Let them eat designer cakes

Jenner does Antoinette. This has not always ended well

Yesterday I posted on Walmart’s slashing its profit outlook, due to its consumers having to choose between buying food or “hard goods”.

That’s not a problem at Neiman Marcus, whose CEO says business is booming

Van Raemdonck noted that customers who spend more than $10,000 a year account for almost half of the company’s sales despite economic headwinds, including high inflation. 

"They are very loyal to us and very engaged in luxury," he said.   

Inflation reached a new 40-year high of 9.1% in June, and the persistence of price increases continues to pummel Americans' budgets. Still, the Neiman Marcus CEO noted that his customers have remained resilient. 

Van Raemdonck noted that his sales are up 30% compared to pre-COVID levels in the last quarter and that sales of the company’s top 20 brands are up 70%. 

He attributed the bump to the company’s "differentiated business model," where customers can engage with 3,000 sales associates in stores, online and in a remote setting. 

He noted that there has been strong demand for luxury shoes and handbags as well as a "massive acceleration" in mens items, which he pointed out increased 60% compared to pre-COVID levels. 

"If we look at the customers who spend more than $10,000 with us per year, the one we recruited post-COVID is six years younger than the one we had pre-COVID, which indicates that a younger generation is really significantly engaging in luxury," he noted. 

"And then we are also seeing new customers are spending in their first transaction somewhere around 20% more than pre-COVID [levels] and so I think they are really coming to the luxury providers and focusing on the luxury brands that we offer." 

America was once the land of opportunity, where a middle-class developed, and ordinary people believed that their children could be better off than their parents. The rich have always despised that model, and the gradual return to serfdom is according to plan and on schedule.

Gentlemen, start your Teslas.