ROME: The world luxury market has reached a “maturity and stabilisation” phase with growth of around 2pc expected this year.

The study by the US consultancy Bain&Company and the Fondazione Altagamma, which said in a statement: “In 2014, we are expecting continuity”. The forecasts “are far from the double-digit growth that characterised the market between 2009 and 2012,” it said.

“The sector is entering a new phase that I would define as the ‘new normal’”, said Claudia D’Arpizio, a partner at Bain and author of the study. “The absence in the short-term of explosive phenomena like China in recent years and a better reaction to crisis in mature markets have led to a more stable and healthy growth trend,” she said.—AFP

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2014