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doauthor | li dongyang

if you ask which industry is the most magical and the most against market rules, it must be the luxury industry.

it is said that the worse the economy is, the more luxury goods prices increase and the faster sales grow. however, under the pressure of long-term economic downturn, the luxury goods industry is also facing severe tests.

when observing the rise and fall of the luxury goods industry, in addition to the reflection on the data, the most intuitive thing is the expressions of the front-line sales staff.

the so-called snobbish scenes such as the salesgirls pouting and rolling their eyes, and the shopping guides treating people differently based on their appearance, are basic practices in the luxury goods industry.

after all, luxury goods sales can be called a living human scanner. a simple full-body eye scan can reveal whether you have money in your pocket and your consumption level without any secrets.

because of this, the salesgirls have become the first hurdle many people have to overcome when shopping, mainly because of their laser-like scanning eyes, which can make people feel creepy.

but recently, it is said that the salesgirls have bucked their usual behavior and not only stopped rolling their eyes, but also actively smiled. what is going on?

the reason is simple, because the saleslady's attitude reflects the temperature of the luxury industry.

it’s no secret that the luxury goods industry is in a downturn. the various movements and buzzwords that have emerged in recent years have foreshadowed the emergence of a consumption slump.

for example, the city walk that was very popular a few days ago essentially means that consumption has hit rock bottom. the "long-termism" that many people love to quote is also a manifestation of consumption downgrade.

if you still don’t have any specific perception, then the professional insights of the luxury salesgirls may be quite touching.

the golden age of the luxury goods industry has passed. this is a sentence that every salesgirl has begun to repeat nowadays. at the same time, they also expressed their deep nostalgia for the good times when sales were delivered to their doorsteps. at that time, there were many salesgirls in the industry who earned 20,000 yuan a month, and the average monthly salary in some areas was 30,000 to 40,000 yuan.

even during the period affected by the epidemic, luxury goods sales were still the first choice for many people to change jobs. there were always crowds of people running hundreds of meters outside the slowly rising security doors. fashionable people at that time were as wild as grandpas and women grabbing eggs. in this case, luxury goods sales did not need to worry about performance at all, and customers came to the door as if they were free.

in contrast, the overseas luxury goods market is gloomy. for example, french luxury brand chanel has stopped production, and jewelry giant tiffany has closed 70% of its stores. therefore, it is natural for major brands to continue to favor the chinese market and offer big gift packages such as price increases.

because of this, luxury consumers in the chinese market have long been dubbed as “stupid but rich”, but when they begin to wake up, the ones who are most reluctant to see this situation are the luxury brands and the salesgirls.

the pressure of performance is a huge rock hanging over every salesperson's head. when chatting with some salesmen, they always complain that this year is the worst year in history. the rich are tightening their purse strings and our old customers are starting to avoid us.

guangguang, who has worked for hard luxury brands such as jewelry and watches for five years, sighed: "now when i hear all kinds of layoff information, i don't know how the people involved feel, but i feel heartbroken!"

when performance pressure increases, the first problem many people face is the pursuit of their supervisors. some people endure various puas, some people stay up late and work overtime for a long time, and ultimately the decreasing balance on the pay slip still wipes out the hopes of most people.

in the past, people’s first impression of salesgirls was that they were snobbish, but salespeople generally agree that snobbish salesgirls cannot represent the entire industry, and that many of them have a very twisted life regardless of their performance.

nowadays, many people choose to leave the luxury industry. in addition to the lack of performance indicators to rely on, it is also because the industry is highly competitive, fresh blood is more popular, company executives like to recruit professional management talents from outside, and the promotion channels are too narrow.

the career crisis for people over 35 years old also exists in this industry. many people choose to switch to other sales industries when they get older. in recent years, cosmetics have poached many luxury sales clerks.

some people even said frankly that after working in this industry for so long, they have seen all kinds of relationship buying and selling. luxury goods stores are the most flashy and mercenary places, and love is the real luxury!

luxury goods have their own unique marketing methods. for them, price increase is one of the tried and tested strategies. it is also the best way to eliminate "no-income" customer groups and attract new consumers.

it sounds a bit unbelievable and doesn't seem to conform to market rules.

but in fact, fairness is considered to be the biggest enemy of luxury goods, so the arrogance of this industry is evident.

at the beginning of this year, lv announced a price increase, at least three times within a year; in january, hermès also completed the price increase of its entire product line; some of gucci's best-selling bags increased in price by more than 1,000 yuan.

eager to create another atmosphere of "the higher the price, the better the sales."

but the reality is cruel. lvmh group's revenue maintained a high growth rate of 44% and 23% in 2021 and 2022 respectively, but in the first half of 2024, it fell by 1% year-on-year; in the first half of 2024, kering group's revenue fell by 11% year-on-year to 9.018 billion euros, and its net profit attributable to the parent company fell by 51% year-on-year to 878 million euros. burberry's retail sales in the second quarter of 2024 fell by 22% year-on-year to 458 million pounds, and same-store sales fell by 21%.

the sharp weapon of price increase seems to be no longer effective. the reason for frequent price increases, in addition to the pursuit of profits, is to package the identity value of consumers and continue to cater to the conspicuous consumption psychology of the upper class, so that they are willing to accept price increases.

many times, the price increase of luxury goods is actually in line with consumers' expectations. the higher the price, the easier it is for consumers to show off, and the more obvious the purpose of using luxury goods to highlight their status and wealth.

therefore, luxury brands dare to amplify the scarcity and uniqueness through hunger marketing such as "allocation of goods", which is also the main reason why sales clerks and saleswomen have no worries about performance.

in the past, it was possible to fool the rich with just a little trick, so why doesn’t the same smooth little trick work now?

image source: nothing but thirty

the most fundamental reason is that there is no money in the pocket, wealth has shrunk, and there is not much hope for future income growth.

the overall environment has already reflected this fact: the dividends of internet companies have peaked, the real estate and stock markets have continued to fall, and the slowing economy has caused the demand for luxury goods among the new rich and the middle class to begin to decline.

compared to the top brands who are feeling comfortable, the second-tier brands are getting restless. according to the wall street journal, citing bernstein data, luxury brands burberry and ysl are trying to win back consumers by lowering prices.

in this era of big price cuts, apple and porsche have begun to slash their prices and lower their profile. the iron rule that the more expensive a luxury product is, the more people will buy it may no longer be true.

after feeling the intense gazes of the salesgirls at luxury goods stores begin to cool, consumers seemed a little uncomfortable until they found the familiar feeling with the salespersons at the gold shop.

we mentioned earlier that the attitude of the salesgirls at luxury goods stores is a barometer of the luxury industry. in fact, it is the same in all walks of life. it is easy to develop a sense of superiority when you are so rich.

in addition to luxury stores, what has recently sparked widespread discussion are the major gold shops commonly seen on the streets.

as young people are keen on buying gold, the first batch of victims have already appeared, with a large number of complaints emerging on social media: "the salesgirls at branded gold shops now have more arrogant faces than the salesgirls at lv and hermès."

if you have visited a gold shop this year, you will find that gold shops of all sizes are crowded with people, whether in beijing, shanghai, guangzhou or a small fifth-tier county town.

popular gold wholesale markets like shuibei in shenzhen are crowded even on weekdays.

note: shenzhen shuibei real shot

while gold is hot, consumers are very dissatisfied with the cold attitude of gold shop clerks, and the phenomenon of treating customers differently is everywhere.

many people have turned around and started to apologize to the sales clerks at luxury goods stores. the stereotype about them needs to be changed. there are employees with bad attitudes in every industry, and they cannot represent the entire industry.

the deeper reason behind this is actually the clash of concepts between the salesgirls in gold shops and the young consumer groups. the demands of young people are more extensive, and they focus on repeated experiences, which requires the salesgirls to devote more energy, which is very different from the consumption habits of their parents.

the lesson worth summarizing is that the sales of gold, silver and jewelry products need to update their concepts and behavioral habits as soon as possible, such as diversified aesthetic design, more flexible service methods, etc., but it is definitely not a self-destructive approach like turning a blind eye.

the same is true for the luxury industry. luxury consumption has shown a trend of becoming younger. under the impact of young consumption concepts, the luxury industry and front-end sales need to adapt to new changes as soon as possible.

when it comes to "pleasing" young consumers, luxury brands have to lower their standards.