29 March 2013/17 Jumada l-Ula 1434/09 Farvardin 1391/18 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

“Louis Vuitton has now broken the myth that it is one of the brands that is never influenced by an economic slump. But the sales drop occurred largely because the number of Japanese tourists, big fans of the brand, has decreased over the last year due to the yen’s depreciation against the won.”-unnamed source in South Korea

In the Republic of Korea, and other Asian countries, sales are crashing for the elitist French fashion company Louis Vuitton.  One report said sales were down at least 20% last year.  The Hyundai Department Store recently threw Louis Vuitton out of their Busan store, and replaced the outlet with Omega watches.

Slumping sales are also being reported in Japan and China.  Officials with Louis Vuitton have refused to answer questions from the Asian media.

You’d think the company would do something like drop their prices to increase sales, but no, they’ve actually raised their prices in the Asian, U.S. and European markets.  According to Bloomberg they’ve jacked up prices by 12% in Japan, and blame it on the dropping value of the yen. In other Asian countries prices are up 5% to 10%.  In the U.S. and U.K. prices are up 10%.

Despite slumping sales, Bank of America just upgraded Louis Vuitton stocks from neutral to buy.  But Societe Generale advises a hold  status, along with Deutsche Bank.  And Credit Suisse downgraded Louis Vuitton from outperform to neutral.