LVMH has spent the last few few years building out an ‘AI factory’, helping its brands make use of AI and educating the company’s workforce. Rather than using consumer facing AI and chatbots, it wlll invest in its own AI with a number of uses, including suggesting the most high-potential customers to contact and forecasting. This level of investment in AI is ahead of the game in the luxury market, and it will be interesting to see whether other houses adapt such an extensive approach to AI adoption.

Recent research by Bain shows that the so-called ‘core of the core’ of the luxury market, the personal luxury market, rose 4% on the last year to be valued at £362m in 2023. For the ultra-wealthy shoppers that continue to drive recent growth in the luxury goods market vs. the accessible luxury shoppers who have driven growth in the past decade, limited edition products are not enough, they want “carte blanche to create whatever they desire”.

Burberry have just announced a new CEO, Joshua Schulman, ex-head of Coach and Michael Kors, after a 20% tumble in retail sales earlier this year. The brand has struggled to gain traction in the slowing luxury market, and the market hopes new leadership will reignite excitement.

As the weather heats up, so does the temptation of diving into a cool infinity pool or taking a trip to somewhere with cooler climes. But while many will look to European destinations to provide the relief, here are five ways to escape the heat in the GCC.

The luxury sector faces the new challenge of sustaining momentum after the post-pandemic recovery - they must continue to cater to high spending customers, while also broadening their appeal to attract new demographics. Emerging trends in China that are resulting in a shift away from ostentatious luxury items and a crackdown on ‘money worship’ may threaten the bounceback and force luxury brands to adapt.

Italian sneaker brand Golden Goose postponed its Milan IPO this week as volatile market conditions linger, in the wake of European election uncertainties and depressed demand from China. Despite this backdrop, Bain’s 2024 forecasts for the luxury market remain broadly unchanged and ‘desirability of luxury products is still there’, so while uncertainty may be the new normal, underlying stability remains.

Luxury brands are already utilising the power of AI to cut production and operations costs - providing opportunities in fashion and retail across multiple categories ‘from the way trends are consumed to the retail customer journey’. We know it will profoundly impact the workforce - but just how much?

There’s been a surge in luxury brands using AI to put design in the hands of their customers. DIY products and ad campaigns from Reebok, Adore Me and Versace invite people to use generative art to create new works inspired by the brand’s look and feel.

After a great first quarter, luxury sales in China have reported a very mixed bag of results, no longer growing in the double digits. China still remains a critically important market for luxury and brands must focus on how they can boost sales in China amid this downturn.

We all know about the luxury e-commerce slump of late and have been spending the time dissecting what and where it all went wrong, but attention of the market has turned to some new smaller marketplaces beating the odds with a focus on emerging accessible luxury brands and operating costs.

Companies’ strategic alignment of prices of products and services across different markets and channels –has been a recurring topic of discussion in the luxury segment over the past decade or so, and despite a media attention to the practice of harmonized “global pricing”, the number of companies that have actually embarked upon fully-fledged price harmonisation campaigns is relatively few.

From Le Labo’s mixing rituals and a clever Carhartt label to hospitality experiences that hark back to tradition, Matter Of Form’s latest piece unpacks some of their team’s favourite cases of branded rituals and moments that actually mean something – more so than the tedious race to conversion.

AI has become so commonplace in luxury retail, we don’t always even realise we are interacting with it. LCC GCC explores the various ways it is transforming the luxury retail landscape.

The new Cannes Luxury & Lifestyle Lion will provide a global benchmark for brands in the luxury space, recognising and celebrating the most impactful creative work, experiences and creative business solutions for the luxury sector.

The New Codes of Luxury report by Havas Media Lux explores the Joy Rejuvenators - a new and fascinating, large cohort of luxury consumers, predominantly women. Driving the luxury sectors forward, partcularly the travel industry, this group are finding rejoice through luxury in otherwise tough times.

Everybody’s talking about longevity. You’ll have heard of Blue Zones, you might have read Peter Attia’s bestselling book, Outlive, and you should have some recall (if vague) of the tech billionaire trying to de-age using his son’s blood. Ultimately, what you need to know is the opportunity for wellness hospitality brands in this space is vast – Matter Of Form will push you to consider how.

The spending power of Gen Z (and the even younger Gen Alpha) is set to grow 3x faster than that of other generations by 2023, according to a report by Bain. With this in mind, heritage luxury brands can no longer rely solely on their history to generate sales, instead needing to tap into Gen Z behaviour and desires, and above all, stay relevant.

From maintaining brand exclusivity to battling counterfeit products, several factors contribute to the struggle of luxury brands in the digital realm and make bricks and mortar hard to beat

The British Fashion Council are teasing a new format for this summer’s London Fashion Week that ‘aims to ignite a cultural moment’.

The recent collapses at both Matchesfashion and Farfetch represent a dramatic repositioning for the luxury ecommerce sector, which until recently had benefitted from some of the most powerful trends of the past decade - the historic boom in luxury sales and COVID.