Worldwide sales of luxury goods are booming and predicted to keep on growing, but the history of luxury shows us just how much the concept of luxury has changed.
In Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace Hotel it’s not only cash that people want to get their hands on quickly; they have a machine dispensing gold bars. Just in case you don’t have any easily at hand to buy that Bentley. Luxury is big business and it’s not only among a wealthy few. The luxury goods market is expanding worldwide and is expected to rise by 8% and be worth a cool £164bn by the end of this year.
China is the nexus. There are now around 500,000 millionaires in the country and the Chinese buy 12% of all luxury goods in the world, according to Barclays Capital.
By 2020 it’s predicted to be the world’s largest luxury goods market and account for 44% of all sales. By then the Chinese will be buying more luxury products than the entire world is now.
Rarity has always defined luxury, says historian Dr Michael Scott. It means things like gold will always be sought after, but in ancient Greece a luxury envied and aspired to was meat. For thousands of years the main human diet was made up of fruits, cereals and vegetables and meat was a rarity.
Read more
By: Frances Cronin (BBC News) 21/06/2011
Recent Comments