Analyst: Luxury Sales To Start Rebound In 2011

ANNE D'INNOCENZIO

NEW YORK (AP) — Luxury merchants shouldn't expect affluent shoppers to go back to splurging anytime soon, says Claudia D'Arpizio, partner and luxury goods expert at consulting company Bain & Co., who anticipates that the global luxury business will not fully rebound until 2012.

That means a wave of consolidation in the luxury industry over the next year or so as companies try to survive, she told a group of journalists Tuesday.

Luxury chains continued to be the weakest retail sector in May with Saks Inc., for example, reporting same-store sales 26.6 percent lower than a year earlier.

D'Arpizio forecast a 10 percent decline in luxury spending worldwide for this year, after spending was flat in 2008.