Which of my channels sell at full price, and which only move stock?
Split revenue two ways before judging any campaign: by channel (your own store, marketplaces, any outlet, private appointments, and stockists, the retailers that carry your line, often called wholesale accounts in the US) and by price (full price or marked down). A blended return on ad spend cannot show this, because the same campaign can send one client to a new collection and the next to a sale edit.
The split matters because buyers are moving. Bain and Altagamma's 2025 study, as reported by FashionUnited, found worldwide that luxury buyers are making fewer purchases and favouring smaller indulgences and markdown channels, and Claudia D'Arpizio, Bain's lead author on the study, said a broken price-value equation calls for integrity and renewed trust. Both statements describe the worldwide luxury market, not any one brand.
So paid media for full-price collections and for a sale or outlet is run and reported apart, and the monthly number for each channel is full-price contribution: revenue sold without a markdown, less the media cost of winning it, read beside the discount rate. When the full-price share drops as spend climbs, trace the extra spend to the products, offers and channels it reached before reading anything into who bought. Where a reduced price shows a former one, the FTC's pricing guides in the US treat the former price as genuine only if it was offered to the public on a regular basis for a reasonably substantial period of time. A "was" price set briefly to make a reduction look bigger does not qualify.
What may I say to stockists about the price they advertise?
In the UK, the CMA's advice to retailers says resale price maintenance (RPM) can be imposed directly or indirectly, for example through restricting the prices retailers can advertise. Its signs of indirect RPM include a supplier that limits a stockist's online advertising of lower prices, which the CMA calls minimum advertised price policies, and one that has linked a resale price for the product to what other retailers are selling it for. A recommended price is different: recommended resale prices are not RPM if the retailer can still resell at whatever price it wants to.
Choosing stockists is a separate lever. The same advice says a supplier may provide its products only to a limited number of retailers that meet specific criteria, for example to protect its brand image, and calls selective distribution a legitimate form of distribution arrangement unless it is used to facilitate anti-competitive conduct. In practice, a UK luxury brand guards its price through whom it supplies and how its own channels sell, and leaves what a stockist charges to the stockist. Build stockist criteria on presentation, service and staff knowledge. Supply your stockists with the same campaign imagery and product copy as your own site.
In the US, the Supreme Court's 2007 Leegin decision held that vertical price restraints are to be judged by the rule of reason. That is federal antitrust law only, so take advice on state law before a minimum advertised price clause goes into a stockist agreement.
Who gets the release when demand outruns the run?
When a release is smaller than the demand you expect, decide who gets it before anything is announced: existing clients by purchase history, a dated waitlist, private appointments, or open sale. Write the order down, because it decides what the public marketing can truthfully say.
The UK's CAP Code requires marketers to make a reasonable estimate of demand for the products they advertise (rule 3.27). The CMA's 2023 advice to online businesses treats any scarcity, popularity, act fast or time limited claim as an urgency claim, and its worked example says untrue low stock claims are likely to be misleading; that advice pre-dates the 2024 Act. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists one practice as in all circumstances considered unfair: a false claim that a product, or its terms, will be available for only a limited period, made to push an immediate decision and deny buyers the time to choose. That rule has been in force since 6 April 2025. In one 2015 ruling, on a "limited edition" watch advert from The Bradford Exchange, the ASA found that the qualification contradicted rather than clarified the overall impression. In the US, an FTC staff report of September 2022, which is not a rule, lists a false low-stock message as a dark pattern.
For your ads, that means a public campaign for a release already promised to the client list advertises stock you cannot supply, and a "limited" line needs the run size on record the day it runs. Keep the count beside the run size: waitlist sign-ups, offers made, orders taken, and stock cover for every limited line still in an ad. If you take orders against a waitlist, give a delivery date: in the UK, unless a time is agreed, the Consumer Rights Act treats the contract as including a term to deliver without undue delay and in any event within 30 days. In the US, the FTC's guide to its order rule says you must have a reasonable basis for any shipping time you state or imply, and, if you make no shipment statement, for shipping within 30 days. Deliveries made on the promised date belong in the same count.
How often should my best clients hear from me, and how?
Bain's worldwide figures, as reported by FashionUnited, make the client book the asset to protect. Luxury consumers fell from 400 million in 2022 to around 340 million in 2025, new customer acquisition declined by 5 percent between 2024 and 2025, and the big spenders account for roughly 46 to 47 percent of the 358 billion euro personal luxury goods market, though their spending plateaued. The same report credits the rebound in accessible luxury fashion partly to reactivating heritage clients. These are worldwide market figures and make no forecast for your brand.
Keep a preference per client: which categories they buy, whether they want collection previews, event invitations or only appointment reminders, and whether they prefer email or a message from the person who serves them. Plan contact around releases and the client's own calendar, run it through email or the associate's own messages, and count two things each quarter: revenue from repeat purchases against first purchases, and how many lapsed clients bought again.
In the UK, the ICO says you must not send marketing emails or texts to individuals without specific consent, apart from a limited soft opt-in for your own previous customers. It says the same rule applies to direct messages via social media, so a sales associate's message about a new collection counts. In the US, the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says all email, including a message to former customers announcing a new product line, must comply.
Does my origin line need paperwork behind it?
Origin and craft lines travel: product pages, ads, stockist copy and press material all repeat them. In the ASA's ruling of 18 September 2024 on Sterling Wholesale Ltd, trading as Moncrief, "Each item is handmade in Italy" was found misleading because there was no documentary evidence covering both the main line and the London line. It is one ruling, and its test is plain: evidence for every line the claim appears to cover. In the US, the FTC says a product advertised as Made in USA has traditionally had to be all or virtually all made in the US. Where production is split across countries, write the sentence that is true of every unit and give stockists that same sentence.
Are resale and fakes part of my marketing?
Buyers compare. FashionUnited's report of the Bain study says spending is shifting to experiences, affordable alternatives, and resale, so expect your full price to be read beside resale listings of the same item. Counterfeits are seized at the border every year: UK customs data shows trade marks were the most infringed single IP right in seized articles in each year from 2021 to 2023. US Customs and Border Protection reports jewelry, watches and handbags and wallets as the seized goods with the highest total retail value over four years. Both are seizure data, not a measure of fakes that reach buyers. A page on your own site listing authorised stockists, care and provenance gives a client somewhere to check before buying from a stranger.
What does your nearest case study prove for a brand like mine?
The Social Target's published proof nearest to this page is Chofa Jewelry, a Miami maker of lucite jewellery made by hand. The case study does not describe it as luxury or fine jewellery, so it is not offered here as luxury proof. It records one decision about price: the Meta ads were built not around discounts or urgency, and since September 2025 the brand has sold six figures of jewellery at a 2.3x blended return. It publishes no margin, repeat rate or comparison, so it cannot show that avoiding discounts raised the return. The fuller story sits on the jewellery brands page.
Since 2017, our London agency has served 600+ clients. We take on luxury brands in the UK and the US, work across both countries' time zones, and quote in GBP or USD.
↳ Frequently asked
01Should last season's stock go to an outlet, a marketplace or a private sale?
Whichever you choose, report it apart from full-price sales, so a strong clearance month cannot hide a weak full-price one. A private sale to existing clients keeps the reduced price inside the client book, while an outlet or marketplace shows it to new buyers and to your stockists. If you show a former price in the US, the FTC's pricing guides expect it to be one you offered on a regular basis for a reasonably substantial period, not one set briefly to make the reduction look bigger.
02Can I choose which retailers carry my brand?
In the UK, broadly yes. The CMA's advice describes supplying only retailers that meet set criteria, for example to protect brand image, as a legitimate arrangement that does not usually raise competition concerns in its own right, and it warns against using such agreements to dictate retail prices. Base your criteria on presentation, service and staff knowledge, and let each stockist set its own price. In the US, take advice before any supply agreement says anything about the price a retailer advertises, because state law can differ from federal law.
03Can I call a run limited edition if I could make more?
Only if the limit is real when the ad runs. The ASA upheld a complaint about one limited edition watch advert where the small print contradicted the impression the ad gave, and the CMA's 2023 advice says untrue low-stock claims are likely to be misleading. In the US, FTC staff list a false low-stock message as a dark pattern. Record the run size and state it in the ad.
04Do my private clients need to opt in before my sales team messages them?
In the UK, the ICO says marketing emails and texts to individuals need specific consent, apart from a limited soft opt-in for your own previous customers, and that rule also covers direct messages on social media. A sales associate's note about a new collection is marketing under it. In the US, CAN-SPAM covers marketing email, including a message telling former customers about a new line. Record each client's consent and preferred channel.
05Can I say handmade in Italy if only the finishing happens there?
Not as a bare claim. The ASA ruled against a brand whose handmade-in-Italy claim lacked documents covering every line it appeared to describe. In the US, an unqualified Made in USA claim traditionally needs a product that is all or virtually all made in the US. Use a narrower sentence that holds for every unit, and hand your stockists those same words.
06How do I tell full-price buyers from discount hunters in my ad results?
Report full-price revenue and the discount rate beside the return on ad spend, and split new clients from repeat ones. A strong return built on promotions can still wear down price. When the full-price share slips as spend grows, find where the extra spend landed before deciding what kind of buyer it found.