Instagram Could Be A Crucial Stock-Picking Tool When Investing In Luxury Firms

Instagram likes are now a serious metric for investors in luxury brands including Burberry, Kering-owned Gucci and Saint Laurent and LVMH labels including Dior and Louis Vuitton. Posts on the millennial-friendly platform are likely to lead to sales, according to a UBS report on European luxury published Friday. “Given the rising importance of social media for luxury brands — especially in the context of millennials growth — we believe Instagram data can no longer be ignored as a data point for luxury investors, to help them pick the winning brands,” the report’s authors said. The number of Instagram followers a luxury brand has is likely to correlate to sales. “We note a clear linear relation between the number of followers on a given social channel and the brand sales at retail,” UBS notes. Even if fans can’t afford to buy a designer item immediately, their interest will likely mean they purchase “sooner or later.” Read more at CNBC.