The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The operator of some of South Korea’s biggest department stores reported net losses for the quarter ending in March that narrowed to 40.6 billion won ($36.5 million) from 43.3 billion won during the same period in 2020, Yonhap reports.
Lotte attributed this improved performance to demand for luxury goods in its department stores. The group’s discount and supermarket chains, however, are seeing less of a rebound. The company’s sales fell 4.8 percent to 3.9 trillion won ($3.5 billion) from last year’s 4.1 trillion won ($3.7 billion).
This news follows reports that luxury leather goods, jewellery and watches made $12.5 billion in sales in South Korea last year, defying a wider slump that saw global sales drop 19 percent. South Korea’s 2020 luxury sales also outpaced those in Germany, making the former the world’s seventh biggest luxury market.
Imran Amed shares his observations from a trip to the wealthy desert metropolis, home to the most lucrative stores for many of the world’s top fashion brands.
Spurred by rapid growth in the pure luxury market, global brands operating in lower-priced segments like contemporary fashion are entering the country or accelerating expansion plans.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features India’s textile industry, Chinese beauty major Yatsen and Ghana’s newest garment factory.
Luxury fashion retailers in the oil-rich African nation keep a low profile to provide a discreet shopping environment for consumers and avoid flaunting the elite nature of their own business.