Forrester Research Luxury Goods Forecast, 2015 To 2020 (EU-7)

The €46.9 billion luxury goods market in Europe captures over 30% of luxury goods sales worldwide, with a significant share of sales coming from Italy, France, and the UK. Luxury goods growth varies considerably across the EU-7 countries, driven by the growth in household incomes. Cross-border retailing is slowing down online adoption by luxury goods retailers as price disparities in the worldwide luxury goods market create a “grey” market for parallel imports. Growth in the online sale of hard goods remains modest as the high prices and the high technical characteristics of watches and jewelry remain obstacles to online sales. EU-7 online luxury goods sales from 2015 to 2020 will grow at a rate that is four times the luxury goods market as a whole. The European luxury goods market is seeing notably strong online growth in clothing, accessories, and shoes, with the recent merger of Yoox and Net-A-Porter creating one of the largest online luxury goods companies in the world. The forecast details online growth and market size across luxury clothing, shoes and accessories, fine jewelry and watches, and prestige beauty for the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden.