12.13.12
Estée Lauder Executive Chairman William P. Lauder has plenty of reasons to smile these days—sales are up across the company's portfolio and 2013 prospects are good, he told CNBC. While some observers insist that this holiday selling season is showing signs of weakness, Lauder insists that the high-end consumer is continuing to spend.
“(In North America) She has a great deal of confidence…not perhaps as aggressive as we’d like to see her, but she’s doing pretty well. We’re seeing the high-end consumer in Asia continues to be strong,” he told CNBC.
As for China, Lauder admitted there’s been a slowdown in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, but he insisted that demand in Tier 2 and 3 continues to be extremely strong. And while some players bemoan the slowdown in China’s economy, Lauder said he’ll gladly take today’s current 6-7% rate of growth.