Overall, the 2020s have been years of growth for the personal luxury market. Tracking from 2019 to 2023, it was found that the market had seen explosive growth as high as 30 per cent, soaring from $301 billion to $387 billion in 2023. This was, of course, despite the huge dip seen in 2020.
However, in what was a worrying sign entering 2024, revenues only grew by four per cent in 2023, according to Forbes.
A lot has changed since 2020, including the adjustment to and the residual habits and mindsets coming out of lockdowns around the world, putting many businesses, and especially heritage businesses, on the back foot. For 2025, many are aiming to battle back.
What Luxury-Seekers Want
When it comes to consumer psychology, a lot of what makes a luxury customer tick hasn’t changed very much over the years. The luxury-seeking public want exclusivity to be a part of the offering, giving them items or experiences that few others can tap into. Likewise, there’s a big social identity element to this.
Now that social media is such a core part of a lot of peoples’ lives, identities, and perceptions of the world, they want to showcase luxury as part of their being.
As has been researched by the Financial Times, there are some new elements to consider with what has become a much more prominent section of the luxury consumer base.
The ‘New Guard,’ as the article labels them, look more to experiences to create memories over goods, are more likely to buy online, turn away from the second-hand market, and are much more likely to not buy luxury items due to their own environmental concerns.
Experiences, environmental concerns, and equally inviting online portals for purchases look to be the driving forces of this new demographic power in the luxury market. So, loyalty programs, slick digital platforms, personalisation, experiences aimed at individuals, and showcased environmentalism can all become big selling points in 2025.
Seeing the Brands Adapt
You can see brands aimed at luxury consumers pivoting to this approach as we speak. In perhaps the most luxurious form of online entertainment, where players pay for each play, platforms have developed slick experiences that run quickly and smoothly on all devices while boasting hundreds of top-class gaming options.
It’s all about having plenty of options and personalisation options, while also offering incredibly accessible brand experiences that remain exclusive in some way.
Those entertainment platforms often couple tailored promotions to online slots, ticking those boxes. Elsewhere, Burberry says it’ll focus on returning to its roots and most iconic creations, pivoting away from chasing trends, while 1 will reveal its first fully electric luxury urban SUV in 2026, and Delopozo seeks to become a hybrid platform that blends the fashion brand with a content platform.
The luxury market is being forced to bend to the will of high-paying consumers, and many brands are looking at inventive ways of doing so. In 2025, we’re sure to see which luxury strategies actually have appeal in the market.
