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Market gaps, needs and new opportunities: How to ensure growth during an economic downturn

Due to increasing global economic uncertainty, the luxury sector is predicted to experience sluggish growth in key markets this year. This climate is also causing consumer behavior shifts among entry-level luxury shoppers, whose spending patterns have been badly affected. In order to thrive, luxury brands must think outside the box and adjust their merchandising strategies to foster long-term revenue growth, using data-driven insights and market intelligence.

Retviews, our automated competitive benchmarking platform, can help fashion luxury leaders to achieve just that, by enabling them to optimize assortments, refine pricing strategies and stay ahead of market shifts with real-time data.

Using AI-powered retail data analytics to study the competitive strategies of luxury market leaders, dive into key insights from the luxury sector and see how your brand can use AI market intelligence to optimize positioning.

For high-end luxury brands, leather goods make the bulk of product assortments. Their status as a strategic element within a high-end brand’s strategy, presents a key element to evaluate year-on-year.

Retviews’ real-time data, looking at the shift in assortments year-on-year, indicates a decline in small leather goods within leading brands collections, which are items typically coveted by the entry-level aspirational shopper, who in recent months has significantly decreased spending.

This falls hand in hand with the recent decline in the category, prioritizing leather goods, with a higher price tag, catering to a higher income consumer.

Retviews’ data shows that for all luxury players, the minimum price points of all leather goods have been increasing YoY.

This trend applies to all but one brand – Gucci which has remained at the same price point as the previous year for its small leather goods range.

Considering that the brand wants to be positioned higher upmarket, Retviews’ market intelligence indicates a potential opportunity for pricing growth in the category, allowing the brand to position itself closer to the competition and optimize pricing structures to remain competitive in the market. 

How strongly should your pricing vary from one market to another? Tracking your competitors’ international pricing strategies is crucial to optimize your market presence and evaluate how you can adjust your pricing accordingly.

While market growth is projected to slow down in Europe, US and China, the Asia Pacific region is showing extremely positive signs. Prices in Japan and South Korea stand closer to European prices. Japan in particular showcases a flatter pricing structure, indicating a pricing opportunity, considering the market’s upcoming popularity.

Iconic bestsellers are catalysts in increasing brand awareness and consumer appeal. To capitalize on their success, brands are diversifying their offerings by including various sizes and limited editions. Retviews data reveals that there are five size variants of The Row’s widely popular Margaux bag in premium fabrics like polished saddle leather and suede available on the market.

The mini bag has proven its staying power in the market, having appeared significantly in SS24 runways. Brands are adding increasingly more mini bags to their collections. Retviews’ data shows that there has been a notable surge of the style in collections, with a double-digit increase of the assortment size year-on-year. Using Retviews’ image-based recognition technology to track the newest releases in brands’ mini leather goods, indicates that the mini bags are most often reiteration of a brand’s iconic bag, making it a bit more accessible.

Using Retviews’ data showcases the shift in price positioning for all three high-end brands: currently both GUCCI and Miu Miu pricing their iconic ballerinas at 750€.

Retviews data indicates that GUCCI exhibited wider price hikes in 2023, rising from 690€ to 750€, reaching its current price in September 2023. Miu Miu followed suit, adjusting its price on iconic ballerinas to 750€ in December 2023, aligning with the market.

In order to best navigate shifting market trends and stay ahead of competitors, brands must reassess their approach to merchandising. Unlock the power of AI-driven market intelligence to see how customizable real-time data analytics allow your teams to optimize collection planning, get a 360° of competitors’ collections and make more confident, data-driven decisions.