Member News & Exclusive Offers

This section is dedicated to communicating special offers and promotions, personnel appointments, etc. to the 1000 luxury business leaders and influentials who read LuxeSF each month.

If you have an item to share with our readers, please e-mail the information to nucifora@luxesf.com for publication in the next edition of LuxeSF.com.

In This Month's News ...

• Helium Report Proves Valuable Resource for Luxury Travel
• Avram Goldman Named Executive Vice President of Western Region and President of Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate
• J Wine Partners to Fight Breast Cancer with Bundles of Love
• World Renowned Luxury Marketing Council Commences Operations in India
• Leading Brands of the World offers all Council Members Preferred Rates
• Fashion Designers Have Two New Fairy Godmothers
• Luxury Consumers Start 2007 in a Consumer Confidence Slump
• Luxury Retailers Thrived During the Holidays

Helium Report Proves Valuable Resource for Luxury Travel

Helium Report is an outstanding online resource for luxury travel and a valuable, independent guide for wealthy consumers. They provide expert analysis and research to assist with high-value purchase decisions such as joining a destination club, purchasing a jet membership card, or buying a fraction of a yacht. In a nutshell, they blend comprehensive directories, objective analysis, and consumer reviews to help readers make smart purchase decisions. Their analysts conduct interviews with executives, compare providers, and publish directories for every fractional luxury category, and they are regularly quoted as experts in major media publications including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and The New York Times. Click here to read excerpts from recent articles. Click here to discover the Helium Report.

Avram Goldman Named Executive Vice President of Western Region and President of
Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate

OAK BROOK , ILL. -- GMAC Real Estate announced that Avram Goldman, a widely known and respected San Francisco Bay Area real estate executive with nearly 30 years' experience, has joined the company as executive vice president of the Western Region for the Company-Owned Real Estate (CORE) offices. Goldman also will serve as president and CEO of Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate.

Read the full article.

J Wine Partners to Fight Breast Cancer with Bundles of Love

Celebrate Valentine’s Day, Mother's Day, or any day with a J Bundle of Love and help fight breast cancer at the same time. 10% of proceeds will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure.

PINK BUNDLE includes:

• J Brut Rosé in a pink Thai-silk wine bag
• 2 custom Recchiuti Confections chocolate truffles with J logo
• Black short-sleeve J Vineyards & Winery t-shirt

Price: $75

PLATINUM BUNDLE includes:

• J Brut Rosé in a pink, Thai-silk wine bag
• 2 custom Recchiuti Confections chocolate truffles with J logo
• Black short-sleeve J Vineyards & Winery t-shirt
• PLUS a J Vineyards & Winery engraved aluminum champagne bucket

Price: $145

Please call J Visitor Center for more information at 707-431-3646 or visit www.jwine.com

World Renowned Luxury Marketing Council Commences Operations in India

Industry body to foster the growth and development of the luxury goods market in India.

American Express® pledges support as a founding member LMC India.

Read the full article.

Leading Brands of the World offers all Council Members Preferred Rates

Leading Brands of the World is the only professional entity to enter into the fast growing Indian Luxury market with a philosophy rooted in successfully driving the ‘Luxury Business’ on an International level by providing a premium platform of business development and consulting opportunities to clients globally.

Read the full article.

Fashion Designers Have Two New Fairy Godmothers

Richemont Backs Fashion Investment Fund

Published: Monday, February 05, 2007
By Samantha Conti LONDON

Marty Wikstrom and Dawn Mello have joined forces to create an investment fund, called The Atelier Fund, whose principal investor is Richemont. And their first investments include adampluseve, whose show is today at Jane Street Studio. Sources said Atelier paid about $9 million for a 49 percent stake in the fashion brand.

Read the full article.

Luxury Consumers Start 2007 in a Consumer Confidence Slump

Luxury Consumer Spending Declines in Fourth Quarter 2006, Reports Unity Marketing

STEVENS, Pa. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Luxury consumers’ confidence declined to its lowest level in 2006 at the close of the fourth quarter. This sets the stage for more reserved spending by the nation’s affluent consumers on luxury goods and services in the first quarter of 2007.

Unity Marketing’s Luxury Consumption Index declined 5.1 points to reach 98.2 points in the fourth quarter 2006, down from 103.3. in the third quarter, according to the latest survey of 1,036 luxury consumers (average income $156.5k and average age 42.8 years).

In keeping with a decline in consumer confidence, the typical luxury consumer spent less on luxury purchases in the period, dropping 3.4 percent from $13,432 during the third quarter to $12,982 in the fourth quarter.

“But it’s not all doom and gloom for luxury marketers and retailers,” says Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Shopping Experience. “Spending on experiences rose modestly in the fourth quarter and spending on personal luxuries were up dramatically. However, a drop in spending on home luxuries pulled the overall spending levels down in the fourth quarter.”

Commenting on the Luxury Consumption Index, Thomas Bodenberg, Unity Marketing’s economic forecaster, said, “Luxury consumers signaled caution with the drop in the index as they enter 2007. While the majority of luxury consumers expect their personal financial status to improve in 2007, they remain concerned about the state of the economy overall. The dollar’s continued decline against the Euro and pound sterling and continued political instability in the Persian Gulf region accounts for the softness in luxury demand.”

Read the complete article.

Luxury RetailersThrived During the Holidays ...

But Season Was Disappointing for Industry as a Whole

By Mya Frazier
Published: January 04, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Retailers catering to the wealthy were the biggest holiday winners this year, while discounters -- especially Wal-Mart -- were hit hard by decreased spending by low-income consumers and unseasonably warm weather.

"Lower-income households were under strain, far more than upper-income households, where the job gains and income growths remains," said Frank Badillo, a senior economist at Columbus, Ohio-based research firm Retail Forward.

The flood of December sales results show that same-store sales overall were up just 3.2%, below the 3.6% registered in 2005, according to Retail Forward.

Read the complete article.