Wealthy European consumers rate the most prestigious luxury women's shoe brands

Luxury Institute European Survey -

Wealthy European Consumers Rate the Most Prestigious Women's Shoes Brands:

Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, and Sergio Rossi

- Wealthy European consumers rated Christian Louboutin the most prestigious luxury women's shoes brand in the 2009 Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) survey
from the independent Luxury Institute (www.LuxuryInstitute.com).
The survey was conducted in France,
the U.K., Germany and Italy,
as a proxy for Europe.

Manolo Blahnik and Sergio Rossi rated second and third, respectively.

"Luxury may be down, but the inherent desire to own the best products that money can buy means that luxury will go through down cycles, as it has historically, and
then surge higher than before," said Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury
Institute. "The smart luxury brands are now preparing for the next surge
by determining what product and service innovations customers will covet, and
are testing and learning their way through the cycle. Our new customer
experience consulting practice, conducted with Preferred Partners, has seen
demand rise dramatically in this downturn."

Following are the 29 luxury women's shoes brands rated by wealthy consumers (alphabetical order):

Bottega Veneta

Burberry

Chanel

Chloe

Christian Louboutin

Dior

Dolce & Gabbana

Fendi

Ferragamo

Gianfranco Ferre

Giorgio Armani

Gucci

Hermes

Hugo Boss

Jimmy Choo

Louis Vuitton

Manolo Blahnik

Marc Jacobs

Michael Kors

Miu Miu

Prada

Ralph Lauren

Sergio Rossi

Stella McCartney

Stuart Weitzman

Tod's

Valentino

Versace

Yves Saint Laurent

The proprietary Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) survey is the only measure of the prestige of leading brands among wealthy Europeans. A sample of 752 wealthy women, 188
each from the United Kingdom,
Germany, France, and Italy, were surveyed in-depth
online about their opinions.

Respondents were recruited and screened to only include those age 21 or older with a minimum gross annual income of €60,000 or £70,000.

The LBSI asks respondents to rate the brands along four main "pillars"

of brand stature:

Consistently superior quality

Uniqueness and exclusivity

Social status as a product consumed by people who are admired and respected

Self enhancement, in that the brand makes the consumer "feel special"

across all aspects of the customer experience In addition, the survey also measures three key "outcome" metrics, which are compared to the category LBSI:

Worthiness of a significant price premium

Willingness to recommend the brand to people they care about and why, or why not.

Brand preference as the brand most likely to be considered the next time a purchase is made

About the Luxury Institute

The Luxury Institute is the uniquely independent and impartial ratings, reviews and research institution that is the trusted and respected voice of the high net-worth consumer.

Lorre White

Pres/CEO

"the luxury Guru"

www.WhiteLightConsulting.net

http://luxguru.typepad.com luxury blog