If everyone owned a Chanel bag or an Hermes Birkin bag, would these sought after brands still be considered luxury? Selling the brand and becoming popular and in demand is the double edged sword for the luxury market.
Today’s article from the BBC describes the undercutting of luxury brands by agents in the market in China. Most luxury brands are priced considerably higher in China. So what is happening is that agents and even college students are buying Chanel and Hermes and Vuitton in Europe and delivering them to China where they can undercut the market and still make a profit.
The other fascinating part of today’s story is what happened to Burberry which became too popular with everything in the signature plaid that not only diluted its brand, but made it easier to produce fake products. How Burberry’s CEO brought the company back from the brink is a great story: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35303799