Luxury After a Pandemic

When the Covid-19 era is over, how luxury will change its skin and in which direction it will evolve?

No one could have predicted that a virus would take the entire planet captive. Facts are always more frightening than fiction, we are going through a period that will be subject to movies as proof. As the famous British thinker and modern-age philosopher Professor John Gray wrote in his book “Straw Dogs”, which is considered the Bible of the new generation; The need to overcome human selfishness and related worldviews began to be discussed. We all stopped and had to stuck in our homes. Nature began to recover. In his book Gray also exactly predicts: “Other animals do not need a purpose in life. The fact that the animal called human cannot do without it is contradictory in itself. Can’t we just consider the purpose of life just to be seeing? ” We are experiencing this situation which is exactly what Gray mentioned. Now all humanity is just watching and seeing. Consumerism has been suspended. Although we do not need it, we are not able to go out to buy that blouse or sweater that we will only wear one season to be a little happy. When we get out, we will have a more conscious and discreet shopping attitude. Is that so? I’m not sure.

Million dollar spent for shopping in a single day in the stores of luxury brands reopened in China. The concept that we can call ‘revenge buying’, which was born as a result of the Chinese government’s softening policies of opening up to the world and Chinese billionaires started shopping enormously in the 80s, came to the agenda again. But this time, experts do not understand who is getting revenge from whom. They try to define it not as revenge, but as “the shopping of I must do a favor to myself”. Before pandemic, the future of luxury has been much debated. Many experts said that the future of luxury is to create completely private experiences, and some say that it will be to produce special products for you. If such a pandemic had not been experienced, we would have seen where luxury would come by living together. But now that we can not go out to have a special experience or to make suits for us, it is not possible for us to predict where the future of luxury will go. Lets say, custom made products ready our there for you and you went to the store by wearing your mask made of luxury fabrics. Which social activity you plan to participate by wearing those beautiful products you will buy? And which mood you will be in?

What’s going on in the Far East?

We will only learn that when we spend the hot summer season and everything starts to return to relatively new normal. And after the pandemic, it will be the Far East market that will shape this new future of luxury. Why? Because all the researches conducted since the beginning of 2000s reveal that almost all of the luxury brands in the world get almost half of their turnover from the Far East market. There is no big change in these rates for now. Another study says that Chinese purchases on luxury online platforms such as Bloomingdales and Saks Fifth Avenue increased by 50 to 70% during this period. So let’s see what the luxury pursuit wants and what will they want after the pandemic? The most important Far Eastern group in search of luxury is always those who demand products and services that are “Exclusivity”, that is “Special for him only”. People belonging to this consumer tribe always want to see new products, no matter which brand they are. Prestige is always at the forefront for them. It is not a pleasure for any product to be in the hands of others or to be seen on it. It is not difficult to predict that the demands of luxury consumers with this behavioral model after pandemic will be felt even more. Many brands will open their stores at special appointment hours for this type of customers and will start to serve. Brands will further expand their workshops called “Private Order”, where they produce only for their private customers. Instead of collective invitations or trips, only experience environments will be designed for each VIP customer. A warmer, closer and special relationship period begins for this group. It is thought that the home-made shuttle service, which most luxury brands apply to, will also increase for this type of customers and for a long time, the brands will realize their turnover in these ways.

Luxury travels

Another luxury consumer tribe consists of people who travel all the time and turn their travels into delight through luxury shopping. Since travels will become more difficult after pandemic, their expectations from luxury airlines and hotels will increase even more. Now all these ultra-luxury businesses have to solve hygiene and social distance rules at the highest level but in a stylish way. In luxury hotels where these people spend time, it is possible to bring the service and products to their feet. We can see another group as a relatively new generation of people who do all of their luxury shopping online. As I mentioned in my article above, we see that this group increased these habits even more during the pandemic period. If we consider that the amount of online shopping is increasing in the total turnover of luxury brands, we will see that they will make additional investments to further increase their online image and attraction. More intimate, colorful and more pleasing websites will be made. It is not hard to predict that the sales by Instagram stories and the one-time limited special designs we call “Drop-off” will increase in the post-pandemic period.

What does the Z generation want?

When we consider all these, we can say that more selective and sophisticated solutions will come to the fore in the new luxury world. On the other hand, will the rich youth, called the small emperors and queens belonging to families with high income levels, called the Z generation, give priority to brands that are less harmful to the environment, be thoughtful and respect the planet? The answer to this question is the most curious topic among brands. I have a lot of hope in this matter. When we say that we want to go back to normal from the pandemic environment we are in now, I hope that we have realized in the past months that we are not actually happy with the old normal. The future of luxury brands that value authentic, original and manual work is brighter if we consider the expectations of the new generation consumers. We are entering the periods when nobody wears a product twice, throwing it aside, stylish products that do not exceed the season and the season will be kept on hand, personalized creative designs will increase anormously, and special store experiences filled with positive messages are planned.