Luxury Businesses In The Recession

I can't find much information online but I'm curious to see how luxury companies in Ireland are coping in the recession.

Can anyone here shed some light on this ? Are luxury products and high end goods (don't mean cars, we all know what's going on there more so luxury expensive goods i.e. clothing, electronics, expensive macs etc that middle to upper class people would purchase if they were that way inclined) struggling at the moment ?

I've read that Brown Thomas don't really notice too many changes, they are just doing what more businesses are doing, watching cash flows, being more competitive etc etc.

Just looking for a general discussion on things you guys have personally noticed in the Irish market.

sm.org

What I've noticed is that a few companies aimed at the middle/upper class market have started to broaden there horizons a bit. Merc/BMW dealers are signing up for the VTN, a few of the upper crust restaurants are offering early bird/set menus at about a 60% discount, 4/5 star hotel rooms at 2 star prices,jewellery stores selling handbags , Brown Thomas having 30-40% off sales and not actually marking the prices up 50% the night before!!

I sometimes wonder if this is the right way to go when one of the main attractions of your product in the first place was its sob value. At the moment I guess survival is the name of the game.

R3al

Do you remember the 'Bling H20' spring water that was launched last year at around €50 per bottle, are any of the supermarkets still stocking this I wonder, I cant recall seeing it anywhere has anybody else?

In a town in New Zealand, they have refused to stock bottle water and apparently it's an example that is set to spread throughout. They refuse to pay for what is essentially bottled tap water.

"Bling H20" - what a joke.

starbelgrade

R3al wrote: »

Do you remember the 'Bling H20' spring water that was launched last year at around €50 per bottle, are any of the supermarkets still stocking this I wonder, I cant recall seeing it anywhere has anybody else?

I've never seen this product, but then again, I live in Sligo.

bigbadben

Deleted User wrote: »

In a town in New Zealand, they have refused to stock bottle water and apparently it's an example that is set to spread throughout. They refuse to pay for what is essentially bottled tap water.

"Bling H20" - what a joke.

So do they just sell fruit juices, carbonated drinks and sports drinks? What do they do if a customer wants a drink of water? Are there drinking fountains outside every shop?

First of all, excuse my error, it wasn't New Zealand. It was Australia.

So to answer your question, yes that seems to be the plan bigbadben.

An Australian town has banned bottled water, claiming to be the first in the country to revert to the tap for the sake of the environment and prompting the nation's largest state government to stop buying bottled water.

Residents of rural Bundanoon, a picturesque, tourist destination 150 kms (93 miles) southwest of Sydney, voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to rid the town of bottled water to combat the carbon footprint from bottling and transporting it.

Local businesses in the town of 2,500 people have agreed to replace all single-use bottles with reusable bottles that can be filled from water fountains and to bear the loss of sales.

"Bottled water has a role to play in various parts of Australia and many parts of the world but we don't really need it as we have a wonderful municipal water supply," local businessman Huw Kingston, who led the campaign, told Reuters.

"We're not a bunch of raving greenies but this is us showing we can work together as a community for sustainability."

Kingston, who runs a combined cafe and bike shop, said the ban was voluntary, with "no water police in Bundanoon," so it was up to the town's 50 to 60 businesses to implement the change.

He said a catalyst for the campaign was an application by Sydney company Norlex Holdings Pty Ltd to build a local water extraction plant, raising people's awareness of the issue. The application was rejected but an appeal is before the courts.

The campaign has spread beyond Bundanoon, prompting the government of New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state, to also look at ways to cut down on bottled water.

Organizations like conservation group WWF have campaigned against bottled water, saying resources are wasted in bottling and transporting water which may be no safer or healthier than tap water while selling for up to a thousand times the price.

INDUSTRY SAYS TAKES AWAY CONSUMER CHOICE

NSW Premier Nathan Rees this week announced an immediate ban on state departments and agencies buying bottled water.

"Tap water isn't just better for the environment, it's better for your wallet - you can refill your drink bottle 1,350 times for the average cost of a bottle of spring water," Rees said.

Australians spent about $500 million (US$395 million) on bottled water in 2008, a 10 percent increase on 2007.

Environmental group Do Something!, which helped drive a ban on plastic bags in Coles Bay in the state of Tasmania, welcomed the NSW government and Bundanoon bans.

"We are very much hoping that this move will get Australians to rethink the half billion dollars a year that they spend on bottled water," said Do Something! chairman Jon Dee.

But Geoff Parker, director of the Australasian Bottled Water Institute Inc, set up 10 years ago to represent the industry, said the bans were disappointing as they stopped consumer choice and were detrimental to local bottlers and distributors.

"Bottled water does not replace tap water but it does compete with other beverages in the shop fridge or vending machine and the decision to remove quite possibly the healthiest option in this selection does not embrace common sense," he told Reuters.

"The environmental footprint of one bottle of water of locally produced water would be much smaller than a tin of canned tomatoes imported from overseas, some imported cheese, or French champagne. We need to keep it in perspective."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5680TZ20090709

Sonnenblumen

Deleted User wrote: »

I can't find much information online but I'm curious to see how luxury companies in Ireland are coping in the recession.

Can anyone here shed some light on this ? Are luxury products and high end goods (don't mean cars, we all know what's going on there more so luxury expensive goods i.e. clothing, electronics, expensive macs etc that middle to upper class people would purchase if they were that way inclined) struggling at the moment ?

I've read that Brown Thomas don't really notice too many changes, they are just doing what more businesses are doing, watching cash flows, being more competitive etc etc.

Just looking for a general discussion on things you guys have personally noticed in the Irish market.

I would prefer to describe what you call 'luxury' as Discretionary spending, ie, non essential spending but spend on items that make life more enjoyable.

Most of the media is dominated by doom and gloom and we all know everyday examples of high profile failures, but that is not the complete story. No matter what you say or believe, the facts are that there are more than 1 mio + working in Ireland today than in 1990's, which means there are more businesses and many probably doing alright despite what the headlines may say.

There is more money on deposit over 100% more than this time last year, so people are saving more and spending less, but there are people spending on the higher end. IMO there are huge discrepancies between headlines and reality.

We are very involved in the 'luxury' end of the spectrum and we're busier than ever.

Tabnabs

I know that the "luxury" world of leisure boating has taken a huge hit in Ireland. Yacht Club membership is significantly down and boat brokers are struggling to remain afloat (:pac:).

A friend of mine is a contractor who works mainly for Brown Thomas in building services and they have dramatically reduced his hours and his fees.

There are very few high end products doing well. There is plenty of money out there but people are holding onto it to see how things pan out.