Hermes and Chanel's Record Sales Streak
Dior Achieves First 1 Trillion KRW Domestic Sales
Head Office Dividends Increase with Sales Growth
Louis Vuitton Remains Dividend 'King' Despite Growth Stagnation
Herm?s, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel, collectively known as 'EruSha,' were found to have swept more than 4 trillion KRW in sales domestically last year. This was thanks to Chanel and Herm?s recording record-high sales despite the economic downturn. Dior, which rapidly raised its brand awareness in Korea, achieved its first-ever 1 trillion KRW in sales in the domestic market last year, bringing the combined annual sales of the four luxury brands to 5 trillion KRW.
On the 28th, citizens are waiting for the opening of a luxury store in front of a major department store's luxury hall in Seoul, as it became known that the luxury brand 'Chanel' will raise prices in the United States next month, leading to speculation about an imminent price increase in Korea. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 16th, Chanel Korea recorded sales of 1.7038 trillion KRW last year, a 7% increase compared to 1.5913 trillion KRW in 2022. Chanel Korea is the Korean subsidiary of the French luxury brand Chanel. Since its 2020 performance disclosure, Chanel has set new record-high results every year. This was due to continued product sales despite price increases. Chanel raised product prices in January, March, August, and November of 2022, and in February and May of 2023.
The French luxury brand Herm?s posted sales of 797.2 billion KRW last year, about 140 billion KRW more than the previous year’s 650.2 billion KRW. Considering that Herm?s recorded 361.8 billion KRW in sales domestically in 2019, sales have more than doubled in just over four years. The French luxury brand Louis Vuitton Korea recorded sales of 1.651 trillion KRW. It was the only major luxury brand to experience a decline in sales, dropping by 40 billion KRW compared to the previous year. However, it maintained its position in the ‘1 trillion club’ with sales remaining above 1.6 trillion KRW.
Dior (Christian Dior Couture Korea) recorded sales of 1.0456 trillion KRW last year, a 12% increase from the previous year. Dior entered the 1 trillion KRW sales club for the first time last year, following Chanel and Louis Vuitton. In 2020, Dior’s domestic sales were only 37.1 billion KRW. Growth had stagnated to the point where it was not much different from the 31.1 billion KRW sales recorded 10 years ago in 2013. However, during the COVID-19 period, sales were boosted mainly by the Book Tote and Lady Bag, and Dior Kids stores were consecutively launched, resulting in steep growth over three years.
Dividends sent to headquarters were also substantial. Chanel paid 297.5 billion KRW in dividends last year, 2.5 billion KRW more than the previous year’s 295 billion KRW. Chanel’s net profit last year was 219.7 billion KRW. Herm?s paid 145 billion KRW in dividends, which corresponds to 80% of its net profit of 184.7 billion KRW last year. Dior paid 242.5 billion KRW to its headquarters, 4 billion KRW less than the previous year’s 246.5 billion KRW.
Louis Vuitton paid 380 billion KRW in dividends last year, an increase of more than 150 billion KRW compared to the previous year. Despite being the only major luxury brand to see both sales and net profit decline, it had the largest increase in dividend payments.
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