The rich drink (much) more: Luxury champagne is becoming scarce

While most people suffer from high inflation and rising energy prices, one luxury product is in particular demand right now: champagne. The Moët Hennessy company, which sells brands such as Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Krug and Dom Pérignon, even fears that their cellars could be drained.

“Our best champagne is running out of stock,” said general manager Philippe Schau of the Bloomberg news agency. After the corona pandemic, there is a greater need for luxury, fun and travel. Turnover increased particularly in Europe, the US and Japan.

Schau did not say how low stocks actually are right now. They want to replenish stocks quickly in order to be able to deliver reliably in the coming year.

Internally, there is already talk of the “Roaring Twenties”, based on the “Golden Twenties” in the US of the last century. Even then, despite the economic crisis, luxurious parties were celebrated in the upper class.

Moët Hennessy belongs to the luxury goods group LVMH, which is partly owned by Bernard Arnault, the richest Frenchman. Champagne prices start at around 45 euros and run into the thousands.

But not only champagne is popular. LVMH is also currently recording higher sales for the other luxury brands in its portfolio. Brands such as Christian Dior, Stella McCartney, Bulgari and Tiffany also belong to the group. In the third quarter, LVMH posted 19 percent more sales.

Competitor Kering, the parent company of Gucci, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta, also saw sales rise by 14 percent in the third quarter.

Analysts expect the boom in luxury goods to continue as many of the wealthy have spent less during the pandemic and are now catching up. They expect sales in the segment to be around 1.4 trillion euros this year, 21 percent more than in 2021, according to an analysis by management consultancy Bain & Company.

The analysts conclude that the luxury market is likely to grow more strongly in the coming years than has been the case so far. The authors attribute this to a changed attitude of younger generations towards expensive products. Generation Z youth would start consuming luxury goods three to five years earlier.