More than 5,000 miles away from Wuhan, China, a pretty little shopping village in Oxfordshire, England, is eerily quiet.
Bicester Village is famous among Chinese tourists for its string of 160 small luxury shops, each rendered in pastels with homey gables and artificial streets done in tile. About a half million Chinese tourists visited England in the 12 months ending September 2019. They made up a large chunk of the 7 million tourists who visited Bicester Village in 2019.
But traffic is slow, slower than most winter seasons, according to the BBC. Sales are down 85 percent. Suddenly designer houses are offering retailers as many discount handbags as they want. Sales are slower one step up the chain.
In fact, the entire fashion industry has been disrupted by the coronavirus. Chinese editions of New York Fashion Week, and shows in London, Milan, Parish and Shanghai have been cancelled. That is no small issue. According to the Weekly Standard UK, Chinese consumers account for a third of the global luxury goods sold and were responsible for 90 percent of the market growth.
The thinking in the industry is that these are sales deferred, not lost. But time is an issue. The $2.5 trillion industry is threatened with a financial hit similar to 2008.
One key question is what happens in markets that are necessity and not luxury.
A Wells Fargo report warned in February that big box retailers like Target, Best Buy, and Walmart could have empty shelves as early as mid-April. Shoppers may find fewer goods until mid-summer.
