French luxury group Kering’s flagship Gucci brand has seen strong sales growth since March and expects to be able to grow more than twice as fast as the wider luxury market over the medium term, the company said.
“In March we saw very strong growth in products sold at their full price, including handbags and this trend has increased in April and May,” new Gucci Chief Executive Marco Bizzarri told reporters in London on Thursday. His comments were embargoed for Friday.
Bizzarri, former head of handbag maker Bottega Veneta, was put in charge of Gucci in early 2015 and pushed through a style overhaul under designer Alessandro Michele, which has ended two years of falling sales.
Gucci believes that over the medium term its new image will allow it to grow more than twice as fast as the luxury market, which Bain & Co expects will grow by 2 to 3 percent.
In slides released on Friday, Gucci also said it was targeting 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) in sales over the long term, compared with 3.89 billion last year.
Bizzarri said sales in renovated stores had seen double-digit growth since March. He said demand growth was very strong in Europe, the United States and China, said sales in its Paris stores were up 10 percent since January, despite the November attacks that scared away some tourists.
