Up up and Away: Annual sales for the smart luggage company increase nearly 200 percent

Away Luggage, the smart-luggage company founded in 2015, has really taken off. According to Rakuten Intelligence, revenue for Away grew 198.4 percent year-over-year, which compared to the 36.8 percent growth for all online luggage sales, is nothing short of gigantic. Over the same period, the number of items sold by Away grew by 158.0 percent, the number of buyers grew 140.8, and the number of orders grew by 151.4 percent, blowing past the still-strong growth numbers of the luggage category.

The stark difference in numbers doesn’t stop there. For the two years we studied (July 2016 - June 2018), Away buyers spent an average of $244.59 per unit, compared to $81.20 for all travel luggage buyers (this total includes Away). This makes sense when we see that Away’s cheapest piece of luggage retails for $225, while Samsonite, one of luggage’s most established names, retails their cheapest carry-on piece at $120.

Though only a few years old, Away has wasted very little time in becoming a top luggage brand. Away accounts for just over 16 percent of total luggage revenue, which puts it ahead of more well-known brands like the aforementioned Samsonite, who accounts for 11 percent, and Tumi, who comes in at a comparatively low 1.9 percent of revenue, despite commanding a premium price.

Though Away comes away with the most money, Samsonite is still the most popular brand by representing 7.9 percent of all luggage sold. That’s not to say Samsonite has opened a chasm between themselves and the smart-luggage retailer; Away comes in at 5.3 percent of luggage sold, good enough for second place.

It’s not often we see a company grow so strongly across all channels and manage to grow substantially across all demographics, but that’s exactly what Away has done. Across all age groups, Away’s lowest growth rate is with 25-34 year olds at an incredible 129.8 percent year-over-year -- that’s their lowest growth rate. Their highest growth rate tops out with 45-54 year olds at an astounding 197.5 percent. For the sake of context, all of travel luggage (with the inclusion of Away) is enjoying very strong growth rates across all age groups, but those rates range between 22.8 percent for 35-44 year olds, and 35.6 percent for 18-24 year olds.

Nearly two thirds (61.2 percent) of all Away buyers in the last 12 months were between the ages of 18-44, while that age group made up 52.6 percent of total luggage buyers

With a panel of over 5.5 million online shoppers, Rakuten Intelligence gives the most detailed, and accurate digital commerce data available, and is reported daily.

Rakuten Intelligence is the only service to measure digital commerce directly from the consumer, across all retailers, at the item level, and over time. Our retailer-independent methodology precisely measures commerce as it happens. By extracting detailed information from hundreds of millions of aggregated and anonymized e-receipts, Rakuten Intelligence can map the entire Purchase Graph, connecting each and every consumer to all their purchases.

Rakuten Intelligence gets its data from e-receipts – not a browser, app or software installed by the end-user – so its measurement reflects comprehensive shopping behavior across multiple devices, over time, which are key in an increasingly omnichannel retail world. Slice Intelligence is the exclusive e-commerce data provider for NPD’s Checkout Tracking e-commerce service.