Italian luxury brand of fashion and leather goods, Gucci had a handbag price appreciation by up to 9% as top Italian brands are trying to curb the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
The luxury fashion industry, which plays a large role in the economies of Italy and France, has been hard-hit by lockdowns that forced the closure of stores across the globe and could face years of uncertainty as many people’s incomes are likely to fall.
Jefferies luxury goods analyst Flavio Cereda compared prices in various countries of two Gucci handbags – the $2,290 Dionysus and the $2,980 Zumi – in May and June and found price increases for both in Italy, Britain, and China of between 5% and 9%.
Analyst Cereda said in a report the price change would narrow the gap between handbag prices in Europe, which are lower than in major luxury markets such as China, where shoppers have queued at stores as they emerged from lockdown.
Still, the price in euros of the Dionysus in China was 28% higher than in Italy after the increase. The gap stood at 23% for the Zumi, Cereda’s data found.
“We are unsurprised that Gucci, another brand with strong brand heat, is following suit with opportunistic price increases in an attempt to mitigate revenue contraction,” said Cereda, who in May cut his rating on Kering to “hold” from “buy”.
