Luxe brands fight to woo Internet generation

San Francisco

SEDUCING hyper-connected millennials poses an increasing challenge for luxury brands, which find their markets slowing as young, sceptical consumers force them to rethink strategies.

Goldman Sachs estimates that 92 million Americans are in the millennial generation - born between the early 1980s and the 2000s - surpassing the famed cohort of post-war baby boomers who are now approaching a geriatric phase. The huge pool of millennial consumers grew up with the Internet, smartphones and a sharing economy in which owning things such as cars is seen as almost unhip.