Russians Top Milans Top Shoppers List

Once upon a time, say about a decade ago, Milan was jammed with American tourists whose mighty dollar earned them bargain basement deals on luxury goods against Italy’s puny lira and, later, against the euro in its slumbering infancy. The Americans were easy to spot as they conspicuously swung Tod’s and Gucci shopping bags along Via della Spiga and Via Montenapoleone and jabbered away in their alien tones.

Now it would be difficult to find an American shopper in Milan’s luxury quadrilateral, apart from the four times each year when fashion shows lure editors and buyers from their desks in New York. The dollar, limping sadly since 2003, and the recent economic crisis, have all but eliminated their presence. Also dwindling noticeably are the Japanese, who once seemed poised to take over the world, one Prada store at a time.

Who’s buying, then? One need not look further than the airport office where tourists submit their receipts for a tax refund before heading home. This data, tracked by the company Global Refund, gives a snapshot of who bought how much: Russians are Milan’s largest national group of fashion shoppers, commanding 38 percent of the tax-free pie in 2008, despite their own economic woes back home. By contrast, the United States claimed a mere 4 percent.

Ukrainians make up 6 percent of Milan tax-free fashion sales and bear the distinction of being the biggest spenders per purchase: Their average receipt is €1,556 compared with €968 for Russian buyers, €925 for U.S. buyers and €789 for China buyers. But when the statistics are pared down to just jewelry, the Ukrainian average receipt is an impressive €12,000.

Russians, Arabs, Ukrainians and Chinese all posted healthy increases in fashion purchases in 2008 versus 2007. And, not surprisingly, the two countries that took nose dives were the United States and Japan - dropping by 38 percent and 24 percent, respectively.

Over all, Milan’s tax-free shopping increased 2 percent in 2008, despite the effects of the global economic crisis that deepened in the fourth quarter of the year.

Milan is by no means immune to the downturn, although the city’s stores are not resorting to the drastic discounting seen in New York and London.

Just before Christmas, the streets of Milan were blanketed with snow instead of shoppers, and it seemed that the locals were on a holiday fashion detox. There were, however a few notable exceptions, including the storefronts of Tiffany, Moncler and Hogan, all of which were swarmed with unusually high numbers of people. “Hogan has been a total phenomenon,” remarked Della Valle. “It’s a product that is really working well right now.”

Perhaps that is because, like Tiffany and Moncler, Hogan has a cachet name that is affordable. And those €300 rubber sole lace-ups (not to mention a fox-trimmed Moncler puffa jacket) sure come in handy when the streets are slick with slush. According to Della Valle, Italians are still buying but the days of frivolous spending are over. “Now they’re more attentive,” he said. “They’re looking at the product with different eyes.”

The Russians, it seems, also have a new viewpoint. A Fendi saleswoman said they are still big customers and display a continued appetite for big-time furs. “But they’re not dropping €150,000 on a sable like they used to,” she said. “Now it’s usually just a fox for around €70,000.”