Nothing seems to shake the luxury sector when a crisis with global repercussions appears. The figures remain as impressive as ever, year after year. According to the latest benchmark studies from Bain & Company and Altagamma published in 2026, the overall global luxury spending market stabilizes at between €1,440 billion and €1,470 billion, of which approximately €360 billion to €380 billion is for luxury personal goods alone. With historically high margin rates and a unique capacity for rebound, the sector’s economic data is head-turning!
Why is the luxury sector still in a phase of development and sustainability from an economic point of view? Why do this sector and the companies that make it up resist economic crises so well? What are the assets, the strengths of this sector which continues to develop all over the world? All the answers to these questions in the following lines.
A historic sector that works…
Obviously, the luxury sector is one of the oldest sectors in our developed economies. In our history books as in economic journals, it is always possible to find traces of companies or people who worked to create precious goods and high quality products. It still remains important to make a distinction.
In the past, all the artisans who worked with noble materials exercised a specialized function: tanner, goldsmith and many other professions which provided the joys and pleasures of the largest and most beautiful royal courts in the world. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to see the largest companies in this sector selling products from all these different trades. In the case of large groups like LVMH, Kering and Richemont, it is clear that the business portfolios held by these groups are head-turning. Spirits, watches, jewelry, fashion, tannery…
…Thanks to its rarity
The scarcity effect still allows the world of luxury to achieve the success it has enjoyed for centuries. But times have changed. If it was a question of kings, princes, or even members of the bourgeoisie, it functions today thanks to great business leaders, investors and a very high-end clientele – the 2026 studies also underline that very high net worth (Ultra-HNWI) generate an increasingly decisive share of the value of the sector.
Whatever the era, so-called “luxury” goods have always enjoyed certain success thanks to the effect of rarity, the possibility of having exclusivity on a good, a product, an object coveted by many people. Economists call it the “Veblen effect”, that is to say the desire of consumers to acquire a good above all so that others cannot acquire it. And the economic mechanism that accompanies it remains interesting: in the luxury sector, the greater the demand, the more the price increases.
Internationally recognized companies
But the other great strength of the luxury sector is the economic weight and reputation of the companies that make up this luxury sector. Whatever the country studied, whatever the core activity of the company in question, it is clear that these are always companies with extraordinary know-how. They benefit from an extremely high-quality workforce.reliable, always among the best workers in the country, and so many other particularities which give these companies their seconomic success.
The example of LVMH and Louis Vuitton
This historic company that is Louis Vuitton, created in 1854, is today achieving remarkable performances. A success which cannot be denied and which is above all due to the talent and know-how of the brand’s employees, once again among the best in the world. If ancestral know-how remains essential, each year and for all collections, it is through inventiveness that it stands out. And if we take into account the fact that the Louis Vuitton company belongs to the LVMH group, a group which records, according to its latest annual reports, more than 80.8 billion euros in turnover per year, we easily understand that an economic phenomenon affects the luxury sector, that of oligopoly.
Like what can be found in sectors such as the automobile industry or the oil industry, the luxury sector is shared between several behemoths, which have the biggest luxury brands in their portfolio. The three European behemoths, LVMH, Richemont and Kering, continue to dominate the debates. Every year, these companies compete for investments to acquire the biggest luxury brands and expand their respective portfolios of companies.
Incessant development?
The figures are clear: in the long term, luxury products manufactured by the largest French companies in the sector have seen their prices increase at a rate much higher than that of other mass consumer goods, securing their status as desirable and rare goods. A definite difference which makes it easy to understand that the luxury sector maintains a very advantageous positioning.
But that’s not all, other figures from recent financial analyzes allow us to see in more depth: sector leaders like Louis Vuitton or Hermès display an extremely solid operating margin which is close to or exceeds 40%, while knowing that the average for luxury flagships remains very high compared to the rest of the economy. And when we consider that these companies generate tens of billions of euros in turnover per year, we immediately understand more quickly…
The emergence of new markets
The openness and maturity of many markets around the world continue to fuel the thoughts of players in the sector. China and Asia retain a major strategic role: if the recent 2026 studies of Bain & Company And Morgan Stanley confirm a geographic reorganization with the rise of new growth areas (South-East Asia, India, Middle East), Chinese and Asian customers still represent almost a third of the overall market.
Projections on the increase in the number of very high world heritage sites also remain very favorable. The largest luxury companies today compete in inventiveness and innovation — particularly through customer experience and artificial intelligence — to offer new and exclusive products. And if we take into account the continued emergence of these new consumption habits on an international scale, it is undeniable that the luxury sector still has a bright future ahead of it.
