As Tapestry Inc. reports a “record” year at Coach, which surpassed £3.7bn (US$5bn) in sales, the RetailX European Luxury 2024 report looks at how the brand is working to become more active globally, and appeal to a younger audience.
Established in New York in 1941, and now part of the Tapestry Group, Coach is well known across Europe for its handbags, wallets, belts and luggage, mostly in leather. This is the company’s core product line, accounting for most of the brand’s sales.
Coach also runs ready-to-wear women’s and men’s apparel ranges and produces shoes and sneakers, along with a growing range of accessories, sunglasses, scarves and jewellery.
Through a licensing deal with Interparfums Coach also offers fragrances. This 11-year deal was signed in 2015 and saw the company pull away from working with Estée Lauder, its previous partner of nine years. The move was made to create new scents for an increasingly global base.
This shift in fragrance partner was part of a wider move by the company to become more active globally and, within that, grow the size of the brand’s European base. Its overall performance has been strong worldwide, with traffic, sales and revenues all rising slightly ahead of the market as a whole.
While specific European financial data isn’t readily available, Coach boasts more than 945 stores globally, with a significant presence in major European cities including London, Paris and Milan. The company is also using celebrities for its recent campaigns, including some specifically European stars such as French actress Léa Seydoux.
Perhaps more tellingly, Coach is also starting to focus on a younger audience, tapping into the growing number of European GenZ-ers who are drawn to the luxury market. The company has done this through a number of collaborations, typically with brands such as BAPE and pop-up stores in trendy districts.
While this is a prescient move – and one that reflects how the European luxury market is changing – it does present challenges for the company. Coach now competes with both the high-end luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci, as well as the affordable luxury brands lower down the food chain. This pulls the company in both directions.
The need to target younger shoppers also requires constant innovation and a ready eye on shifting trends in goods and shopping channels.
However, the biggest challenge Coach faces lies in sustainability. Using leather from tanneries can be an environmentally tricky process, but the company is focused on sourcing leather from Leather Working Group Gold-rated and Silver- rated tanneries, reflecting the industry’s highest environmental standard. The company also aims to increase recycled content in packaging.
In addition, Coach has started Coachtopia, a sub-brand launched in 2023, dedicated to using recycled materials, while Coach (Re)Loved, the company’s upcycled, pre-loved and vintage offering is also aiming to tap into a younger, greener market.
This profile, authored by Paul Skeldon, is one of nine in the RetailX European Luxury Report 2024. Farfetch, Gucci, Guerlain, Longines, Louis Vuitton, Lyst, Pandora and Ray-Ban also featured.
The full report analyses the growth of European luxury retail and ecommerce that has plateaued, this however isn’t necessarily a sign of the market stalling, but more an indication it is evolving. The report uses the results of our ConsumerX data to analyse attitudes to what, why, where and how Europeans’ buy luxury goods.
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