2021 has been a year that, as reported here, has been hard on certain luxury brands that have been relying on traditional retailing. We’ve also seen quick adaptation from several players that have been seeing the pandemic as an opportunity to further grow their market share. Affluent customers have changed their mindset and forced luxury companies to comply with their demands.
According to Bain & Company, online luxury sales reached almost $60 billion in 2020. The purchases of online luxury goods almost doubled and reached a staggering 23% of the total sales throughout 2020.
These numbers are also supported by how fast the online-focused Farfetch is growing incredibly fast with consumers turning to digital, or at least omnichannel, preferences, whether it’s their choice or because of the pandemic.
Let’s get to the top luxury brands in the world in 2021!
Rank Brand Category
1 Louis Vuitton Fashion
2 Chanel Fashion
3 Hermès Fashion
4 Gucci Fashion
5 Rolex Watches
6 Dior Fashion
7 Cartier Jewelry
These are the brands that are at the top, so far, in 2021 in terms of sales. Louis Vuitton outperforms every other brand with more than 63%, compared to the second one. The top 4, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes and Gucci, have between 4 to 9x the sales of the spot number 5, i.e. Rolex.
Table of Contents
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton, or the conglomerate LVMH, is the largest of them all and a name that probably most in the western world are familiar with. Louis Vuitton increased their sales by 18% last year and is worth more than $47 billion according to Forbes.
The brand is investing a lot of brand awareness and conversions in China. Mega platforms such as WeChat, Weibo and Red little book are used in order to reach the billions of people, and the Chinese crowd response well. It might also be because of the KOL (key opinion leader), or influencer as we call it in the west, strategy.
Chanel
Chanel might be synonymous with the word luxury at this point. Truth to be told, they have historically been slow in their adaptation of digital activities. They are, however, experts on social media channels. The profiles are full of interactive content that further deepens their position as the number one luxury player in the world. And that is reflected in the numbers, they’ve got the highest number of followers across all social media channels.
The company has been experimenting with some fun and interesting digital solutions, such as the app Lipscanner. With augmented reality, the app allowed customers to try lipsticks from anywhere. Chanel has also been experimenting with digital-only events and presentations when their offline show was cancelled.
GUCCI
However, there are some brands that are performing better in terms of their digital presence. Gucci is performing world-class innovation online. They are trying solutions with augmented reality with a try-on feature on Snapchat and Gucci’s own app.
They have also managed to be very successful in China by cooperating with Alibaba’s Tmall Luxury Pavilion, a B2C app that connects buyers with guaranteed genuine goods.
Gucci has really improved its digital game lately where we can see social media mentions skyrocketing, 10 million average engagements per month and some interesting experiments that are right on time. One of those is the sales of 25 pairs of virtual luxury sneakers that were sold online, and that’s it. You don’t receive a physical example of the shoes, just a virtual pair of shoes in Gucci’s app.
Hermès
Hermès is one of those brands that has a cult-like following and 2021 is not different. Hermès had a strong presence in China and has been further developing its marketing in the region to enable its growth goals. The Birkin bag, which also was sold at Costco’s grand opening in Shanghai, has been generating long waiting times from eager Chinese customers.
The digital focus has been increasing for Hermès, except for the most iconic SKUs. The website is focusing on content and there are several items to buy.
Summary
We’re still in the process of a full 360-degree transformation. All luxury lovers should be happy, because this means that digital-savvy people like us will be able to find affordable luxury alternatives through different websites, whether that is fully digital-native platforms such as Farfetch and SSENSE or the brand websites. Here is the ranking once again:
Rank Brand Category
1 Louis Vuitton Fashion
2 Chanel Fashion
3 Hermès Fashion
4 Gucci Fashion
5 Rolex Watches
6 Dior Fashion
7 Cartier Jewelry