Louis Vuitton announced plans on Friday to open a dedicated furniture and homewares store in Shanghai, a world first for the French luxury brandas it aims to further expand into lifestyle offerings for wealthy Chinese customers.
The showroom, which opens Monday, is housed in a three-story, century-old mansion just behind Nanjing Road, the city’s main luxury shopping area.
Louis Vuitton, part of the conglomerate LVMHstated in a statement that the showroom will be tested for several months and, if successful, become a permanent business.
While no price tags were displayed in the store during a media preview, a Louis Vuitton employee claimed that a brightly colored hanging chair designed by the Campana brothers has a price of more than 700,000 yuan (93,800 euros) and a small lamp that resembles a glass milk bottle costs 40,500 yuan (5,430 euros).
A smaller side building is dedicated to displaying designs by Frank Chou, the first mainland Chinese designer hired by Louis Vuitton to collaborate on the Objet Nomades collection, as the furniture and homeware ranges are known.
Find new avenues of growthparticularly among wealthy consumers, is becoming increasingly important for luxury brands in China, as luxury spending comes under pressure from Covid-19 restrictions, the property market slump and broader economic uncertainty.
Louis Vuitton plunged into a more lifestyle-oriented offering in China last month when it opened a store in the southwestern city of Chengdu that included showroom space and a restaurant.
“LMVH strives to reposition itself as a contemporary luxury brand by leveraging new avenues that resonate with dynamic Chinese millennial and Gen Z consumers,” he said. Bobby Verghese, GlobalData consumer analyst, whose firm estimates that sales in China’s home sector will grow to $782 billion by 2026. Verghese sees homewares as a good bet for Louis Vuitton, especially in China.
“Unlike their privacy-first predecessors, Gen Y digital immigrants and Gen Z digital natives are not averse to flaunting their lifestyles on social media,” Verghese said. “LMVH aims to gain an early advantage in this emerging space.”
