Luxury brands are looking to explore Down Under as the next hot luxury market. Because Australia also has such lucrative ties to Asia luxury brands are seeking to cash in. Dior opened their first flagship store in Australia. Other popular luxury brands already had Australia on their radar with Miu Miu, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci and Louis Vuitton all opening new stores or renovating their existing spaces.
It might be interesting to note that Australia is still considered a small population and only makes up 2% of the global economy. However, luxury brands are very interested in this target audience ability to drive revenue. If you have a small influential population that spends more it can server more beneficial than a large population not spending. Luxury brands tend to thrive in niche environments and niches are never for the masses.
Christian Dior Store Sydney Castlereagh Street
According to theaustralian.com.au the move to target Australia comes as luxury goods have moved into a new realm of accessibility as the rising middle classes, fed by better pricing points and a consumer-focused mass media, have made aspirational living mainstream. Despite the economic declines and curbs on spending, this corner of the market has managed to keep expanding.
Globally, about E212 billion ($270bn) was spent on luxury last year, a 10 per cent climb. Not surprisingly, the US’s luxury market experienced the largest spend at 59bn while 1.8bn was spent in Australia, making it the 16th largest.