Beauty’s best? Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Cartier ranked most-valuable luxury brands; Givenchy and Tom Ford fastest-growing

14-Oct-2020 - Last updated on 14-Oct-2020 at 09:25 GMT

Whilst many in the top 50 list are luxury apparel brands with fragrance or beauty offerings, the ranking also features ten pure-play cosmetic and personal care brands (Getty Images)

Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Cartier are the most-valuable luxury brands in the world with beauty and fragrance offerings, and Givenchy and Tom Ford are the fastest-growing, according to Brand Finance.

The business valuation consultancy’s Luxury & Premium 50 2020 report ranked Porsche as the most valuable luxury and premium brand in the world for a consecutive year “by a considerable margin”, with an overall brand value* of €28.8bn ($33.9bn). Gucci ranked second, with a brand value of €15bn ($17.6bn).

Within the top 50 ranking, the top 10 list featured a further seven brands with operations in beauty and/or fragrance: Louis Vuitton (no.3), Cartier (no.4), Chanel (no.5), Hermes Paris (no.6), Rolex (no.8), Dior (no.9) and Coach (no.10).

Ten pure-play cosmetics and personal care brands ranked in Brand Finance’s Luxury & Premium 50 2020 with Estée Lauder the most-valuable, ranked no.11. Behind it was: Guerlain (no.13), Shiseido (no.14), Lancôme (no.17), Clarins (no.20), SK-II (no.24), Sulwhasoo (no.38), Bobbi Brown (no. 41), Tom Ford (no.43), and Cle de Peau Beaute (no.45).

*Brand Value is calculated by combining overall enterprise value, the branded business value, brand contribution and overall uplift in shareholder value derived from owning the brand, and the value of the trademark and associated marketing IP withing the business. Brand Finance calculates a final brand value using the Royalty Relief approach – a brand valuation method compliant with industry standards set in ISO 10668.

Givenchy and Tom Ford fastest-growing luxury brands

The LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton group owned a total of nine luxury and premium brands in the 2020 top 50 ranking, with its Givenchy business (no.26) identified as the fastest-growing – up 74% in brand value on last year at €1.7bn ($2bn).

“Givenchy’s strong performance and growth, particularly in its makeup division and through its L’Interdit perfume, contributed to its parent company LVMH’s solid financial performance over the previous year,” Brand Finance said. It had also continued to focus on developing its omni-channel e-commerce platform Maison Givenchy, originally launched in 2017, the report noted.

Behind Givenchy, Tom Ford was the next fastest-growing luxury and premium global brand, up 42.7% in brand value versus last year. This was followed by Cle de Peau Beaute (up 32.6%), SK-II (up 32.5%) and Estée Lauder (up 27%).

COVID-19 impact? Luxury beauty ‘largely sheltered from the damage’

In its annual report, Brand Finance said the top 50 luxury and premium brands could lose up to €30bn ($35bn) in brand value from COVID-19; findings echoed by a report published earlier this year by Euromonitor International. The market research firm said global luxury goods market could expect a decline of 18% in 2020 due to the pandemic. Beauty, however – both luxury and non-luxury – was expected to “fare somewhat better”, Euromonitor International said.

The Brand Finance report aligned: “Within the luxury and premium ranking, three sub sectors are represented: apparel, automobiles and cosmetics and personal care. Brand Finance’s analysis has shown that these sub sectors are likely to be impacted differently by coronavirus, with apparel brands the most heavily impacted, facing a 20% brand value loss, autos moderately impacted, facing a 10% brand value loss, and cosmetics brands largely sheltered from the damage of pandemic.”