PARIS — Going local, it would seem, pays. With the coronavirus pandemic, global tourism has dried up, depriving European luxury houses of a key source of business and forcing them to deepen ties with locals — not just at home, but in markets across the globe. Ongoing flareups of the virus are expected to continue to spook would-be travelers, casting further uncertainty on the future of international travel, which will also be weighed down by deepening economic problems.
In this context, the importance of wooing customers on their home turf has gained urgency for luxury firms seeking to compensate for the absence of tourists in Europe. This is expected to remain a key priority in the coming months, with increasing activity on the local level, from traveling fashion shows to market-specific launches, targeted online campaigns to drive traffic to nearby stores and partnerships with local, digital platforms. Some brands have planned to open stores abroad to serve clients that used to travel to their stores in Europe.
More from WWD
At the top of the list is China — the country’s consumers account for a large share of the luxury sector’s growth. Emerging from the first wave of the coronavirus just as consumers in Europe and the U.S. began sheltering at home, China quickly became the focus of luxury groups eager to restart business. By April, brands like Burberry were using livestreaming to promote products with Chinese consumers on Tmall while Dior launched its Gem Clutch handbag on WeChat before offering it to other markets.
Cartier looked to China to debut two new watch models, introducing the Pasha in the country over the summer before the rest of the world in September, and presenting the Santos-Dumont on Tmall’s Luxury Pavilion first. Geneva-based industry trade fair Watches & Wonders in July said it would take to Shanghai in September — a first for the show — with a program from around a dozen labels that will include product launches, talks, panels and workshops on watch trends, technology and mechanical movements, as well as demonstrations by artisans.
At the high end of the fashion spectrum, Louis Vuitton said in July that it would head to Shanghai the following month for its next men’s fashion show. The livestreamed show which closed with Chinese actor-singer Kris Wu, set new audience records and fanned business across Asia, with Taiwan, China and South Korea hitting new sales highs, according to executives of the brand. Vuitton will next take the collection, with a few new pieces, to Japan with a show in Tokyo on Sept. 2.