The Luxury Price Index

Every tracked item's local price is converted to a common currency using current exchange rates. For each item, the country with the lowest converted price wins — and so does every other country at that same lowest price, because they are all equally the cheapest place to buy it. A brand's “cheapest country” is the country that wins the most of its items, or all the countries that hold that count jointly.

Ties are the rule rather than the exception: one euro price makes an item equally cheap in every euro-zone country that stocks it, so a brand's answer is often several countries and the country shares can add up to more than 100%. Awarding such an item to a single country would name a winner that the prices do not support.

Only items priced in 2 or more countries are counted. An item sold in a single country is excluded — there is nothing to compare it against, and counting it would hand that country a win it never contested. So “wins {n} of {m}” means: of the items that can actually be compared, this country is cheapest for {n}.

It is a per-brand ranking, not a claim about any individual product. For a specific item, check that brand's page or the product page, because the cheapest country for one bag is often not the cheapest for the brand overall.

A brand appears here only if we price at least 3 of its comparable items across 2 or more countries. Prices exclude VAT refunds and duty unless stated on the brand or product page.

Prices are the tags brands publish. US and Canadian tags exclude sales tax (added at the register, roughly 5-15%), while most other countries include VAT or GST in the tag, which favors North America in a tag-to-tag comparison. Canada's wins for Cartier, Dior and Rolex are partly this effect.