When Burberry introduced the Belt Bag in March 2018, analysts noted its versatility — hand carried or strapped over the shoulder — as well as its striking colour combinations and contrasts. Initially, Burberry launched the bag in eleven colourways and two shapes (medium and large) with smaller bags and expanded colourways to follow. Spurred by a marketing campaign that included coverage of prominent actresses and celebrities donning the new shape, the Belt Bag enjoyed a positive reception that appeared to translate well to early sales figures. Katrina Beechey noted, "It’s an interesting story because overall the category is in a challenging moment, with the Belt Bag performing strongly within that."
The Belt Bag performed particularly well with Chinese and other Asian women, with some colourways strongly outperforming others.
For the first three and a half months, the Belt Bag tracked at or above plan in terms of sales value versus sales plan in £k per week (see chart below). Some of the performance gap following that period was attributed to the mismatching of sales with inventory, as well as a decline in organizational resources and attention dedicated to the Belt Bag. As would be expected, regional differences in performance emerged. Reflecting on EMEIA during week 27 of the launch, for instance, such markets as Prague, Munich, Zurich, Dubai, and many locales in Italy and London were meeting or exceeding Burberry targets, whereas other regions fell short. In aggregate, the Belt Bag reached roughly 61% of its goal for EMEIA week 27, with 98 of 160 targeted bags sold.
