The Idiosyncrasies of Luxury Consumption in Russia

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the Russian luxury market has seen phenomenal development; a growth that is still continuing despite the on-going global, financial, and economic crisis. Local leading distributors of luxury goods such as Mercury, JamilCo, and Bosco di Ciliegi, continue to benefit from high profits generated by their Russian sales. Moreover, many luxury companies such as Chanel, Dior, Zilli, and Montblanc operate successfully in Moscow and other cities of the Russian Federation, where prices are known to be considerably higher than in Western Europe. Despite this situation, more and more Russians prefer to buy foreign luxury goods in Russia, which explains the growing number of premium shopping centres and luxury malls built in the past few years. Moscow’s Stoleshnikov Lane was identified by Jones LaSalle (2011) as the third most expensive luxury shopping street in the world, after London’s New Bond Street and Avenue Montaigne in Paris.