Just like in the legendary cable show, rich people everywhere have an entourage (whether or not they call it that). Keeping up appearances while investing, working, traveling, entertaining, and perhaps raising two or three kids and a dog, requires a great deal of effort – and a squad of highly-skilled assistants.
The people I hang out with and work with generally think of themselves as reasonably sophisticated. Yet nearly all of us, when asked about perfume, scent, fragrance, call it what you will, confessed to some intimidation at the prospect of buying it. To be honest, most of us are a little overwhelmed by the choices, and we don’t have time to educate ourselves. So we tend to stick with the same scent, or a rotating handful of scents, for a very long time.
As sure as falling temperatures, flying phalanxes of geese and golden leaves herald the arrival of autumn, so too does the appearance of a flock of new luxury fragrance introductions. Like clockwork, each fall brings forth dozens of launches in a bewildering array. This season there were several fairly significant events in the category, with Louis Vuitton re-entering luxury fragrance for the first time in almost 30 years; make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury launching her first scent; ditto Alexander McQueen, architect Philippe Starck, and shoe designer Christian Louboutin (the latter two actually launched three new scents at once, and sadly none of them smell like new shoes fresh out of the box). Tom Ford introduced Orchid Soleil; Aerin Lauder debuted Tangier Vanille; and SJP (that’s Sarah Jessica Parker, for the uninitiated) launched “Stash,” her new fragrance, which she describes as smelling “like a sweaty European man.” OK, then. Moving right along.
One of the most intriguing business dilemmas I’ve encountered recently is the conundrum of how luxury brands should think about their relationship with Amazon (and its subsidiaries Zappos and Shopbop). The “core” global luxury market – personal goods and services – is a $250 billion global business with an increasingly anemic growth rate. Amazon, on the other hand, continues to grow at strong double-digit rates. Surely this is a marriage made in heaven?
Dandelion Chandelier recently conducted an analysis of 120 luxury brands, 40 each in the fashion, beauty and watch & jewelry categories. We wanted to understand how these brands are showing up online, and which ones are truly market leaders in this space. Here’s what we found.
