Too many Gucci bags sold in 2006

Looks like there were lots of Gucci bags beneath Xmas trees this year.  Marketwatch reports on PPR's fourth quarter financial results (PPR is Gucci's parent company), and notes:

Growth at the luxury unit was driven by solid gains at its top brands, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, as well as a 66% rise in sales at Bottega Veneta, which benefited from continued rapid expansion in its core Japanese market.

Bottega Veneta also recently took its first step into China, opening a store in Shanghai and plans a further 10 stores worldwide in 2007.

Shares in the group climbed 3.2% higher in Paris. PPR's shares had been under pressure ahead of the results, losing around 6% since the start of January.

The Gucci brand enjoyed strong sales in the U.S. and Japan, where it benefited from a new flagship store in Tokyo.

"All the luxury goods brands continued to outperform their markets, due to the talent of the designers and the brands strong positioning," said Francois-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive in a statement.

Gucci is also repositioning its range of watches by increasing their quality and selling price, though the impact from this initiative likely won't be seen until the second half of 2007, the company told analysts on a conference call.

Gucci's new Tokyo store is helping spur bag sales, and clearly, using anorexic models hasn't hurt the company.  An absence of health considerations infiltrates the brand.  It's easy to imagine one of their underfed models doing lines of coke instead of eating a cheeseburger.

   

Why promote such impossible and unhealthy notions of beauty when all you really want to do is sell more handbags?  Duh...because it works.