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Business of Fashion
09-07-2025
- Business
- Business of Fashion
Building Brand Communities and Lasting Consumer Connections
Today, consumer markets like fashion and beauty are heavily oversaturated — with both shoppers and brands negatively impacted by this reality. Eighty percent of Gen-Z consumers report feeling overwhelmed by their exposure to brands, according to The Business of Fashion's (BoF) The State of Fashion 2025 Report, published in partnership with McKinsey & Company. Seventy-four percent of customers report walking away from online purchases due to the volume of choice. 'You have to have a great product, you have to build a great brand, but you really have to build a relationship with your customer so that they have brand loyalty. It's how you talk to them, where you talk to them, and how you connect with them over time,' said Jamie Domenici, chief marketing officer at Klaviyo, during a panel discussion hosted by BoF and Klaviyo in London. As a CRM platform built for B2C brands, Klaviyo consolidates marketing, service and analytics into a single platform. Powered by Klaviyo's data and built-in AI, the platform facilitates personalised customer relationships. With over 167,000 customers, including Skims, Dermalogica and Paul Smith, Klaviyo seeks to improve efficiencies, deliver personalised experiences at scale, and accelerate revenue for global consumer brands. Domenici was joined onstage by Shaghig Babikian, head of organic and lifecycle marketing at fashion retailer Asos, and Richard Ward, CEO of e-commerce service provider THG Ingenuity, which works with business like L'Oréal, P&G, Disney and Lookfantastic. Moderated by BoF's commercial features director Sophie Soar, the panellists shared their strategic insights for building community, fostering loyalty and measuring impact in today's market. Attendees at The Business of Fashion and Klaviyo's event in London. (Jack Hall/ Hall/ Shifting Focus from 'Retention' to 'Relationship-Building' Brands must pull strategic levers that offer consumers a point of difference — from utilising behavioural data patterns to create targeted marketing moments or messages. With a 60 percent increase in e-commerce customer acquisition costs from 2017 to 2022, according to The State of Fashion 2025 Report, the focus for many is on retaining existing consumers — to foster emotional connections, a sense of community and belonging through hyper-personalised touch points. We're always asking for feedback. The loyalty programme almost makes it feel like we're closer to customers — we hear them better and they feel like we are listening to them. — Shaghig Babikian, head of organic and lifecycle marketing at Asos. 'I don't like the term 'retention' anymore. You're not trying to retain your customers — you're trying to build an ongoing relationship with them,' added Domenici. 'You have to build a lifetime of events and milestones with customers to keep them coming back.' Ward noted the importance of building consumer connections within different markets through strategically leveraging brand values — aligning their unique messaging with different communities to foster relationships. BoF's case study 'How Brands Build Genuine Communities' shares that brands with the strongest communities tend to tap into three main values-oriented missions: 'activity-driven, typically based on a foundation of sports or other physical activities; personality-driven, coalescing around a magnetic brand founder or leader; and values-based, where customers congregate around a brand because of shared beliefs or perspectives.' 'We're often trying to work with our customers and go, well, these are your brand values. These are the communities that exist in these different markets. How do we marry the two?' says Ward. 'It is around being customer-obsessed and having that personal connection with a brand. So, all of these incremental things that you tactically are the incremental gains that you get with the connection and then therefore driving that long-term, lifetime value.' Domenici shared that, during Black Friday last year, Klaviyo saw a notable shift in brand choice for consumer expenditure: rather than prioritising the biggest discount, consumers were attracted to brands they already had a relationship with. 'That means that you have to build a relationship with your customer over time — it's not going to happen just in one click; it's going to take multiple interactions,' she said. 'This is where you have to depend on your technology to surface up those patterns to make them actionable. So when the time comes to drop that offer, whether it's 20 percent off or free shipping, you already have a relationship with the customer.' Here, Domenici shared the value of multi-touch attribution, which allows for a holistic interpretation of the customer relationship with a product. 'You are able to actually look across every single channel and now truly understand if someone touches a product 10 times, so that wasn't just an email that drove the result — it was actually all 10 of those touches,' she added. Removing Barriers to Discovery In order to streamline customer journeys, and increase the likelihood of conversion and loyalty, businesses should work to remove barriers to brand and product discovery. In The State of Fashion 2025 report, 41 percent of survey respondents cite irrelevant results as a main barrier to shopping. 'One of the biggest pain points that we see at Asos is coming from the sheer range of products that we have,' said Babikian. 'We have this great assortment which means we can appeal to a very diverse suite of customers, but it also means that the risk of overwhelming customers is very real.' People want to interact with your brand at different times, in different ways and in different places. — Jamie Domenici, chief marketing officer at Klaviyo. To combat this, Asos' leverages product lifecycle campaigns, which include notifications that a customer's saved item has reduced in price, or that a favourite item is back in stock, facilitating that purchasing experience and creating a more frictionless shopping experience. Ward notes the importance of 'understanding what's going on at any given moment with the consumer's life, where they might be at that particular time,' which can be translated into targeted ads. 'You can raise credibility and you have significant convenience related to that transaction.' He shared an example of a recent conversation with a wellness brand and the opportunities they discussed on upselling different products 'that might be relevant to the lifestyle that they're leading, based on all of these [data] indicators that come through.' Then, send a 'healthy nudge,' he said. ''You're about to run out, we can see you are running out, would this be helpful?' It's all about removing friction.' Consolidating Data for Optimised Personalisation Thinking holistically about customer behaviour across channels can offer a wider lens on how to enhance the customer experience, and in particular, how to leverage personalisation. Indeed, 71 percent of customers expect personalised targeting from brands, with 67 percent frustrated when this doesn't happen, according to research by McKinsey & Co. At Asos, the fashion retailer uses customer segmentation across behavioural, transactional and demographic data points to segment audiences across its 24 million customers. This approach helps to inform their personalisation strategy. 'What this allows us to do is to create all these different segments that we can target — and that could be [anyone] from big spenders [and] return customers [to] first time buyers,' Babikian said. 'Your experience will be tailored based on what segment you're in. Based on the tier that you're on, your whole experience will be tailored based on that, or if we're targeting customers with personalised incentives, a personalised level of discount, or maybe features on the app that are available to a certain set of customers.' This segmentation data is shared across channels, making it actionable across all corners of marketing — from CRM to paid and organic marketing channels — but also to the tech team to create personalised on-site experiences. Domenici emphasised the importance of interpreting customer data to consider channel preferences — and highlighted that much of this data collection occurs post-purchase. Aftercare plays a critical role in fostering the connection with a customer once they have purchased — to demonstrate the value placed in the individual outside of a transaction. 'People want to interact with your brand at different times, in different ways and in different places,' said Domenici. 'At Klaviyo, we capture all of that information, not just in marketing now but also support post-sale, what's happening after they buy with your brand. We try to consolidate all of that information in one place to make it easy to take the data in, and also make it actionable.' Combining Qualitative with Quantitative Data When it comes to measuring the success of a marketing campaign or activation, brands should look to combine qualitative with quantitative data. Customer feedback on how the brand is spoken about online — from the comments sections on social channels and user-generated content to customer surveys and anecdotal feedback loops — are all valuable metrics to ascertain your brand-customer relationship. This information should be used in combination with data on website traffic and search metrics. Babikian cites the example of the newly launched Asos loyalty programme, Asos World, which offers exclusive access to products, new collections, but also to in-person events. 'We piloted the programme a few months ago to a subset of customers, and within that subset of customers, there was a control group that was taken that would have been invited but wasn't,' she said. Asos compared the behaviour of this control group with those who were invited and joined the programme, to unpack the long-term value of both groups and how they behaved in the weeks after joining the programme. 'We're always asking for feedback. The loyalty programme almost makes it feel like we're closer to customers — we hear them better and they feel like we are listening to them,' she added. From left to right: CMO at Klaviyo Jamie Domenici, head of organic and lifecycle marketing at Asos Shaghig Babikian, CEO at THG Ingenuity Richard Ward, BoF's commercial features director Sophie Soar. (Jack Hall/ Hall/ Sending the Right Message at the Right Time 'Timing is everything' and remains a critical factor in relationship building — and is now increasingly data-backed for marketing activations. Knowing when a customer base is more likely to convert provides a key strategic lever, which in turn is more likely to drive retention and repeat business. 'All the data that we get from our customers show that 30 percent of transactions happen after 10pm, so you're able to then capture the audience at the right time,' said Ward. THG Ingenuity took this data learning a step further to inform its logistics planning, with the company extending its next day delivery option now as late as 1am the next morning. 'If you can convert a customer for next day delivery after 10PM, then you're operating in a world that other people aren't, so you're able to capture that customer that you want,' he added. 'Then, you've got opportunities to build brand loyalty.' At Asos, customer engagement data is now being used to develop AI machine-learning models, to 'predict the propensity of customers to churn within [a set number of] days or to purchase within [a set timeframe].' The retailer has also seen the benefits of pushing campaigns later in the evening, such as sale-end reminders. 'Being able to target only these people who we know have a high propensity to purchase within the next few days is very powerful,' she shares. This is a sponsored feature paid for by Klaviyo as as part of a BoF partnership.
Time of India
26-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
'Big red flag': Coinswitch co-founder Ashish Singhal explains how middle class is funding India's ultra rich
Ashish Singhal, co-founder of Coinswitch took to social media to talk about the rising ultra rich class, adding why it would pose as a 'red flag' for the Indian middle class. India will witness the world's fastest growth in the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), with their population expected to surge by 50 per cent between 2023 and 2028, according to a report by McKinsey & Company and BoF. Check full post here: You're calculating groceries while someone just bought a ₹6L handbag Soon, that someone will multiply in numbers. India's about to see a 50% jump in its ultra-rich by 2028. Live Events Fastest growth in the world. No one else is even close. What's going on? 1/ India's GDP just nudged past Japan — we're now #4 globally 2/ Luxury market growing 15–20% a year 3/ New malls, big brands, and tax tweaks making people shop local (and loud) 4/ The ₹700K+ import tax? Just made domestic luxury a lifestyle flex The top 0.1% is living its best life. The middle 60%? Quietly adjusting → Savings stagnant → EMIs rising → Credit funding lifestyle → Real estate, equity, even fixed deposits are increasingly out of reach So here's the tension: India is growing. But not everyone's riding that wave. And honestly, if you're not investing in the places where wealth is moving, you might just be paying for someone else's portfolio. See, it's not just about inequality. It's about unintentional wealth transfer. So ask yourself: Are you part of the upside? Or just funding someone else's? And from a money lens: Is your portfolio catching this luxury surge or stuck in the slow lane? Is this a sign of booming growth or a red flag for the middle class? India's growing ultra-rich population The state of fashion luxury report says that the Indian luxury market is expected to grow between 15 and 20 per cent in 2025, fuelled by demographic and structural shifts. According to the report, new luxury malls and department stores, such as the Jio World Plaza and Galeries Lafayette, are increasing luxury real estate in tier-one cities. It further adds that the newly increased taxes on imported goods over Rs 700,000 (USD 8,400) are expected to encourage domestic spending, although the domestic Goods and Services Tax on luxury goods remains high at 28 per cent. Compared to the Indian growth, the Japanese luxury market is expected to grow between 6 and 10 per cent in 2025, retaining its position as a core luxury market. The growth in Japanese markets will be driven by both solid domestic demand and tourism spending. Recently, NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam announced that India has overtaken Japan to become the world's fourth-largest economy. Citing data from the International Monetary Fund, the CEO of India's apex think tank stated that India's economy has reached the USD 4 trillion mark. As per the report, Japan is home to the second-largest number of UHNWIs in Asia, which is expected to grow by more than 12 per cent from 2023 to 2028. The growth rate of UHNWIs in India is more than that of Japan. According to the IMF's April edition of the World Economic Outlook report, India's nominal GDP for fiscal 2026 is expected to reach around USD 4.187 trillion. This is marginally more than Japan's likely GDP, which is estimated at USD 4.186 billion. The report added that over the past five years, the luxury industry experienced a period of exceptional value creation. Between 2019 and 2023, unprecedented demand for personal luxury goods -- fashion, handbags, watches and jewellery among them -- combined With a deep well of supply allowed the sector to achieve a 5 per cent compound annual growth rate. Luxury brands outperformed global markets and achieved new profitability records. But in the year 2025 so far, the luxury industry has faced a significant slowdown that has hit even top brands hard. For the first time since 2016 (excluding 2020), luxury value creation declined. Several of the industry's growth-driving engines have stalled. Macroeconomic headwinds --especially in the key China market, which grew more than 18 per cent annually from 2019 to 2023 -- are weighing heavily on the sector, the report highlighted. Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
Business of Fashion
04-06-2025
- Business
- Business of Fashion
The New Rules of Brand Ambassadorship
The influencer economy is changing at pace, fuelled by shifting consumer expectations, the proliferation of content platforms and a renewed focus on authenticity. The once straightforward model of celebrity endorsement has evolved to a more complex, multi-layered strategy that prioritises partnerships based on cultural alignment over reach. This evolution is the focus of Launchmetrics' latest Brand Ambassador Marketing 2025 Report, which draws on proprietary data and insights from across fashion, lifestyle and beauty sectors to analyse how brand-ambassador relationships are driving influence today — from casting talent to measuring impact. The report identifies a growing preference for long-term, values-based partnerships that reflect a brand's ethos and foster trust among consumers. Today's top-performing ambassadors are not simply the faces of campaigns, but storytellers who bring credibility, community and creative alignments. As traditional metrics like visibility and impressions give way to deeper indicators of resonance and cultural effect, brands are rethinking what success looks like — and who is best positioned to deliver it. As stated in the report: 'In this new era, visibility is table stakes. True impact lies in how well an ambassador's message is amplified by media, influencers and communities — the echo effect that drives cultural relevance.' While the industry is expected to reach $8.37 billion in value in 2025, according to The Business Research Company, up from $6.17 billion in 2024, representing a compound annual growth rate of 35.7 percent — this growth doesn't necessarily equate to a continued reliance on traditional influencer strategies. Insights from a recent BoF white paper, Commercialising the Zeitgeist: Crafting a Successful TikTok Strategy, emphasise a shift towards authenticity and community engagement in influencer marketing. Brands are increasingly prioritising partnerships with micro-influencers who — despite having a smaller following — often boast higher engagement rates and a more authentic connection with their audiences. To better understand these shifts, Launchmetrics analysed more than 200 campaigns globally — using media impact value (MIV, a proprietary algorithm created and trademarked by Launchmetrics) — surveying both industry professionals and consumers. Below, BoF distils key themes from the report that are redefining the rules of brand ambassadorship in 2025. Launchmetric's Brand Ambassador Marketing 2025 Report BoF: The landscape of brand ambassadorship has undergone a significant transformation. Historically, partnerships were centered around celebrity endorsement, which proved a straightforward avenue for visibility. However, as consumer expectations evolved, so has the role of brand ambassadors. Now, 65 percent of consumers rely less on fashion influencers compared to previous years, according to BoF and McKinsey & Co.'s The State of Fashion 2024 report. In fact, BoF's Brand Magic Index — a novel, quantifiable and trackable metric to evaluate a brand's marketing efforts by measuring the distance between brands and their customers — reveals that brands with smaller followings can outperform larger counterparts in engagement. For instance, Jacquemus, with its 6.4 million Instagram followers, consistently gleans hundreds of thousands of likes per post, while in compassion, Dolce & Gabbana — despite having over 30 million followers — typically receives fewer than 10,000 likes per post. Brands that are aiming to foster deeper connections with audiences should prioritise engagement metrics and authenticity of influencers — recognising that a highly engaged community often holds more value than a vast, but passive, follower-base. Launchmetrics Report: The role of the brand ambassador has transformed dramatically. Where icons such as Audrey Hepburn or Michael Jordan stood as monolithic figures of glamour and greatness, today's ambassadors — Zendaya, Emma Chamberlain, Bad Bunny — operate within a much more complex matrix of influence. These figures aren't just endorsers — but multi-hyphenates, cultural translators and co-creators who bring lived identity, social values and community relevance to every brand moment. Modern ambassadorship is less about image and more about narrative alignment — a dynamic exchange between talent, audience and brand. Today's partnerships are judged as much for their symbolic resonance as their reach. BoF: In an evolving landscape of brand ambassadorship, visibility is no longer the sole indicator of success. As the digital realm becomes increasingly saturated, the true measure of an ambassador's impact lies within amplification — the extent to which their message resonates and proliferates across various platforms. Social platforms are democratising user engagement and content reach — TikTok, for instance, introduced Stitches as a format. This allows for one creator's video to be integrated with another, facilitating responses from other community members, content creators and brands directly. Launchmetrics Report: In a media environment driven by a constant stream of content and short attention spans, visibility alone has become commoditised. What matters now is 'indirect echo' — the ripple effect of a campaign across third-party media, creator content, cultural commentary and fan engagement — which can be discovered through Launchmetrics' new 'Voice Echo' reporting. Seventy-seven percent of media impact value (MIV) comes from Indirect Echo, on average, in the case of official ambassadorships — proving that the real power of ambassadorships lies in what others say in response, not just what the ambassador or brand posts. A prime example of this was Roger Federer's nod to the film Challengers during Zendaya's On campaign — which drove $422k alone in MIV. It's not just about who is posting, but who is talking back, and why. BoF: In 2024, the dynamics of cultural impact have shifted decisively. While celebrity endorsements once guaranteed attention, today's influence is built on resonance, not reach. The deepest cultural connections are those aligned with a brand's values, their communities and their creative direction. By contrast, campaigns that chase virality or 'shock value' often burn fast and fade faster. Strategic partnerships — built on shared values, co-creation and cultural fluency — are proving to be more impactful. These are becoming essential to long-term brand equity. Launchmetrics Report: The most successful partnerships are defined by strategic alignment, not just star power. Consider Zendaya's collaboration with Louis Vuitton, which generated $25.3 million in MIV through a combination of storytelling, cultural fluidity and Gen-Z relevance; or Lewis Hamilton's long-term ties with Dior and IWC Schaffhausen, which continue to deliver consistent results — earning $5 million and $2.9 million in MIV respectively within just one month. Equally significant are rising voices like Nara (Aziza) Smith, whose campaigns with Marc Jacobs and H&M, while operating at a smaller scale, delivered standout performance thanks to her micro-aesthetic fluency and editorial credibility. H&M's campaign with Smith saw owned media jump from the typical 10 percent to 41 percent of total MIV — indicating the extent to which aligned storytelling can drive deeper brand investment and audience traction. As Virginia Ritchie, chief marketing officer at Tommy Hilfiger, notes: 'It's not about the size of the name anymore, but how naturally they speak to the brand's values.' BoF: The integration of artificial intelligence, or AI, into ambassador marketing is revolutionising how brands access and enhance the impact of their partnerships. Beyond streamlining content production, AI tools are now pivotal in decoding complex consumer behaviours and cultural trends — enabling brands to make data-informed decisions that resonate with their target audience. Such integrated data analysis systems allow brands to track the reach and impact of their ambassador campaigns in real life — identifying which partnerships drive meaningful engagement and align with evolving consumer values. As the marketing ecosystem becomes increasingly complex, the ability to harness AI for deep, actionable insights is no longer a luxury — it's a necessity. Brands that adopt these integrated analytical approaches are better positioned to navigate the nuanced landscape of cultural influence — ensuring their ambassadorships are both authentic as well as effective. Launchmetrics Report: Traditional return on investment (ROI) tracking explains what happened. But AI-powered qualitative analysis reveals why it mattered. By parsing thousands of media articles, campaign assets and social conversations, Launchmetrics' proprietary system surfaces value themes — such as 'nostalgia,' inclusivity' or 'performance lifestyle' — that define each ambassador's cultural contribution. This enables brands to choose talent based on not just their follower count or past campaigns, but on the values that they consistently evoke. For instance, AI flagged 'African inspired craftsmanship' as a recurring theme in Hamilton's Dior coverage — a nuance that would be missed in standard metrics. AI brings meaning to scale. It's a strategic tool, not just an analytical one. BoF: Brands are increasingly focusing on community engagement and co-creation in order to build authentic connections with their audiences. Cultivating genuine communities can be one of fashion's most powerful means of engaging consumers and building brand loyalty — particularly in times of economic uncertainty, according to BoF's latest case study: How Brands Build Genuine Communities. The study highlights that successful brands are those that move beyond simply transactional relationships and instead foster environments where consumers feel a sense of belonging and shared purpose. By creating spaces for meaningful interaction and co-creation — these brands not only enhance consumer loyalty but also build resilience against market fluctuations. In an era where consumers seek more than just the products available, the ability to build and nurture genuine communities stands out as a critical differentiator in the industry. Launchmetrics Report: As the industry looks forward, the next era of brand ambassadorship will be defined by 'ecosystem thinking' — how ambassadors engage, not just as spokespeople, but as co-creators, cultural catalysts and community conduits. It's no longer about who can post the loudest, but who can co-create the most meaningfully. The future belongs to brands that see talent as partners in cultural authorships — not just vehicles for product placement. Discover more insights in the report, from the evolving landscape of brand ambassador marketing in fashion, lifestyle and beauty, ROI metrics like MIV, Voice Echo analysis, 2024's top performers and standout case studies featuring Nara Aziza Smith, Zendaya, and Lewis Hamilton. This is a sponsored feature paid for by Launchmetrics as part of a BoF partnership.
Times of Oman
02-06-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
India's ultra-rich population to rise 50% by 2028, fastest globally: Report
New Delhi: India will witness the world's fastest growth in the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), with their population expected to surge by 50 per cent between 2023 and 2028, according to a report by McKinsey & Company and BoF. The state of fashion luxury report says that the Indian luxury market is expected to grow between 15 and 20 per cent in 2025, fuelled by demographic and structural shifts. According to the report, new luxury malls and department stores, such as the Jio World Plaza and Galeries Lafayette, are increasing luxury real estate in tier-one cities. It further adds that the newly increased taxes on imported goods over Rs 700,000 (USD 8,400) are expected to encourage domestic spending, although the domestic Goods and Services Tax on luxury goods remains high at 28 per cent. Compared to the Indian growth, the Japanese luxury market is expected to grow between 6 and 10 per cent in 2025, retaining its position as a core luxury market. The growth in Japanese markets will be driven by both solid domestic demand and tourism spending. Recently, NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam announced that India has overtaken Japan to become the world's fourth-largest economy. Citing data from the International Monetary Fund, the CEO of India's apex think tank stated that India's economy has reached the USD 4 trillion mark. As per the report, Japan is home to the second-largest number of UHNWIs in Asia, which is expected to grow by more than 12 per cent from 2023 to 2028. The growth rate of UHNWIs in India is more than that of Japan. According to the IMF's April edition of the World Economic Outlook report, India's nominal GDP for fiscal 2026 is expected to reach around USD 4.187 trillion. This is marginally more than Japan's likely GDP, which is estimated at USD 4.186 billion. The report added that over the past five years, the luxury industry experienced a period of exceptional value creation. Between 2019 and 2023, unprecedented demand for personal luxury goods -- fashion, handbags, watches and jewellery among them -- combined With a deep well of supply allowed the sector to achieve a 5 per cent compound annual growth rate. Luxury brands outperformed global markets and achieved new profitability records. But in the year 2025 so far, the luxury industry has faced a significant slowdown that has hit even top brands hard. For the first time since 2016 (excluding 2020), luxury value creation declined. Several of the industry's growth-driving engines have stalled. Macroeconomic headwinds --especially in the key China market, which grew more than 18 per cent annually from 2019 to 2023 -- are weighing heavily on the sector, the report highlighted.
India Gazette
01-06-2025
- Business
- India Gazette
India's ultra-rich population to rise 50% by 2028, fastest globally: Report
New Delhi [India], June 1 (ANI): India will witness the world's fastest growth in the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), with their population expected to surge by 50 per cent between 2023 and 2028, according to a report by McKinsey & Company and BoF. The state of fashion luxury report says that the Indian luxury market is expected to grow between 15 and 20 per cent in 2025, fuelled by demographic and structural shifts. According to the report, new luxury malls and department stores, such as the Jio World Plaza and Galeries Lafayette, are increasing luxury real estate in tier-one cities. It further adds that the newly increased taxes on imported goods over Rs 700,000 (USD 8,400) are expected to encourage domestic spending, although the domestic Goods and Services Tax on luxury goods remains high at 28 per cent. Compared to the Indian growth, the Japanese luxury market is expected to grow between 6 and 10 per cent in 2025, retaining its position as a core luxury market. The growth in Japanese markets will be driven by both solid domestic demand and tourism spending. Recently, NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam announced that India has overtaken Japan to become the world's fourth-largest economy. Citing data from the International Monetary Fund, the CEO of India's apex think tank stated that India's economy has reached the USD 4 trillion mark. As per the report, Japan is home to the second-largest number of UHNWIs in Asia, which is expected to grow by more than 12 per cent from 2023 to 2028. The growth rate of UHNWIs in India is more than that of Japan. According to the IMF's April edition of the World Economic Outlook report, India's nominal GDP for fiscal 2026 is expected to reach around USD 4.187 trillion. This is marginally more than Japan's likely GDP, which is estimated at USD 4.186 billion. The report added that over the past five years, the luxury industry experienced a period of exceptional value creation. Between 2019 and 2023, unprecedented demand for personal luxury goods -- fashion, handbags, watches and jewellery among them -- combined With a deep well of supply allowed the sector to achieve a 5 per cent compound annual growth rate. Luxury brands outperformed global markets and achieved new profitability records. But in the year 2025 so far, the luxury industry has faced a significant slowdown that has hit even top brands hard. For the first time since 2016 (excluding 2020), luxury value creation declined. Several of the industry's growth-driving engines have stalled. Macroeconomic headwinds --especially in the key China market, which grew more than 18 per cent annually from 2019 to 2023 -- are weighing heavily on the sector, the report highlighted. (ANI)
