By PYMNTS | October 12, 2026
Luxury retail company LVMH saw quarterly sales slump following a trademark dispute in China.
Organic revenue for the company’s fashion and leather goods unit fell 5% year over year in the third quarter, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton announced in a Monday (Oct. 12) press release, with the company’s total revenue for the quarter up 1%.
Louis Vuitton sales suffered in China after the company achieved a victory in a trademark battle with local tea company Molly Tea, Bloomberg reported Monday. This led to backlash from Chinese consumers, angry that the world’s biggest luxury company would take a much smaller merchant to court.
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Sales in the region including China dipped 5% in the quarter, the report said, marking the only area where LVMH saw negative performance, the report said. The company’s American depositary receipts dropped as much as 3.6% in New York following the release of the numbers.
LVMH’s stock is down more than 40% this year, on pace for the company’s worst yearly performance since 2008’s global financial crisis, according to the report. Although much of the industry is seeing a downturn in demand, LVMH’s stock is the worst performer this year among major luxury names, followed by rival Hermes.
Gucci’s revenue fell 5% on a comparable basis in the first half of 2026, including a 6% drop at directly operated stores, PYMNTS reported Sept. 17. Second-quarter comparable revenue was still down 2% despite an uptick from the first quarter. Kering Fashion & Leather Goods, which includes Gucci and several other houses, fell 1% comparably for the half.
Department stores were working to get customers “to spend more without making the jump into luxury,” according to the report, which cited increased sales at Macy’s and Dillard’s.
“For department stores, the difference between moving upmarket and moving into luxury is consequential to the size of the customer base they can address,” the report said.
Meanwhile, the PYMNTS Intelligence report “The Smart Basket Opportunity: Why Issuers Are Ready For A Better Rewards System” found in June that 56% of issuers and FinTechs said their card rewards increased average spend per transaction, 61% said they boosted total spending and 66% reported an increase in card use frequency.