, luxury consumers prefer to shop in person, underscoring the importance of a seamless cross-channel experience, the Saks survey showed.
Among women, beauty products and hobby-related products top their gift lists. Among men, electronics, beverages and shoes top their gift lists.
As far as what types of gifts they want the most for themselves, women prefer fine jewelry, and men want clothing the most. But both genders are also especially interested in experiences, which, for example, could be theater tickets, travel or a pass to a spa.
Emily Essner, Saks chief marketing officer
In other findings from the luxury consumers who Saks surveyed:
- 61 percent plan to self-purchase gifts, with clothing the priority, then shoes and beauty products.
- 58 percent plan to buy luxury items for themselves; 42 percent will give luxury items as gifts.
- 66 percent of luxury consumers said they will get into the holiday spirit, with 24 percent planning to do so even more than they did last year. Seventy-five percent of Generation X respondents said they plan to decorate their home for their holidays, 16 percentage points more than Millennial respondents.
- 77 percent of luxury consumers plan to attend a holiday party or gathering this holiday season, 11 percentage points more than last holiday season. When going out and celebrating, 62 percent said they plan to dress up, with 23 percent of those planning to dress up even more than they did last year.
- 53 percent plan to travel this holiday season, and, of those, 31 percent are planning to travel more than last year. Fifty-seven percent of Millennial and Generation X respondents indicated plans to travel this holiday season, which is 16 percentage points higher than Baby Boomer and Silent Generation respondents.
