Sales of luxury goods could plunge as much as 10 percent this year, according to a forecast to be released tomorrow, The Wall Street Journal reports. Lower demand for top-of-the-line apparel, jewelry and leather goods could translate into spending of $201 billion on such goods this year, the forecast by the consulting firm Bain & Co. concludes.
Last October, Bain predicted sales of luxury goods would drop by 7 percent in 2009. Claudia D’Arpizio, a Milan-based retail consultant with Bain, told the Journal more luxury shoppers are switching from their favorite brands to lower-priced goods. “The situation is now a little bit worse than what we thought it would be back in October,” she said.
The Bain forecast is bad news for such high-end merchants as Neiman Marcus Group and Sak Inc., both of which reported sharp declines in March sales last week.