Luxury Retailers Offering Fewer Handbag Choices This Holiday Season Amid Lack Of Demand

Image courtesy of vsmoothe

Luxury labels are having a rough go of it lately, what with fewer tourists flocking to department stores and slowing traffic at standalone stores. So if you’re looking for a wide variety of handbag options this holiday season, you might be limited in your choices: the luxury retailers that usually peddle high-end handbags are trimming their lineups.

Millennial shoppers aren’t as into the whole luxury thing, Bloomberg reports, and department stores have continued to see traffic slow down. So in order to survive the holiday season, retailers are introducing fewer new lines, instead of throwing a whole bunch of choices at shoppers, one analyst for the fashion industry said.

“Reducing the number of products, making sure they are choosing their products really smartly, can help make sure they’re getting full-price sales rather than discount,” she told Bloomberg.

To that end, the number of new purses introduced by Nordstrom and Bloomingdales dipped 23% and 3% respectively, which is in contrast with an uptick of 5% and 11% the year before. Barneys had 41% fewer new lines in the third quarter of this year compared to a 46% in 2015.

In the meantime, brands like Coach, Michael Kors, and Kate Spade are turning away from selling to department stores in an effort to reinvigorate the luxury aspect of their brands.

Handbag Sellers Slashing Their Lineups as Luxury Demand Wanes [Bloomberg]

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