Secret’s out of the bag: Luxury brands scale back line-ups as demand wanes

new york — The handbag industry, rocked by slowing departmentstore traffic and a shift away from purses by millennials, has a new mantra this holiday season: do more with less. Luxury retailers such as Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Barneys New York are introducing far fewer styles of handbags this year as the critical Christmas season approaches. And the pressure on the industry has fuelled speculation that companies like Coach and Michael Kors Holdings should find merger partners rather than fight it out alone. Retailers are increasingly opting to differentiate themselves from competitors by introducing fewer new lines rather than swamping shoppers with too many choices, said Katie Smith, senior fashion analyst at Edited, a data-analytics company for the fashion industry.

“Reducing the number of products, making sure they are choosing their products really smartly, can help make sure they’re getting fullprice sales rather than discount,” Smith said.

In the three months through Augist 31, the number of new handbags introduced by Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s fell 23 per cent and three per cent, respectively, compared with an increase of five percent and 11 per cent the year before, according to Edited, whose clients include Ralph Lauren and luxury e-tailer Net-A-Porter.

Barneys rolled out 41 per cent fewer new lines in the third quarter of this year, compared with a 46 per cent increase in 2015.

Coach, Michael Kors and Kate Spade & Co are cutting back on sales to department stores, trying to avoid the record promotions that have hurt their brand cachet. When luxury retailers begin releasing their earnings on Tuesday, attention will be focused on how successful they’ve been in curbing discounting and coping with waning handbag demand.

The US luxury industry has had a rough ride this year as online competition and a stronger dollar have slowed mall traffic.

Global economic and geopolitical uncertainties have also dampened shoppers’ appetite for highend items, stoking concerns about the future of the luxury market.