Luxury products are in high demand amongst affluent society travelers

In April this year, luxury retail clothing boutique Etimoe opened their latest store on Avenida Diagnoal (at 550) in the centre of Barcelona’s exclusive fashion strip. The brainchild of Catalonian fashion designer Antonio Miró, the Barcelona flagship store is Etimoe’s new city base. A Castelldefels store has been operating since 1999, and has built up the local luxury retail brand’s reputation for selecting exclusive clothing brands and accessories marketed to executives, entrepreneurs, and affluent society doyens looking for stylish work and leisure wear.

The establishment of the Barcelona luxury store reflects the strength of the luxury retail trade both in Barcelona and around the world. Milan-based luxury retail consultancy analysts, Bain and Company, recently revised their growth forecasts upwards for 2011 from 5-6% growth to 8%, calculating an expected international trade of €185 billion in luxury goods by year’s end. Luxury retail stores – like Etimoe, furniture designers BoConcept, and home service entrepreneurs like Voneida Bell – are appealing to local and international affluent society consumers as part of a global trend in which European brands and locations are being associated with prestige and value.

“Bain and Company, recently revised their growth forecasts upwards for 2011 from 5-6% growth to 8%…expected international trade of €185 billion in luxury goods…”

It is a trend that Lucas Fox has similarly observed with the local luxury property market since the end of 2010. Analysing the Barcelona property market’s performance at the end of last year, Lucas Fox Director Alex Vaughan confirmed that the luxury property market “remained solid” with exclusive properties in Sarria-Sant Gervasi and Les Corts maintaining a slight increase in property values at year’s end.

The strength of the luxury property market has remained constant for the first half of this year after a slight drop from last year’s maximum prices. Lucas Fox’s first half 2011 market research report is expected to confirm data when released in the coming weeks. While averages may have faltered slightly, trading of individual properties has been strong, with boutique retail and hotel commercial properties seeing a stronger interest in recent months. Other property realtors are seeing a similar resilience in luxury property: First Mallorca facilitated 47 property sales each worth over €1 million between January and May this year.

Barcelona's gastronomic culture is a drawcard for luxury shoppers. Photo: gufm on flickr

Barcelona may be ideally placed to capitalize on the affluent society hunger for luxury retail and property goods, as Business School and Luxury Marketing Director Fernando Huertas pointed out earlier this year at a business conference on the luxury consumer market. He spoke of Barcelona’s appeal to affluent society consumers keen to sample the high-class gastronomy culture. The city’s value is no doubt added to by its recent standing as a world class reputable brand in another business school study.

But this doesn’t mean it is an easy market to manage. The rules of luxury retail have changed significantly, as have affluent society consumers.
Now shoppers are:

• Researching their purchases daily online and on mobiles,
• Conferring with friends and over social networks,
• Expecting a seamless experience between their online connection with a brand and the physical store.

They are, also, often younger, reflecting a trend that has also been seen in the Barcelona luxury property market this year. A growing proportion of affluent society consumers are from emerging markets especially China and Russia. These luxury retail consumers are expected to be followed shortly by a surge of investors and shoppers from Brazil, Mexico, and the Middle East.