Luxury Retail: Who's Winning During The Pandemic?
Every week, host and Zacks stock strategist, Tracey Ryniec, will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds, and ETFs and how it impacts your life.
This week, Tracey is joined by Zacks Associate Stock Strategist, Maddy Johnson, to talk about their favorite topic: retail.
But this time, they focused on the luxury niche.
Luxury retail can be found in all types of consumer goods from fashion which includes apparel, handbags, accessories, and shows, to beauty, which includes make-up, hair, and skincare, to furniture and cars.
Each has had its own coronavirus challenges but that hasn’t stopped some from making bold moves.
Amazon Goes Luxury
Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) is finally entering the luxury game with its Amazon Luxury Stores which is an invitation-only web portal that currently has only one brand on it, which is Oscar de la Renta.
It’s similar to Alibaba’s (BABA - Free Report) Tmall Luxury Pavilion which launched in 2017 to serve the luxury market in China.
Tmall Luxury Pavilion currently has over 180 brands including Burberry, Prada, Cartier, and Valentino.
Each brand controls its own promotions and supply chains.
But while Chinese consumers have no problem shopping online, for everything, including luxury, will American consumers feel the same?
Going All in on Digital
Thanks to the pandemic, some luxury brands have had no choice but to embrace the online world.
Estee Lauder (EL - Free Report) stepped up its online game after stores were shut globally earlier in the year. In the fourth quarter it saw big gains in online sales with various retailers and Tmall contributing.
Other companies are already all-online such as The RealReal, Inc. (REAL - Free Report) which is a luxury consignment retailer.
It’s expected to do $1.5 billion in sales in 2020, up 50% from last year.
And others, such as RH (RH - Free Report), still believe in focusing on the brick and mortar and the experience of luxury shopping, while also embracing online sales as a necessity.
It’s expected to expand its gallery strategy into Europe in 2021.
Disclosure: Tracey Ryniec owns shares of AMZN and RH mentioned on the podcast.
Disclaimer: Tracey Ryniec is the Value Stock Strategist for Zacks.com. She is also the Editor of ...
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