Latest news with #experience
CTV News
20 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
A luxury experience in China: Global high-end brands bet on conceptual stores to revive sales
SHANGHAI — Louis Vuitton's latest Shanghai store is not your average luxury flagship. The 30-meter-high, ship-shaped store, 'The Louis,' is billed as an experience, and houses an exhibition space and cafe in Shanghai's downtown Nanjing Road shopping strip. 'The Louis,' which had a grand opening on Thursday, will undoubtedly draw crowds eager to post pictures to social media of its gleaming facade and the photo-ready exhibits inside. But LVMH-owned Louis Vuitton will also be hoping it can stimulate sales among Chinese consumers whose spending on luxury goods has slowed. LVMH's business strategy aligns with a broader shift among luxury goods retailers from a transactional model - where a shop merely sells goods to customers - to enticing customers with 'experiences' that ultimately spur growth. The stakes are high for the luxury brands, which for years have relied on brisk sales in China to fuel their global growth, and ambitions, but are now facing a slowdown in demand in the world's second-biggest economy. The size of the Chinese market declined more than 18 per cent last year to around 350 billion yuan (US$48.80 billion) and sales are on track for a flat performance in 2025, according to estimates from consultancy Bain. Zino Helmlinger, head of China retail at real estate service provider CRBE, acknowledges that the luxury segment as a whole in China has taken 'a hit' recently, though he believes the slowdown was expected. 'If you look at the megastars - I mean LVMH, Kering, Richemont, Hermès - they almost tripled their profit within five years,' he said. 'At some point, there is some counterbalancing, there is only so much you can grow, only so much you can generate.' In the first quarter, LVMH's revenue in the region that includes China fell 11 per cent on an organic basis - the Asia-Pacific excluding Japan accounts for 30 per cent of the group's total sales. Chinese consumers, hard hit by broader economic uncertainty and a prolonged property market downturn, have tightened spending on discretionary purchases - luxury branded handbags among them. Shanghai native Natalie Chen, 31, says she already owns enough 'stuff' and has redirected a significant portion of the funds she once used for luxury goods to travel. 'Truthfully speaking, I don't feel that buying another bag will improve my life,' she said, though she has already visited a new restaurant opened by Prada in Shanghai and intends to check out Louis Vuitton's new cafe concept with girlfriends. 'It brings a different kind of feeling than just [shopping] in a mall,' Chen said, though she was unsure the ship-shaped store would lead her to make any purchases outside of coffee and cake. Still, the luxury brands are sensing a longer term opportunity to pump-prime sales. While appetite for personal luxury goods in China and around the world is declining, hurt by economic pressures and price fatigue, sales rates of 'experiential goods' are rising, according to Bain, which highlighted a surge in personalized luxury hospitality experiences and rising fine dining sales in its spring luxury report. In 2024, for example, the overall personal luxury goods market worldwide fell one to three per cent even as experiential luxury spending rose five per cent, Bain said. Luxury evolution New research released by real estate advisor Savills earlier this month points to this as a significant new trend in what it describes as China's 'evolving' luxury market, in which people seeking out experiences are lured with more experiential luxury brand touchpoints, from restaurants to Salon Privé - private, appointment-only lounges for VIP shoppers. 'All the brands are closing stores, but those that can afford to are also opening big flagships or holding some big events or exhibitions to keep their visibility extremely high,' said Patrice Nordey, CEO of Shanghai-based innovation consultancy Trajectry, essentially preparing for future success when the market picks up again. Brands from Balenciaga to Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Prada have all closed stores in China since the second-half of last year. Gucci is on track to close ten stores in the market this year, Helmlinger said. Louis Vuitton's stablemate Dior opened a cafe concept in Chengdu earlier this year, and in March Prada opened a Wong Kar Wai-designed restaurant at its Rong Zhai cultural space in Shanghai. Jeweler Tiffany and Co. recently downsized a large downtown Shanghai store, but in March it also opened a new three-story flagship in Chengdu. Nordey says that while more people refer to this trend as 'experiential' retail, it actually speaks to something much deeper. 'I think it's a way of looking at your customer, either as someone that will buy products, or as an individual who is trying to have a more fulfilling life,' he said. 'If your purpose is not only to feed your client with consumer products, but more than that, you might actually resonate more strongly with them.' While high-profile luxury store closures in mainland China have prompted speculation of brands lessening investment in a slowing market, CRBE's Helmlinger says the real story is more nuanced, indicating a strategic realignment of resources, rather than a pullback in the market. 'You need to create this concept of rarity, and rarity comes with scarcity,' he said. 'When you have 80 or 90 stores in one market, it doesn't seem so rare anymore, it seems like it's mainstream.' --- (US$1 = 7.1714 Chinese yuan renminbi) Reporting by Casey Hall in Shanghai; additional reporting by Mimosa Spencer; Editing by Shri Navaratnam
Malay Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Luxury takes a hit in China — so brands pivot to experience as the new status play instead
SHANGHAI, June 27 — Louis Vuitton's latest Shanghai store is not your average luxury flagship. The 30m-high, ship-shaped store, 'The Louis', is billed as an experience, and houses an exhibition space and cafe in Shanghai's downtown Nanjing Road shopping strip. 'The Louis', which had a grand opening yesterday, will undoubtedly draw crowds eager to post pictures to social media of its gleaming facade and the photo-ready exhibits inside. But LVMH-owned Louis Vuitton will also be hoping it can stimulate sales among Chinese consumers whose spending on luxury goods has slowed. LVMH's business strategy aligns with a broader shift among luxury goods retailers from a transactional model — where a shop merely sells goods to customers — to enticing customers with 'experiences' that ultimately spur growth. The stakes are high for the luxury brands, which for years have relied on brisk sales in China to fuel their global growth, and ambitions, but are now facing a slowdown in demand in the world's second-biggest economy. The size of the Chinese market declined more than 18 per cent last year to around 350 billion yuan (RM206.4 billion) and sales are on track for a flat performance in 2025, according to estimates from consultancy Bain. Zino Helmlinger, head of China retail at real estate service provider CRBE, acknowledges that the luxury segment as a whole in China has taken 'a hit' recently, though he believes the slowdown was expected. 'If you look at the megastars — I mean LVMH, Kering, Richemont, Hermès — they almost tripled their profit within five years,' he said. 'At some point, there is some counterbalancing, there is only so much you can grow, only so much you can generate.' In the first quarter, LVMH's revenue in the region that includes China fell 11 per cent on an organic basis — the Asia-Pacific excluding Japan accounts for 30 per cent of the group's total sales. Chinese consumers, hard hit by broader economic uncertainty and a prolonged property market downturn, have tightened spending on discretionary purchases — luxury branded handbags among them. Shanghai native Natalie Chen, 31, says she already owns enough 'stuff' and has redirected a significant portion of the funds she once used for luxury goods to travel. 'Truthfully speaking, I don't feel that buying another bag will improve my life,' she said, though she has already visited a new restaurant opened by Prada in Shanghai and intends to check out Louis Vuitton's new cafe concept with girlfriends. 'It brings a different kind of feeling than just [shopping] in a mall,' Chen said, though she was unsure the ship-shaped store would lead her to make any purchases outside of coffee and cake. Still, the luxury brands are sensing a longer-term opportunity to pump-prime sales. While appetite for personal luxury goods in China and around the world is declining, hurt by economic pressures and price fatigue, sales rates of 'experiential goods' are rising, according to Bain, which highlighted a surge in personalised luxury hospitality experiences and rising fine dining sales in its spring luxury report. In 2024, for example, the overall personal luxury goods market worldwide fell 1 per cent to 3 per cent even as experiential luxury spending rose 5 per cent, Bain said. Luxury evolution New research released by real estate advisor Savills earlier this month points to this as a significant new trend in what it describes as China's 'evolving' luxury market, in which people seeking out experiences are lured with more experiential luxury brand touchpoints, from restaurants to Salon Privé — private, appointment-only lounges for VIP shoppers. 'All the brands are closing stores, but those that can afford to are also opening big flagships or holding some big events or exhibitions to keep their visibility extremely high,' said Patrice Nordey, CEO of Shanghai-based innovation consultancy Trajectry, essentially preparing for future success when the market picks up again. Brands from Balenciaga to Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Prada have all closed stores in China since the second-half of last year. Gucci is on track to close 10 stores in the market this year, Helmlinger said. Louis Vuitton's stablemate Dior opened a cafe concept in Chengdu earlier this year, and in March Prada opened a Wong Kar Wai-designed restaurant at its Rong Zhai cultural space in Shanghai. Jeweller Tiffany and Co. recently downsized a large downtown Shanghai store, but in March it also opened a new three-storey flagship in Chengdu. Nordey says that while more people refer to this trend as 'experiential' retail, it actually speaks to something much deeper. 'I think it's a way of looking at your customer, either as someone that will buy products, or as an individual who is trying to have a more fulfilling life,' he said. 'If your purpose is not only to feed your client with consumer products, but more than that, you might actually resonate more strongly with them.' While high-profile luxury store closures in mainland China have prompted speculation of brands lessening investment in a slowing market, CRBE's Helmlinger says the real story is more nuanced, indicating a strategic realignment of resources, rather than a pullback in the market. 'You need to create this concept of rarity, and rarity comes with scarcity,' he said. 'When you have 80 or 90 stores in one market, it doesn't seem so rare anymore, it seems like it's mainstream.' — Reuters
New York Times
a day ago
- Politics
- New York Times
The Age-Old Question Behind the New York Mayor's Race
It was a night when thousands of 20-somethings were glued to their laptop screens for a battle whose stakes were both immediate and metaphorical, a contest between experience and youth, veteran versus vitality. Mike Tyson, a decorated, tested legend of boxing, was taking on Jake Paul. Mr. Paul, decades younger and with fewer fights under his belt, radiated energy, but his reputation was based more on social media videos than prowess in the ring. The newcomer triumphed. Of course, in sports the advantages of being the scrappy, enthusiastic upstart in a fight with an old hand are obvious. There's an energy that's visible in quick leaps, fast punches, unflagging endurance. The same may be true in math, music or the arts. In politics, though, the fresh face is often written off. The median age of a U.S. senator is the age at which many American retire. The last two presidents were born before the invention of the transistor radio and the hula hoop. But some political contests force voters to laser in on whether all that grizzled experience is really what they want. New York's Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday was one of those. The competition between the two front-runners, Zohran Mamdani, 33, and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, 67, played out not just on the plain of policy but also on the plain of experience versus enthusiasm: Did New Yorkers want a mayor who was relatively new to local politics, or someone whose record, scandals and all, was basically tattooed on the city's brain? If New York is 'a city for only the very young,' its politics don't often seem so, shuffling well-known names around seats of power like musical chairs. What's the value, some watching the mayor's race wondered, in someone totally new? That question feels urgent on a national level, too, not long after a presidential campaign that featured a septuagenarian and an octogenarian, and weeks after the exodus of a lightening rod Zoomer from the Democratic National Committee. The dichotomy of wizened experience versus fresh-faced enthusiasm has played out many times in the business world, too — in corporate boardrooms, where silver-haired executives debated their firm's succession; on startup teams, where founders scratched their heads over whether to bring in veterans or workers with fresh ideas. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNA
2 days ago
- General
- CNA
Interactive: 8 speakeasy bars and restaurants in Singapore to check out behind closed doors
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Wall Street Journal
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
The Perry Glass Studio's Practical Power
Norfolk, Va. You don't have to be old to know that the museum experience has changed. That phrase is itself the most radical change of all, for it assumes that a museum is not a storeroom of objects but a place where things happen, that its fundamental duty is to offer you an experience. This idea has already affected the internal balance of power of the contemporary museum, whose programming branch is coming to rival the curatorial in terms of prestige and clout.
