I recently sat down with Melanie Flouquet, head of J.P. Morgan's European Luxury Team, to talk about the future of the luxury market and implications for investors.  Melanie prepared a report of our conference call for her clients that she is generously letting me share with you. 

Here is a link to request a copy of  J.P. Morgan Minutes:  "The New Luxury Consumer" with Pam Danziger.  http://bit.ly/JPMorgan_Interview_Form

A summary of Melanie's comments about our discussion appear below.

 -- Pam Danziger, Unity Marketing

"The New Luxury Consumer"

An interview with Pam Danziger, Unity Marketing, and Melanie Flouquet, J.P. Morgan

J.P. Morgan, Europe Equity Research, hosted a conference call for its clients on the New Luxury consumer in December 2009 with Pam Danziger of Unity Marketing, the consumer behaviour consultancy firm.

• Pam Danziger shared her rather bearish views on the US consumer's key and lasting changes towards luxury spend driven by demographics and attitude shifts. Pam’s address comes at an opportune time - when investors are oscillating between exuberant optimism and fear about the shape of the US consumer recovery. Beyond possible short-term bounces, Pam urges corporates to accept and integrate long-lasting changes in consumer behaviour: a more informed, selective, sophisticated consumer with new aspirations is born.
• Pam's work is focused on the US, a sizeable market for the European luxury sector (c15% of sales) and more importantly a market that had been perceived for the past 7 years as a key growth engine. Yet, this crisis has put the US structural growth story into question. Luxury executives diverge on this market's potential, most are shutting down stores and refocusing fully on Asia ex Japan, while a lesser number sustain or accelerate investments. Pam's stance would support the conservative view.
• Some of Pam's key themes resonate to most key luxury markets, nonetheless ageing of the population and skyrocketing luxury prices that arguably, if anything, hit more other markets than the US and most of all the tricky luxury Japanese market.

The Host:

Melanie Flouquet is the Head of J.P. Morgan's European Luxury and Sporting Goods team. She has been covering the sector for 10 years. Since Melanie has headed the luxury goods team, it has been top-3 ranked by Institutional Investor and Extel polls every year.
Melanie A Flouquet
(33-1) 40 15 44 85
melanie.a.flouquet@jpmorgan.com