Coach Drives Luxury Handbag Sales With Michael Kors Close Behind

Wealthy U.S. women earning at least $150,000 a year rank 31 luxury handbag brands in the new 2013 Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) survey from the independent and objective New York-based Luxury Institute. The LBSI evaluates product quality, design, exclusivity, social status enhancement, as well as considerations of in-store experiences, quality of customer service and worthiness of premium pricing on an average score of 1-10.

Among high-income U.S. women, Coach is the best-known (70%) and most frequently purchased (24%) brand in the past year, but ranks tenth on the overall LBSI with a score of 7.19. Judith Leiber earns the highest LBSI score (7.72) with exceptional strength in customer evaluations of materials, design and exclusivity. Leiber is also deemed the brand most worthy of premium pricing.

Louis Vuitton earns the second-highest overall LBSI score (7.53), as well as the second-highest level of familiarity (53%), just ahead of Gucci (51%). Vuitton ranks first for its brand heritage, in-store experience and long-term relationship building skills. Newer entrants like Michael Kors are coming on strong, however, with 7.3% of women purchasing a Kors handbag in the past 12 months, compared to 5.5% who purchased Vuitton.

Regarding future purchases, Coach remains the leader, with 66% of wealthy U.S. women planning to buy Coach for their next handbag purchase. Michael Kors (56%), Cole Haan (54%) and Longchamp (51%) follow as the handbag brands most likely to be purchased next.

"Product quality and style are absolutely essential in a competitive luxury segment like handbags," says Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza, "but superior customer service and relationship building create long-term value."

About the Luxury Institute (www.LuxuryInstitute.com)
The Luxury Institute is the objective and independent global voice of the high net-worth consumer. The Institute conducts extensive and actionable research with wealthy consumers about their behaviors and attitudes on customer experience best practices. In addition, we work closely with top-tier luxury brands to successfully transform their organizational cultures into more profitable customer-centric enterprises. Our Luxury CRM Culture consulting process leverages our fact-based research and enables luxury brands to dramatically Outbehave as well as Outperform their competition. The Luxury Institute also operates LuxuryBoard.com, a membership-based online research portal, and the Luxury CRM Association, a membership organization dedicated to building customer-centric luxury enterprises.