The recovery factors of the luxury industry in 2021

A return to normal seems to have increased over the past few months, with China and the USA as the main drivers of this recovery in 2021. The profile of clients who are driving this change are called “True-luxury Consumers” according to the consultancy firm BCG. Including 435 million consumers worldwide, they can spend between 5,000 and 50,000 euros a year in luxury goods and experiences. This claim is supported by the “True-Luxury Global Consumer Insights” study (link bellow) led by the Boston Consulting Group in collaboration with Altagamma, the foundation that has been gathering companies part of the high cultural and creative Italian industry since 1992.

The paper aims at offering a global view of the sector in June 2021, by integrating all luxury categories and regrouping 12,000 consumers surveyed in ten countries that regroup most luxury buyers worldwide, i.e., the USA, the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Brazil, China, Japan, South Korea, and Russia.

Matteo Lunelli, Chairman of Altagamma is certainly optimistic: “The Altagamma study shows positive signals that are exceeding expectations. China and especially the USA are driving this growth, where more than a third of consumers are planning on increasing their spend in luxury goods and experiences, including travel. The sector has proven its strength and has rapidly reacted to new socio-cultural trends. There is no doubt that sustainability is the main change factor, but the luxury experience’s strong digitalization has also played a role, as shown by the success of livestreaming sales and brands entering the gaming world, a sector that represented 178 billion dollars in 2020.”