Luxury industry optimistic about Jan-Mar qtr: Wealth-X survey

Despite weak global demand, nearly 80 per cent of luxury industry executives are optimistic about increase in their firms' revenues during the first quarter of this year, says a survey.
According to the Wealth-X luxury sentiment survey report released today, more than 30 per cent of luxury industry executives expect revenue to rise by more than 10 per cent in the first quarter of 2014.
Asia and North America were selected by participants as the locations that are most likely to have the fastest revenue growth for Q1 2014. Around 67 per cent expect that Asia would contribute the largest Q1 2014 growth in the hospitality and services sector.

For half of the respondents, North America generated the largest share of their revenue in Q4 2013, followed by Asia with 29 per cent and Europe with 19 per cent.
However, for traditional luxury items such as apparel, leather goods and jewellery, Asia was perceived as the main revenue generator; while for the art collectibles and wine & spirits sub-sectors, both Asia and Europe were particularly important, the survey said.
Respondents felt that Asia and North America are the two regions most likely to have the fastest growth in terms of luxury goods revenue in Q1 2014. More than 50 per cent of respondents expect Asia to display the largest growth in Q1 2014.

"... Despite the variety of conditions across different sectors of the luxury industry, the responses of the world's leading luxury brands are broadly similar: more engagement and more targeting of UHNW individuals are expected to go hand in hand with better performance in the year ahead," Wealth-X CEO Mykolas Rambus said.
Manufacturers of big luxury items such as yachts and private jets are particularly optimistic for the coming year, with 87 per cent of respondents expecting growth in revenue.
The survey further noted that, 71 per cent of luxury firms were likely to expand into new markets, while 76 per cent said their clients were mostly domestic, not tourists.