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Luxury Institute Fashion Survey: Ferragamo is Best in Customer Experience with Wealthy Customers

NEW YORK - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Jan. 23, 2006 - Wealthy customers voted Ferragamo the brand that delivers the best customer experience, with a score of 84, according to the new Luxury Customer Experience Index survey (LCEI) from the New York-based Luxury Institute ( www.luxuryinstitute.com ).

Wealthy customers rated 16 leading Luxury Fashion Designer brands based on customer's shopping experiences. These included: Armani, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Christian Dior, Coach, Dolce & Gabbana, Ferragamo, Gucci, Hermes, Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Versace, and Yves St. Laurent.

"Wealthy consumer ratings in this category are dynamic," said Milton Pedraza, CEO, Luxury Institute. "Ferragamo has the strongest brand loyalty as measured by the critical customer retention index, and is the brand customers are most willing to recommend. While Ferragamo is top-rated regardless of income or net worth, Louis Vuitton is top- rated among women, and Hermes is top-rated among wealthy consumers age 50+, and the brand deemed most worthy of a price premium," said Pedraza.

Coach is the strongest fashion brand among more mass-oriented luxury brands purchased by wealthy consumers. A designer's effectiveness in meeting the needs of wealthy customers, and the trustworthiness of the people who represent the brand, are the two experience drivers with strongest correlations to price-worthiness, retention or referrals.

"This sends a clear message to the fashion industry that in luxury great products are expected, but great customer experience depends on the people you hire, and how you train them to interact with customers. To the wealthy, trust is almost as important in this category as it is in wealth management providers," Pedraza said.

The Luxury Customer Experience Index (LCEI) delivers measures of the drivers for Customer Experience rated by each brand's customers, based on four "pillars" of a Customer's Experience including: Experience Drivers, Price Worthiness, Customer Retention and Customer Referral for each brand in a category. The Experience Drivers section includes metrics of the brand's effectiveness, brand attitude, brand environment, and the brand's problem resolution index.

The Luxury Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,100+ households with a minimum of $200,000 annual income and net worth of $750,000+ (including home equity).

The Luxury Institute

The Luxury Institute provides proprietary publications and research to guide high net-worth individuals and the companies that cater to them on trends, consumer rankings and ratings of luxury brands, and best practices. Publications include the Wealth Report, Luxury Brand Status Index surveys, Luxury Best Practices surveys and the Luxury Consumer Experience Index surveys.

The Luxury Institute Martin Swanson, 914-909-6350 Office 914-715-3357 Cell mswanson@luxuryinstitute.com