Can Luxury Survive in This Tough Economic Climate?

This is a question being asked by the Wall Street Journal.....what will happen to high-end stores? An example is online luxury retailer Net-A-Porter who has recently launched theoutnet.com, an outlet site. Outlet stores, which were once bypassed by some consumers are becoming popular among shoppers. Some designers are even dropping their prices, but other are adaptive and giving consumers what they want. Balenciaga has a new outlet store in Woodbury commons and Oscar de la Renta launched an outlet section on the company's website. And though designers were furious about steep markdowns at department stores late last year, consumers loved them. You can't really argue with what the customer wants. so, while consumers may not pay full price again, luxury can survive this economy, that is, if like everything and everyone else right now, it learns to adapt.