Methodology.

Search Engine Queries

To provide the most transparent and unbiased information about the luxury handbag customers, the WorldHandbagReport™ tracks consumer behavior through the leading global search engines. Thanks to Digital Luxury Group’s privileged relationships with the search engines and in-house developed technologies, billions of user search queries are collected annually. Based on Google, Bing, Yandex in Russia and Baidu in China, the total amount of queries represent an average of 85% global search market share.

Data Collection and Analysis

Using proprietary DLG technology DemandTracker™, every online search related to the brand is monitored, including specific keywords, model names, etc. Once collected, this data is filtered, analyzed and translated into consumer intentions to properly decipher the needs of the online clientele. The hundreds of millions of global search queries collected in the WorldHandbagReport™ encompass a large semantic field of thousands of keywords related to the brands, including synonyms, plurals and misspellings.

Languages

In order to accurately cover the global demand for luxury handbags, the official languages of each market are used to track client searches. In total, 8 different languages are monitored: Portuguese, Russian, simplified and traditional Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian and German.

Grouping Categories

After careful analysis and feedback from industry experts, the following criteria have been taken into consideration to define 4 coherent handbag brand categories:

• Brand positioning
• Annual revenue (for brands greater than 500 Million EUR in 2011)
• Entry level price points (for a medium sized leather tote)
• Competitive environment

Model Selection

The WorldHandbagReport™ business intelligence tools also track handbag models. The models of the top 70 brands were systematically coded and then analyzed in the report. The source of information for the identification of models is the corporate website of the brand and well-known iconic models for select brands. Special editions which are not communicated on the official website of the brand are therefore not included. The key part of the model is the name that is selected for analysis e.g. Mulberry small Bayswater satchel, is tracked as Mulberry Bayswater.

Data Collection and Analysis

Public and professional tools are used to automate the search volume collection, thanks to Digital Luxury Group’s strong partnerships with search engines. Once collected, the data is filtered, analyzed and translated into several search intentions (brands; models; price; vintage; style; material; color; size; purchase intent; replicas etc.) using in-house developed DemandTracker© technology.

Harmonization

As multi-product brands such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton or Ralph Lauren may generate significantly greater search volumes than handbag-only brands, data is harmonized to identify handbag-only demand and exclude demand for other products e.g. “Chanel watch” or “Ralph Lauren polo”. Similar adjustments have been made for brands, models and styles whose names may have other associations such as “Coach Chelsea” and “Lady Dior”.