Luxury sector: an analysis of investment performance

Abstract

The topic that is discussed in this thesis concerns investment trends in the luxury sector. In a first analysis, all market characteristics of the luxury sector will be investigated, with a focus on the relationship between consumers, and their affordability, and the luxury market. Second, the advantages and disadvantages of investing in the luxury sector will be analyzed, seeking to understand which areas of the sector are of greatest interest to investors. To study investments in the luxury sector, the total return performance of the Global Luxury Index over the years is considered. The latter is then compared with the other sectoral investment indices in order to study their behavior during the years and analyze specifically how they perform during periods of economic crisis. The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the trend of investment in the luxury sector, with main focus in the periods of economic crisis and demonstrate precisely that people in different age ranges increasingly tend to invest in the luxury sector. The choice to carry out this thesis stems firstly from the fact that I did an internship in Luxottica, one of the most important Italian companies in the luxury sector, and as is well known, the turnover of this company is continuously growing despite the recent periods of economic crisis, such as covid-19 and the various wars that are affecting our planet, and this is definitely the main factors that attract people to invest in it, in addition to the fact that Luxottica has a very diverse and broad portfolio of luxury brands.