Brands in the luxury goods sector gave a collective sigh of relief when Bain and Company came out with its Fall 2021 Luxury Study. “Luxury market rebounds in 2021, set to return to historic growth trajectory,” the headline proclaims.

Conducted in association with Altagamma, the Italian luxury trade foundation, the study is one of the most authoritative in the industry.

Bain estimates global personal luxury goods sales will reach €283 billion ($324 billion) by year end, marking a 1% increase over 2019 levels and 29% over 2020. Early on, full recovery wasn’t expect until well into 2022.

Projecting forward, Bain predicts personal luxury goods will continue its upward trajectory through 2025, advancing between 5% to 9% CAGR to reach €360 to €380 billion ($412-$435 billion).

Noting that the Covid pandemic and recovery has fast-forwarded structural changes in the luxury market that will set the pace for the coming decades of its evolution, Bain partner and report co-author Federica Levato said:

“It’s likely that the crisis will mark a turning point for luxury as we knew it – luxury brands will continue to redefine themselves, expanding their mission beyond creativity and excellence, becoming enablers of social and cultural change.”

Bain’s Claudia D’Arpizio added, “Where once it was all about status, logos and exclusivity, luxury brands are now actors in social conversations, driven by renewed sense of purpose and responsibility.”

That sense of purpose must be aligned with the cultural, social and environmental values of the next generation luxury consumers that Bain expects to contribute about 180% of the total market growth from 2019 through 2025.

Millennials (Bain called them Gen Y) and GenZ consumers will account for nearly two-thirds (63%) of personal luxury goods sales in 2021, up from 44% in 2019. By 2025, they will make up over 70% of the total market as GenX and Baby Boomers’ influence and spending lessens.

Coming November 27 is Small Business Saturday, the officially-recognized shopping holiday sponsored by American Express, now in its 12th year. Small Business Saturday is the capstone event for American Express’ now year-long Shop Small movement to support independent small businesses all around the globe.

“We committed more than $200 million, including special offers and incentives, to motivate our customers to get out and Shop Small. And this year, we are introducing new initiatives to help drive more business to small businesses,” he continues.

Bracketed by Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday has had an impressive run bringing more customers out to shop over the nation’s biggest holiday shopping weekend. It even gained Congressional and presidential support in 2011.

With a stated goal of driving $100 billion in reported consumer spending to small businesses on Small Business Saturday from 2021 through 2025, this year’s event and the rest of the season is more critical than ever to keep small businesses afloat in 2022.

Meet the HENRYs breaks new ground by uncovering a new target consumer--Millennials with money.

It's a segment of the largest generation of Americans with more discretionary income than the rest of the cohort today and poised to acquire more money in the future.

These are the millennials that matter most to brands today and tomorrow

For the foreseeable future, millennial HENRYs (High Earners Not Rich Yet) will be the consumers that every brand manager, marketer and retail executive will need to know well.

This subset of the largest generation of Americans, earns between $100K and $250K–the income cohort that accounts for 40 percent of all household spending. Most important, however, these are the consumers who are on track to become the ultra-affluent ($250K +) of the future.

This forward-looking book examines trends and profiles emerging disruptive brands that millennial HENRYs are drawn to, and explains how many of these innovative brands are setting themselves apart from the traditional top-tier luxury brands.

It takes you on a deep-dive into the steps the smartest of the traditional luxury brands and retailers are taking to keep up with a new generation of consumers who are anything but traditional in their approach to luxury spending.

Everyone has heard the adage, “The bigger the challenges, the greater the opportunity,” but often the reverse is true too: The bigger the opportunity, the greater the challenges. Both apply for home brands that aim to grow in the U.S. consumer market.“

Here are the five biggest challenges that every home furnishings brand faces entering or expanding in the U.S. market, whether selling through brick-and-mortar retail, B2C e-commerce or through the design trade.

While most businesses are entranced by the growth opportunities in China – 1.4 billion people with GDP growth averaging ~9% per year since 1980 – the U.S. market is far larger in market size yet with only one-fourth the total number of consumers – 328 million people living in 138 million U.S. households. The U.S. economy leads the world, $21.4 trillion as compared with $14.3 trillion in China, according to The World Bank.

In reality, China may be the world’s biggest producer, but the U.S. is the biggest consumer market.

Further, the U.S. is where more of the world’s wealth resides. There are 20.6 million U.S. millionaires, more than the five next largest countries combined, including China’s 2.3 million millionaires.

As for the home furnishings market, Americans spent $380.7 billion in 2020 on goods for their home, including $238.8 billion on furniture and furnishings alone. Add to that the $90.4 billion spent on home services, and the total market opportunity in the U.S. is rapidly approaching a half-trillion dollars.