Luxury brands enjoying African success, but unlikely to open many stores
13/03/2013
Claudia D’Arpizio, head of luxury goods at analyst firm Bain & Company, told the FT that brands, including luxury leathergoods brands, are receiving substantial orders from lavish spenders from Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ghana now, as well as from more established markets such as Nigeria and South Africa.
However, Ms D’Arpizio went on to say that few of these brands are likely to set up retail operations in these African countries in the near future. She named Louis Vuitton and Burberry as international brands that already have stores in Cape Town and Johannesburg and mentioned local production in South Africa of some luxury items, including leathergoods. But she said most wealthy African consumers will continue to buy or at least order from Europe.
When brands do open their own retail outlets, she said men’s brands would dominate, pointing out that this is in keeping with the pattern in most developing markets. In Nigerian city Lagos, for example, Italian men’s brand Ermenegildo Zegna is planning to open its own store later this year in a location, the Financial Times said, that would make it the neighbour of a new Porsche dealership.
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