Chia Blog

Driving Growth in the Face of Turbulent Luxury Markets

by Chia Team

According to Bain research, the top luxury brands make nearly 40% of their revenues from less than 2% of their customers1, meaning these brands are more likely to engage directly with their customers. And for those customers, it’s not just about the design but also about sustainability, equity, and demand for transparent and automated concierge services.

And while profitability in the luxury goods sector has recovered strongly in the years following the global pandemic, it’s not immune to the effects of global macroeconomic, demographic, and social trends. As consumer preferences shift and regulatory pressures increase, luxury brands increasingly rely on technologies that integrate existing core business operations with new business functions that arise from responding to changing market dynamics.

So, brands need the right tools to safeguard a product’s authenticity, trace its provenance, and ensure ownership rights in perpetuity. A customer’s trust in their bespoke luxury experience can be compromised without them.

Chia’s technology suite for the luxury goods industry prioritizes solving today’s immediate challenges while laying a foundation for brands to respond strategically to long-term industry trends.

Chia’s Solution: The Chia Engagement Suite

Our Provenance, Proof of Authenticity and Proof of Ownership modules address those key elements of trust. They bring the benefits of blockchain technology in a form that can be easily integrated into the brand’s existing web and mobile customer solutions. 

A brand can now empower its current processes and deploy new capabilities by harnessing the data from a product’s entire life cycle—from materials sourcing and manufacture through verified reselling. Our technology securely stores the record of every transaction and transfer, powers a brand’s digital retail ecosystem, simplifies compliance and workflow management, and protects the overall customer experience.

The Modules

We sought to address three aspects of maintaining authenticity and trust in the luxury market:

Provenance

Knowing a product’s history and origin is crucial in the luxury market. Creating a Digital Product Passport allows a brand to trace, capture, and store a product’s entire journey, from raw materials to a customer bringing it home, ensuring transparency and compliance every step of the way.

Proof of Authenticity

Whether it’s a high-end handbag, a rare whisky, or a unique piece of artwork, brands can deploy a Unique Product Identifier to allow customers to validate and verify the authenticity of their product.

Proof of Ownership

Before a luxury item is ever sold to a customer, brands can credential an approved product dealer, and proven buyers can upload their information to access exclusive owner products and services.

We’re providing luxury brands with the next-generation tools to preserve their reputation, deliver unparalleled experiences to their discerning customers, and protect their bottom line from counterfeiting. By leveraging Chia technology to protect authenticity and traceability, a luxury brand ensures that the essence of its luxury experience will remain intact.


  1. Tamison O’Connor, “Case Study: Selling Luxury to the 1%,” The Business of Fashion, February 6, 2024, https://www.businessoffashion.com/case-studies/luxury/top-one-percent-wealthy-customers-gucci-mytheresa-tiffany/↩︎