There are limits to how far a luxury company can diversify its operations without diluting its brand or confusing consumers, experts said this week. A jeweler might successfully launch a perfume but a handbag maker might not and it is easier for a jeweler to look credible producing watches than it is venturing into making […]

Luxury groups are finally warming to the Internet, lured by surging sales and a wider audience for their brands, though lingering suspicions could limit the level of online penetration compared with the wider retail sector. High-end brands have been slow to embrace the Web, worried that universal access will destroy their aura of exclusivity and […]

Luxury groups are turning to films, the Internet and private dinners to attract customers as they search for more cost-effective ways to advertise to fight falling sales, executives told the Reuters Global Luxury Summit. Hermes is increasing its overall marketing budget by just under 10 percent this year to a touch above 100 million euros […]

Global sales of luxury goods will likely fall again in 2010 but return to growth in 2011, an industry expert said on Monday. “The worst thing that can happen is that we have another year of negative growth in 2010 … But I see it picking up definitely by 2011,” said Scilla Huang Sun, who […]

French luxury goods group Hermes has resorted to breeding its own crocodiles on farms in Australia to try to meet demand for its leather bags, its chief executive told Reuters on Monday. Customers sometimes have to wait several years for certain exotic-skin bags, which can fetch over 35,000 euros ($48,410). “It can take three to […]

Hermes believes turbulence could hit the global luxury goods industry for the next two years and has put some expansion plans on hold, the French fashion and leather goods group said on Monday. Watches and jewelry will take at least two years to recover from the current luxury spending downturn but fashion sales could pick […]