The Bling Dynasty: Why the Reign of Chinese Luxury Shoppers Has Only Just Begun

Appendix A Luxury Goods Basics

This short section gives a quick snapshot of the different companies involved in the luxury goods trade. It is obviously not a comprehensive list.

Multi-Brand Groups

Some families have created veritable luxury empires through a collection of brands purchased over time. While there are many more, here are the main multi-brand groups in the sector.

Kering (formerly known as PPR)

Kering is mostly a soft luxury goods driven company having in its midst one of the big brands in the space: Gucci. Alongside this close to EUR4 billion brand, the group runs many up-and-coming smaller brands such as Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent (formerly known as Yves Saint Laurent but it recently dropped ‘Yves') and many smaller brands. Before it was renamed Kering, the group was invested in many retail assets that have since been disposed of. Besides the luxury portfolio, Kering holds a smaller portfolio of lifestyle brands, the bigger one by far being German sporting goods brand Puma.

LVMH—Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton

By far the largest diversified group in luxury, LVMH was born in 1987 from the merger of Louis Vuitton, the largest luxury brand to date with more than EUR7 billion in sales with Moët Hennessy, itself a 1971 merger between Cognac leader Hennessy and Champagne powerhouse Moët & Chandon. The group generates sales of close to EUR30 billion with operating profit of close to EUR6 billion. It now runs more than 60 brands in five different divisions ...