Here’s a quick look at how TGA estimates each of the major travel goods categories performed in 2019:
Luggage
Brands and retailers attempting to recoup some of their costs drove retail prices for luggage up 5.9% in 2019. Being a very price-sensitive product, those price increases drove sales down 2.6%.
Backpacks
Backpacks continued to be the bright spot in 2019 as backpacks have increasingly become the item of choice by consumers to meet many of their travel goods needs. Sales rose 2.0% despite the fact that prices also rose, increasing 6.0%.
Travel/Sports Bags
Travel/sports bags sales finally stopped their decline in 2019, actually growing 0.4%, led by growing promotions throughout the year.
Business Cases/Computer Bags
Business case and computer bag sales also stopped their fall, actually growing 1.0% in 2019. But the industry paid a huge price. Costs skyrocketed because of the trade war. And retail prices tanked 9.4% in the face of continued competition from versatile backpacks and totes/handbags with built-in laptop sleeves, the replacement of laptops with smartphones and tablets, and the ongoing casualization of business.
Handbags
Handbag sales surged 13.5% in 2019, for the industry’s best year since the Great Recession. But that came at a price, a price that was 4.9% lower in 2019. To put all of this in perspective, American women bought 301.4 million handbags in 2019, or almost two handbags, on average, for every female in the United States, from infants to centenarians.
Personal Leather Goods
Sales of personal leather goods increased 2.2% in 2019, with unit prices falling 2.4%.
Luggage Locks
Luggage locks sales in 2019 tanked, falling 8.8%, even with prices decreasing 5.3%.
For more information, go to TGA’s just released State of the U.S. Travel Goods Market 2005-2019 (PDF format) or contact TGA at 877-842-1938, x-702 to learn more about the latest trends in the U.S. travel goods market.
One Response
Luggage locks tanked in part to the growth of Poly Carbonate cases with integrated lock systems.