Welcome to Kering's 2021 Full Year Results Presentation. I am Jean-François Palus, Group Managing Director, and I'm here with François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO, and Jean-Marc Duplaix, Chief Financial Officer. 2021 has been a year of multiple achievements across the group. François-Henri will go through a few of the most salient together with their implication for the future in 2022 and beyond. Next, Jean-Marc will review our strong operational and financial performances during the year and in the fourth quarter. All three of us will be available to answer your questions. Before François-Henri takes the floor, however, we would like to share with you a brief video highlighting some of the events that have marked the year at Kering.
Good morning to all of you. First, let me add my welcome to Jean-François.
As you've seen from this video, 2021 was an eventful year. We are busy building Kering's future and we are far from over, but still our performances are way ahead of our expectations, so stay tuned. 2021 was a strong year for Kering. Our top line grew sharply, but more importantly, retail sales, which represented 81% of the 2021 total, those sales have grown by an average of 18% annually over the past five years, and this is really what I call a very steady and sustained delivery. The group EBIT margin exceeded 28%, and we generated a record free cash flow. As you see, we are firing on all cylinders, and all of our houses contributed to our strong performances, and we did that in a very demanding and fast-changing circumstances requiring even more flexibility, more audacity, and more tenacity.
We continued to invest and made decisions, big and small, that supported our 2021 performances. These decisions and investments will continue to pay off this year as well as in the mid and long term. As you see, it's a genuine team effort involving all 42,000 Kering people at every level. Each one of us applied the lessons we learned in 2020. We continued to strengthen our team through the pandemic, and thousands of talented new colleagues joined us during the year. They value and embrace the culture that makes us very different. As a signal of recognition, we are currently working on a comprehensive employee share ownership plan, which will be submitted to the shareholders in April. In fact, I firmly believe that purpose goes hand in hand with long-term profitability.
Organizations like ours have a duty to contribute disproportionately to making a long-term impact on the social and on the environmental front, and this is why I took the head of the Fashion Pact because I really believe that as competitors, we can do a lot more together for the good of the planet than individually. Here are some of our environmental and social accomplishments of 2021. Of course, you will find more comprehensive details in the annex and in our regular reporting. As you know, we've published non-financial indicators for nearly 20 years now, including our trailblazing EP&L since 2015. Our 2021 people survey shows a continued high level of employee engagement and an even higher inclusion score. We've made further progress in terms of gender parity throughout the group, and we have not relaxed our commitment to sustainability.
We updated the science-based target we've set in 2016 to strengthen our climate ambitions, and our strategy is now fully aligned with the 1.5 degree pathway. With the Regenerative Fund for Nature that you saw in the film, we move further in our efforts to preserve biodiversity, which is crucial to our industry and to the future of the planet. In July, we issued Coming Full Circle. Coming Full Circle is a report highlighting the concrete actions our houses have already implemented around circularity. Beyond recycling, it is about rethinking the way we produce, rethinking the way we use and extend the life of resources and products. I am very proud of the pioneer ESG role Kering has played for many years now, in our industry of course, but also in the broader conversation.
In all our houses, we focus on intensifying and honing creativity and exclusivity. The iconic items that convey the deep-rooted codes of our houses are central to this effort. It is our ability to blend tradition and disruption in a single movement that makes our houses so influential. Throughout the year, Gucci highlighted its beloved handbag lines, reinforced by the launch of the Diana, and more recently by the launch of the Bamboo 1947, reviving and reinventing historical Gucci models, and both were extremely well received. Balenciaga returned to haute couture, a defining segment for the house after more than fifty years. Boucheron's holographic high jewelry collection, launched last July, merges high-tech materials and centuries-old craftsmanship. The last new Maharaja collection that we just unveiled is a strikingly contemporary interpretation of our archives.
As you see, our strategy entails developing brands that have a capacity to expand their territories and to replicate their success across many categories, consistent of course, with their personality. We did that first with Saint Laurent, building a leather goods and accessories powerhouse on top of its ready-to-wear legacy. Its success to this day, and notably last year, validates our approach. Bottega Veneta is another perfect example. I felt the house potential as a global brand, and I pushed it to reinvent itself from what was a rather narrow product offer, and it has cemented this status all along last year. Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta are not isolated cases, and I could cite plenty of others. For instance, Gucci's winning forays into high jewelry and more generally into high-end segments of the market.
I could cite Alexander McQueen drawing on its tailoring expertise to gain legitimacy in ready-to-wear and leisure wear, while raising its visibility in leather goods. We are also making a strong push across the group to increase our focus on men's products. Collaborations have also provided room for our houses to broaden their perspectives. Gucci's partnership with The North Face created a whole new category, and I could also mention Balenciaga cooperating with NASA last summer. In another vein, our Hacker Project was a resounding first, as two leading fashion houses, Gucci and Balenciaga, came together to create a unique hybrid universe. We are strengthening the long-term communication strategy of our houses, and here, too, we want to focus on reinforcing their deep-rooted codes and their ability to define new ones. Balenciaga is a case in point.
It's a house that can talk in the same breath about return to haute couture and its groundbreaking association with Fortnite or The Simpsons, and by doing so, pushing the boundaries between luxury, entertainment, culture, and technology. As you know, I made the decision to reinforce the exclusivity of our distribution across the board because I really firmly believe that it is key to reinforcing brand equity and achieving customer excellence. We are resolved to reduce the share of wholesale for our larger houses, and we are making massive progress here. It will pay off, even if it entails a little pain in the short term.
We started with Gucci, where wholesale accounted for less than 9% of sales last year, down from 15% in 2019. With Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Bottega Veneta sharing the same vision, you should expect the share of retail to continue to rise here too. In the meantime, we are enhancing and fine-tuning our networks of own stores, consistent with our strategic vision of retail. Last year, our focus was largely on increasing quality and size, but we also opened many beautiful stores, mainly for those houses whose capacity and geographic coverage are not fully deployed. We have also developed highly innovative formats, providing the right blend of experience and destination, both for permanent stores, like Bottega Veneta new SoHo boutique in Manhattan, for example, and for pop-ups like the Gucci Circolo format. Our strategic vision of distribution also extends to the online world.
Our focus remains squarely on our brand.com sites. Now, as you know, all successfully internalized. We use in concession, e-concession, only when they complement our own sites, and we can control all the key elements of our presence. Across all segments of the omni-channel universe, we are obsessed about providing only best-in-class customer experience. Innovation is in our genes, and we are constantly on the lookout for new modes of consumption, disruptive business models, or emerging types of engagement, and we do this with our sustainability lenses on. The second-hand market is a real transformative factor in luxury, and this is why we invested in Vestiaire Collective. It gives us a front row seat on this new trend, and it enhances our ability to influence the future of our industry. We will continue to explore and test other opportunities independently or in partnerships.
Our houses are also reaching new customers through the metaverse. In addition to Balenciaga's appearance on Fortnite, Gucci has leveraged a presence on the Roblox gaming platform to build brand awareness with the upcoming generations of luxury shoppers. Another area of innovation is research into new materials. Last year, Gucci launched Demetra, a high-quality, eco-friendly material usable in a wide range of products. We don't keep innovations to ourselves, and Gucci is making Demetra available to others in the fashion world. Gucci also launched a second collection of the Off The Grid eco-friendly luggage line. Finally, our growth platforms support and systematize our efforts.
Two major developments in 2021 were the final step in the internalization of our e-commerce, with the integration of Balenciaga in February and Bottega Veneta in May, and also the effective coming on stream of our Trecate hub in northern Italy, which greatly expands and accelerates our logistic firepower. All these actions aim at strengthening brand equity, reaching new clienteles, and gaining market share, notably with local customers. The pandemic has accelerated changes already happening in the way people shop around the world. We had anticipated many of these shifts, and we are intensifying our efforts to always remain ahead of emerging trends. Our initiatives also aim at strengthening the loyalty of the new generations of consumers our houses have attracted and are continuing to attract into the world of luxury.
Our culture, our ability to blend heritage and innovation are absolutely aligned with those of the upcoming cohorts. We are focusing on the areas where we add the most value. In eyewear, we were the first to understand the importance of internalizing licenses and to create dedicated, powerful entity to manage this business. This was the right move at the right time, and Kering Eyewear has gone from success to success ever since. With the acquisition of LINDBERG last year, we are rounding out our offer in a very high-end segment of the market, and we are looking forward to growing our that new business and benefiting from this addition across Kering Eyewear. Late last month, we announced the sale of our watches activities to their management.
Our strategy here is to focus on segments of business which with growth potential and on the houses and activities we can scale up over time and that can really profit from being part of the group, and this transaction was squarely aligned with this goal. All our houses are stronger than ever before, and we are very confident that we will extend in 2022 the rebound of last year. Even more importantly, we are well positioned for continued growth and profitability in the long term. After 100 years, Gucci never stops to surprise, reinforcing its desirability and the visibility of its beloved icons together with its glamorous positioning. Saint Laurent continues to expand its clientele, fueling steady, outstanding growth.
Bottega Veneta is confirming its status as a truly global brand and its potential deriving from creative products and communications. Balenciaga gains in distinctiveness with its re-entry into haute couture without relinquishing any of its brazenness. Alexander McQueen is successfully developing a sound presence across multiple categories. Brioni is making solid progress in a fast-changing segment. Our jewelry houses have taken off. Boucheron is leveraging its entry into new markets, notably China. Qeelin is exploding, demonstrating a unique ability to build a booming Chinese luxury house. Pomellato on the side is on course for new breakthroughs. Kering Eyewear is expanding the presence of all our houses in the key aspirational segments and enhancing its technological expertise. As you see, our vision is forthright. We are building for the long term, doing exactly what we say we will do.
Of course, we are not yet where we want to be, but definitely we are in the right direction. We are exploiting our growth potential and creating value. Our very solid position reinforces our confidence in the success of our business in the short and long term. Now, I will give the floor to Jean-Marc Duplaix for the review of our 2021 performances.
Thank you, François-Henri. Good morning to all of you. Let me now describe to you in more detail the high-quality performances François-Henri introduced. You have some highlights on Slides 12 and 13. I'll start with revenue. At EUR 17.6 billion, sales were up 35% year-on-year in both reported and comparable terms, setting a record. FX turned from a negative in H1 to a positive in H2, ending up broadly neutral in the full year. We also had a positive scope effect coming from the initial consolidation of LINDBERG in the fourth quarter, which did not have a material impact on the full year. Comparable group revenue was 13% above 2019. Looking at our regional mix, it has changed significantly in the past two years, requiring agility across our operations as well as in client engagement.
Compared to 2019, North America and Asia Pacific gained 7 and 4 percentage points respectively, while Western Europe lost 10 points, Japan 2, and Rest of the World 1. Moving to the quarters, group revenue was consistently above 2019 levels throughout the year. We had a marked acceleration in Q4, up 32% comparable year-on-year and 25% on a two-year stack. Recurring operating income passed the EUR 5 billion mark, a 60% increase over last year. Here as well, we reached an all-time high. At over 28%, our margin is back on a healthy expansion trajectory. It's the result of effective operating leverage while we pursued our investment strategy. Next, our free cash flow generation was very strong. At EUR 3.9 billion, nearly doubling year-on-year. CapEx stood at 5.3% of revenue, largely dedicated to our houses' development plans.
Investment in our growth platforms is back to its 2019 level following completion of our logistics hub in Italy. As a result, net debt dropped to EUR 168 million at year-end, down close to EUR 2 billion year-on-year. We were proactive, seizing market opportunities to trim our stake in Puma, carry out a share buyback program, and reinforce Kering Eyewear's portfolio with the acquisition of LINDBERG. In Slides 14-17, a deeper dive in revenue trends at our luxury houses, with sales totaled EUR 17 billion in 2021. First, growth by channel. Retail fueled a strong end to the year, reflecting our strategic focus on controlled distribution. Retail represented 81% of 2021 revenue and 85% in Q4 alone. Full-year comparable retail revenue was up 40% versus 2020 and 18% versus 2019.
We had a sharp acceleration in Q4, up 39% and 34% on one-year and two-year basis, respectively. Wholesale was up 17% year-on-year in 2021. More significantly, it was down 3% over two years, consistent with our move towards greater distribution exclusivity. Royalties improved nicely during the year and are now above the 2019 level in eyewear, still slightly below for perfume and cosmetics. The focus on retail trends by geographies shows sound recovery across regions. Western Europe, Japan, that were still down on a two-year stack in the first nine months, improved materially in Q4, driven by strength in local demand and successful clienteling initiatives. Western Europe rose 59% in the quarter, ending up nearly flat on a two-year stack.
In Japan, retail was up 33% or 19% versus Q4 2019, partly due to an easy comp base, but mainly to very solid demand. In Q4, North America grew 63% year-on-year or 82% compared to 2019, sustaining the high growth rate we saw throughout the year. We achieved high conversion rates and increases in average ticket in all stores as well as online. Asia-Pacific resumed a dynamic momentum up 18% year-on-year in Q4 and 37% compared to the same period in 2019, back to a growth rate in line with Q2. The rest of the world was up 48% year-on-year and 57% compared to Q4 2019, driven by the Middle East.
Turning to e-commerce, our houses revenues exceeded EUR 2 billion in 2021, a 55% increase year-on-year and 2.6x the 2019 level. In terms of online penetration, our worldwide average is now 15% of retail sales. In North America and Western Europe, penetration is already around 25%. In Asia-Pacific, there is still plenty of room for growth. To end my remarks on luxury houses, let's go through EBIT and margins on Slide 18. They are perfectly consistent with the trajectory we outlined and with our strategy of creating value over the long term. We are benefiting from our operating leverage while reinvesting selectively in key OpEx lines to strengthen our houses' competitive positions and future growth prospects. Their EBIT came at EUR 5.2 billion, passing the 30% profitability threshold again.
Most of the houses were already ahead of their 2019 levels and all displayed a healthy recovery. I now provide comments on our individual houses, starting with Gucci from Slide 19. We took advantage of this year of rebound to strengthen the fundamentals of the house. Revenue for the full year exceeded EUR 9.7 billion, up 31% year-on-year, both reported and comparable. It is 3% comparable above the 2019 level, but 10% higher in retail, while wholesale is down 39% over the same period. We are nearing the end of the wholesale rationalization phase with retail close to 92% of sales in Q4 2021. In the quarter, retail accelerated materially, up 35% year-on-year or 25% on a two-year stack. As you know, Gucci had an intense calendar of initiatives towards year-end.
Aria hit the stores, and high-profile animations were organized around the house's centennial and Hacker Project capsules. Aria provided new evidence of the richness of Gucci's codes and creative universe. It was very well received across markets and age segments. In-store events, pop-ups or brand experience formats strengthened bonds with new and existing local clients. Due to both mix and selective pricing actions, Aria had a very positive impact on AURs. Recurring operating income amounted to EUR 3.7 billion, a 38.2% margin. Gucci achieved a sizable rebound in profitability while it carried out planned strategic investments, notably in clienteling and communications. CapEx targeted network enhancements with a mix of refurbs, openings and relocations. On Slide 22, some highlights on Saint Laurent, which is consistently reaching new highs.
EUR 2.5 billion full year revenue was up 46% comparable or 26% on the two-year stack, a remarkable achievement for a house whose trajectory over the past decade has been spectacular. Q4 marked another acceleration, up 47% comparable year-on-year. Performance was driven by retail, up 54% over 2020 or 61% against 2019, probably among the top growth rates in the industry. All regions contributed with Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, and Japan leading the sequential improvement and North America sustaining an impressive momentum. The house's affinity with local clients in mature region is now solidly established, and it is fast developing similar bonds in newer markets. Full year retail revenue was up 55% from 2020 and 35% on a two-year stack. All main product categories are steadily fueling growth.
E-commerce kept growing rapidly, up 82% year- on- year, and more than tripling over two years. Wholesale is up 20% in Q4 and 23% in the full year, but growth is moderating on a two-year stack, up only 6% in 2021 as rationalization of this channel is underway. EBIT was EUR 750 million, a 28.3% margin for the full year. This is a new record profitability for the house. Saint Laurent focuses CapEx on network expansion. In 2021, this translated into 29 net store openings, mainly in Asia-Pacific and North America. Moving to Slide 25, Bottega Veneta reached new milestones. One of the few brands that grew in 2020, Bottega Veneta passed the EUR 1.5 billion revenue mark in 2021, up 25% comparable versus 2020 and 32% on a two-year stack.
In Q4, revenue was up 14% comparable versus 2020, driven by retail up 28%, accelerating sequentially on both one-year and two-year basis. Wholesale was down 18% in the quarter compared to 2020. Bottega Veneta's sound growth is entirely realized with a stable store count and with a healthy mix of existing and new clients. Its creativity and desirability afford the house important pricing power. Bottega Veneta's long-term strategy focuses on an even more exclusive distribution, allowing it to fully deliver on the potential of each of its product categories, providing them with maximal exposure. It will result in a gradual reduction of wholesale in its channel mix. Recurring operating income was EUR 286 million, up 67%. Margin expansion has resumed already exceeding 19% in 2021.
While Bottega Veneta is reinvesting in brand equity, its scale and higher sales density are driving operating leverage. CapEx is focused on enhancing the network with a mix of relocations, renovations, highly selective openings, and creative retail formats. Starting from Slide 28, you will see that the high-growth potential of our other houses is fully materializing. Revenue in 2021 was up 44% comparable or 31% over two years, reaching EUR 3.3 billion, a full EUR 1 billion increase in one year. There is no scope impact as our other brands were still fully consolidated in 2021. All houses contributed to the rebound from 2020, and virtually all were well above their 2019 level. Keep in mind that Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, and Qeelin had posted top-line growth in 2020. Compared to 2019, retail is a key driver, up 40% comparable.
This performance stems from the expansion of the store network, the rapid development of online sales, and the move towards a more exclusive and controlled distribution that should amplify in 2022. In Q4, comparable revenue rose 34% year-on-year, with retail up 45% or 60% on a two-year basis. Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen had another spectacular year, both achieving record revenue and outperforming the old segment. The two houses are successfully implementing their development plans in terms of product, categories, and geographies. With striking shows and powerful communications, they broaden their visibility while also strengthening their market presence, notably in North America and Asia-Pacific. Brioni posted a very encouraging rebound in 2021. Our jewelry houses also had an outstanding year. In a category that is enjoying steady growth, we are reaping the fruits of our past and current investments.
Boucheron is capitalizing on its exceptional offering in high jewelry and jewelry to confirm its promises and its strong potential in Asia-Pacific. With sales multiplied by 2.5 from 2019, Qeelin confirms its unique status in the region. Pomellato, which still derives the bulk of its revenue from Europe, is gradually expanding its footprint, leveraging its iconic lines and new launches. Recurring operating income was EUR 458 million. 2.5x the 2020 level, yielding a 14.1% margin. This performance is driven by increased profitability at Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, and our jewelry houses. CapEx was up, reflecting the expansion plans at all brands. On Slides 32 and 33, a few words about Kering Eyewear and our corporate segment. Total external sales of Kering Eyewear exceeded EUR 700 million, translating into a contribution to consolidated revenue of nearly EUR 600 million.
Revenue was up 45% comparable over 2020, with a 5% non-comparable impact, most of it from scope as a result of LINDBERG's first time consolidation in the fourth quarter. The business enjoyed significant recovery in 2021 across brands and geographies, particularly driven by Europe and North America. Kering Eyewear's recurring operating income and profitability rose sharply, contributing significantly to the reduction of the segment's negative result, which stood at EUR 158 million, down EUR 74 million euros year-on-year. The corporate segment's CapEx was just below EUR 300 million, back to the 2019 level after a peak in 2020 related to major investments in our logistics and IT backbone. The remaining lines of the P&L are summarized on Slide 34.
Other non-recurring operating result was EUR -220 million, largely due to the impact of the announced disposal of our watches brand. Net financial charges amounted to EUR 273 million, a 20% decrease year-over-year. They include interest on lease liabilities for EUR 106 million. Excluding this, financial charges were EUR 167 million, down 27% year-over-year. Cost of debt at EUR 38 million improved, thanks to lower average coupon. Other financial charges decreased to EUR 129 million, driven mainly by a reduction in the cost of currency hedging. Corporate tax amounted to EUR 1.3 billion, a 27.5% tax rate on recurring income, very consistent with our normative tax rate.
Group net income from continuing operations, excluding non-recurring items, exceeded EUR 3.3 billion, a 70% increase year-on-year. A few comments on free cash flow, net debt and other key metrics on Slide 35-37. Free cash flow generation was very substantial at EUR 3.9 billion, up 88% compared to 2020. On top of excellent operating performances, we continued to successfully manage our working capital without impacting inventory availability, and we return to our usual CapEx to sales ratio in the range of 5%-6%. Our financial structure is more than healthy. As you can easily figure out, the level of our profitability and the soundness of our balance sheet led to a further improvement of our return on capital employed.
With over EUR 13 billion in shareholders' equity and a net debt of EUR 168 million, 2021 has indeed been a year of further deleveraging. We paid EUR 1 billion in dividend and resumed a share buyback program. So far, we repurchased 0.7% of our shares for an amount of nearly EUR 540 million. The amount of lease repayment plus related interest is nearly matched by the disposal of an additional 5.9% in Puma back in May. Our stake is now roughly 4%, covering the exchangeable bond due in 2022. Net financial investments include the acquisition of LINDBERG that was completed in September. My final comment will relate to the dividend on Slide 38. The board of directors has proposed a dividend of EUR 12 per share, a 50% increase.
We are coming back to a balanced payout ratio, as you can see in the graph. We paid an interim dividend of EUR 3.50 last month, and the balance should be paid in May, pending AGM approval. This ends my remarks, and I return the mic to Jean-François.
Thank you, Jean-Marc. You are all familiar with the messages on this slide, but I wanted here to conclude this presentation to remind you that our focus is unchanged. We have a very clear vision of the trajectory of each of our houses, and we are investing systematically to release this huge potential year after year and over the long term. We encourage a passion for innovation, imagination and consideration in all our people. These are values that resonate with many of our customers around the world. Our financial situation is extremely sound, enabling us to look at outside opportunities with great serenity. We are confident in our future for 2022 and for the coming years.
To showcase some of the factors that underpin our conviction, we are hoping to hold an Investor Day after this two-year break, sometime before the summer, if possible, as has been our practice in the past. While we haven't yet settled on the format, location or precise content, we expect to spotlight a few of our houses rather than focus exclusively on one of them or a specific theme or region. We will keep you posted. Now François-Henri, Jean-Marc, and I are ready to take your questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Palus. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. I must advise you that this session is being recorded. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Please stand by, we'll compile the Q&A queue. This will take a few moments. If you wish to cancel your request, please press the hash key. Once again, please press star one if you wish to ask a question. As a courtesy to everyone on the call, we ask that you limit yourself to a maximum of two questions. The first question comes from the line of Thomas Chauvet from Citi. Please ask your question.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I will limit myself to two. The first one on Gucci and the very strong fourth quarter performance. Could you perhaps comment on how you see the brand developing in 2022? You might not be willing to discuss current trend, but what do you think are the two, three key indicators about Q4 that give you the most confidence that Gucci trends are likely to continue? On the margin side for Gucci, 38.5% EBIT margin, not much operating leverage in the second half of last year. Is that level of margin a good proxy for the future given the required investment in the business?
Secondly, on pricing, there was a headline this morning saying you will do selective price increases. Could you comment about the magnitude of price increase you have in mind? What is your view of the recent trends in terms of pricing? We've seen since 2020 a pretty aggressive path of price increase for the industry. Some brands this year passing on price increase up to 10%. Do you think this is just a temporary adjustment in light of very strong demand since COVID, in light of input cost inflation, or is there something maybe more structural, like what we've seen, you know, a decade or so ago? Thank you.
[Non-English content], Thomas. Thank you for your questions. Concerning the key drivers for 2022 after, as you saw, a very strong Q4 at Gucci, which was not a surprise for us, of course. We are still enjoying beginning of this year, very strong trends, very in line with Q4. You know, let me reassess some key element on Gucci. Not only it's one of the three or four mega brand in this industry, but because of the power of creativity of Gucci is often seen as a matter of collection, but Gucci is much more than that. It's not just about creative seasonal introduction.
Gucci is as much about codes, craftsmanship, value, and this is expressed in terms of iconic lines, carry overs, and Gucci is all about that. Last year, which was an important year for Gucci because it was the time for us to broaden the offer, and which we did, and particularly with a very strong emphasis on the very high-end segments on all the categories. This is probably one key element of the rebound in Q4, and the one of the key drivers also for this year, not only we have a broadened offer, but the high-end segment brought in terms of value, a strong push for Gucci. The average price of this new offer is significantly higher than the previous offer of Gucci.
This will play a significant role this year. I would add to that that in terms of other elements not only we have strengthened the fundamentals of Gucci in terms of distribution in terms of brand equity last year, strong investment in terms of brand equity. This will deliver, of course, a significant support to growth this year. But also in terms of drops, in terms of capsule, in terms of collaboration. We have a very strong pipeline for this year again, and this will, of course, support the growth of Gucci this year. Not to mention the fact that the rationalization that we did on wholesale, as you know, will be over in 2022.
The headwinds will be much lower than before, and we will probably also enjoy a start of tailwinds by the restart, I think probably in the second part of the year of travel retail. When you combine all that together, we are very confident about the performance of Gucci in 2022 in terms of activity. I will let Jean-Marc maybe comment on the profitability and price increase.
Hello, good morning, Thomas. As regards to the evolution of the margin, let's say that you will have noticed that in H2 still there was some operating leverage. At the end of the day, when you look at the drop-through, it was around 50%, which is reflecting the way an intensification of investments we had in H2 with more clienteling initiatives, a lot of store events. You see that it paid off in terms of revenue. There was more focus on local clientele across different touchpoints. It explain also the good, strong performance of Gucci in some key markets like Europe or Japan, where we have been able to re-engage more with local clients.
That being said, I think that, you know, that we have defined a trajectory for the brand. We have already commented on the fact that there will be a gradual improvement of the EBIT margin, not reaching the peak margin as soon as 2022. We are confident that we will continue to improve the margin. There is no structural reason at the end of the day that we would not be able to exceed what has been the peak margin in the long run for the brand. I think we have all the ingredients in the brand to continue to improve the margin. It's a good link with your question about the pricing.
I think that, first of all, we don't want to provide any sort of visibility on the upcoming price increases because it's not the most important aspect, I think. What is more important is that, generally, what we see and what we have observed in 2021 is that we have been able to increase quite significantly, across the different categories, across the different regions. We have been able to increase the AUR, and it's thanks to the combination of the work done by the brand on the product mix. I think that Aria was really a milestone in the direction of this elevation of the collections and the increase of the average selling price. Selective price increases or sometimes pricing increases across the board.
The fact is that in 2020 or in 2021, Gucci increased its prices 2x , and generally seizing the opportunity of the introduction of the seasonal collections. For 2022, I think the roadmap is very consistent with what we did in the past, with some price increases and pure price increases, and a continuous work on the product mix and the elevation of the pricing. Structurally, I think that the big brands and all the brands typically in the portfolio of Kering have that pricing power, thanks to the success of their collections.
I think that if we take another example, which is Bottega Veneta or even Saint Laurent on the leather goods segment, all them have been able to increase prices in 2021, and I don't see any reasons, considering the desirability of these brands, that we would not be able to increase further the prices in 2022.
Thank you, Jean-Marc and François-Henri Pinault. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The next question comes from the line of Antoine Belge from BNP Paribas Exane. Please ask your question.
Yes, good morning. It's Antoine Belge at BNP Paribas Exane. So two questions. First of all, following up on Gucci. I think in all your comments, you seem very encouraged by the fact that when you invest behind Gucci, there are results. So how confident are you with the sort of 10% organic growth forecast that consensus has? Back to you know the comments about gradually coming back to the margins. I think the idea was to gain, regain around 100 basis points per annum, so that would mean around two to three years to get to back to the margin of 2019.
With regards to second question on the very strong balance sheet and being debt-free and not even taking into account the remaining stake in Puma. In terms of acquisition, I think, you know, 2021 didn't see acquisition from Kering. What's your most recent thinking, especially at the time when maybe interest rates are going up? Maybe there is a, not a window closing, but the time of like free money might be behind us. Thank you.
[Non-English content], Antoine. This is Jean-François speaking. Look, as you know, and as usual, we will not comment on the consensus. Like François-Henri has just said, talking about the drivers of Gucci for growth, we are very confident that again, in 2022, Gucci will post a very solid growth. The brand has never been as creative and desirable. They show the way in terms of fashion and luxury, and everything is in place to, again, this year, post another very good growth.
[Non-English content], Antoine. I will comment on your question on M&A. First of all, just to remind you that it's true that even if interest rates are going up, the real interest rates, if you take off inflation, will remain, in my opinion, very attractive going forward. It's not a point. In our rationale for M&A, it's not based on interest rate, it's more based on what we're capable to do with the acquisition in the future that makes the decision of buying or not buying. Having said that, as you know, we have proven that over a long period of time, our capability to deliver strong organic growth.
To give you a number, over the last five years, the average CAGR of Kering is probably in retail 18%. It's 19% for Gucci. We have this capability of delivering a significant growth above market trends, consistently over a long period of time. Despite that, of course, our balance sheet is very strong, even stronger than before. We are always very active at looking at opportunity. Our portfolio is not yet perfect. We could reinforce our portfolio going forward. We will very actively look at a potential acquisition if they make sense, in terms of our portfolio strategy going forward. We have the means to do that. We're looking at that. You know, in M&A, there are three key values. It's patience.
It's about being very opportunistic and mostly, most importantly, being very lucid. We will move, you know, you saw, and it was a tactical, but a strategic acquisition also for our eyewear business with LINDBERG last year. We are always monitoring what's available and what makes sense for us. We will continue to look at that. For sure, acquisition could make sense in the near future for the group.
Okay. Maybe a follow-up on this, especially because you had mentioned regarding the disposal of the two watch brands that, I mean, I think you mentioned the fact that the segment was not proactive. Does it mean that now, you know, watches and shouldn't be an area of focus in terms of if an M&A opportunity would arise in the industry?
Antoine, regarding the disposal of our watch brands, this is quite consistent with our strategy that gives priority to the houses that have a potential to become very sizable assets within the group. Also, we want to keep assets which we can provide decisive support to, and that we can bring to a higher level. When we think that someone can take care better, in a better way of those assets, then we dispose of them. We, like François-Henri just said, are quite lucid with that. This, we will continue to do so. Again, we want to focus on the brands that we have, jewelry, ready-to-wear, leather goods, accessories.
It is true that we thought that we would not reach a sizable, you know, performance in the watch industry.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Zuzanna Pusz from UBS. Please ask the question.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for taking my questions. My first question would be on Gucci's growth by nationality. Would you be able to maybe provide a little bit of color of the trends you've seen in Q4 versus Q3? Because I think what is quite reassuring is that it looks like the growth, improvement and growth was pretty broad-based, especially in Europe. Any incremental comment on that would be very helpful. Secondly, maybe a bit of comment about the U.S. market. I think there is some sort of a concern in the market that in the U.S. we're gonna see a slowdown, and that all of the strength we've been seeing in the past two years has been just driven by the stock market performance, cryptos, stimulus checks.
Any comments from your side on perhaps a structural improvement in the market, which could lead to a higher penetration of luxury goods in the long term, would be very helpful. Lastly, maybe kind of a small geeky technicality, but how are collabs like Gucci and Balenciaga booked? Is it booked in terms of revenue for both brands, or is it booked just at the Gucci level? I guess because we'll be seeing probably some more of them, so it would be very helpful for us to understand that. Thank you.
Good morning, Zuzanna. I will start with your question about the nationalities. Having in mind that it's not an easy exercise to analyze by nationality, considering the massive repatriation of the Chinese demand in China. Considering also that part of the repatriation is not fully captured in our figures, because Hainan, as you know, is a wholesale business. It's obviously not easy. What we can say is that in Q4, all the markets and all the nationalities have been very supportive in terms of revenues for Gucci. By the way, the patterns of consumption we have observed for Gucci are more or less the same across the board. Meaning that U.S. and the American cluster remain very strong.
As you can see, it's very consistent with the performance of the past quarters. There was an improved performance in Europe, which is really due to the increased engagement of the brand with the locals, plus some tourism, principally intra-Europe, and with some input from American and Middle Eastern tourism, but to a lesser extent. When it comes to Asia Pacific, in China, trends were very consistent also with the past quarters. Very strong performance in China, especially if we consider the two-year stack performance.
While there was an acceleration in some other markets, and I would mention first, Korea, where obviously the new collections are resonating, and also the below the lines, by the way, are resonating super well with the Korean clientele. Finally, in Japan, I think you know that we had a sort of easy comp if we look at the two-year stack. Besides this, maybe because after the Olympics and the relaxing of some sanitary measures, and also because the Diana bag, which is a more classical one, is a perfect match, resonating also very well with the Japanese customers. We had a very good performance with Japanese.
Let's say that the Q4 performance was driven across the board, so across the different markets and across the different nationalities.
Good morning, Zuzanna. Regarding the U.S. market, what we can say is that so far we have enjoyed sound and long-lasting economic background with high consumer confidence, also low unemployment, accumulated savings, wage increases, and so on and so forth. Also, what I want to emphasize is that in fact luxury players have gained new customers recently and in fact have broadened their penetration of this market. Also, I will remind you that in fact this U.S. market is rather young as a luxury market.
We have had the opportunity to develop our exclusive distribution strategies, in particular, rising our online distribution, but also implementing new retail formats, in like pop-ups, for instance. Not only in the usual high streets, but also in other locations, and comes to mind this Bottega Veneta pop-up in Williamsburg. Again, I think that we are here to stay with a very good consumption. Also, we are having leeway in terms of age segments, starting with a younger generation, who find in luxury a new way of self-expression. Again in terms of categories, aspirational products, and so on and so forth.
I will add also the change in the luxury map, because today we have a significant potential in second or third tier cities, and Gucci is about to open a store in April in Austin. Again, this is something that will fuel a very solid and sound growth in the U.S. for a long time.
Okay. After a long discussion between us, we decided that this accounting question will fall in my scope, so that the reason why I will answer. First of all, you know, the Hacker Project, and just maybe to take a step back, is part of a more strategic approach, which is about drops in animation in the Gucci stores. The Hacker Project is something among some other projects, like the new collaboration with The North Face. We had also the Gucci centenary presentation in October. The Hacker Project, that's very basic. You have sales of a product in the Gucci store, so then it's accounted for in the Gucci sales.
When the products are sold in the Balenciaga store, it's in the Balenciaga revenues, considering that, of course, there is a question of size and network, and that, of course, the majority of the sales are accounted for in Gucci.
Perfect. Thank you very much. That's very, very helpful.
Thank you very much. The next question comes from line of Aurélie Husson-Dumoutier from HSBC. Please ask your question.
Yes. Good morning, everyone. My first question will be on Gucci in the U.S. Could you share the proportion of the new customers you had in 2021, and how is it different from 2019? I also have a question on Balenciaga. Could I have a bit of color on the performance of the leather goods? You said that the performance of the brand was excellent. So is it also driven by leather goods, and how much do they represent now in the brand, especially on the Hourglass, and if the franchise has reached your expectations? I'm afraid I have just a technicality question as well.
Considering that H1 2021 was still a bit catch up on depressed H1 2020, and so growth is not normal. Shall we assume that we'll have to compare the quarters of 2022 to the quarters of 2019, meaning we'll have the pleasure to be introduced to a three-year stack? Thank you.
Regarding the share of new customers in the U.S., we will not disclose this detailed information. What I can tell you is that again, because Gucci has been a pioneer in the sustainability and has got a great image in terms of societal and environmental responsibility. We've had a very good response from the new customers and the young ones. Again, we have had a very good balanced growth and this is carrying on right now.
Concerning Balenciaga, thank you for the question because Balenciaga had an amazing year last year, and with Saint Laurent is probably the fastest growing brand in the world last year. The growth of Balenciaga has been very sound and very well balanced between categories. It's not just about sneakers, as I too often heard on the market. It's really a very well-balanced and healthy growth between ready to wear men and women, shoes and also leather goods. Leather goods are growing very fast and there is a rebalancing as Balenciaga is reaching very high level of maturity in terms of sales. There is a rebalancing between the categories in favor of leather goods. It's, as I said, very healthy going forward.
Concerning your last question, it's not an easy one. Of course, I will let the analyst and the market make the comparisons if they want to do. Basically, we could consider that on a full year basis, 2021 is more normative. 2021 is above 2019, so it does show that we have recovered. What is true is that when we look specifically quarter by quarter, Q1 2022, the most relevant comparison would be probably with Q1 2019. You're totally right on that aspect because Q1 2020 was distorted by the emergence of the COVID. It's true that in 2021, Europe was almost closed. The comparison, the most relevant comparison for Q1 will be probably with 2019.
We will be very pleased to provide the data at that time. For the following quarters, probably we will reconsider our position because after that, the most relevant comparison will be with 2021, and we cannot spend the following years to always compare two, three, four years back. At least for Q1, we will help you to understand better the business.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Carole Madjo from Barclays. Please ask your question.
Yes. Hello, this is Carole Madjo from Barclays. Two quick questions for me, please. First of all, on Saint Laurent, can you come back on the performance of the brand in Q4, maybe as well by nationalities?
Any key insight here or differentiating factors will be quite interesting. I guess going forward, how should we think about the growth of this brand, which has been, of course, really outperforming over the past few years, and as well of the kind of margin profile? Any comments there will be really interesting. Second question on the secondhand market. You mentioned that you invested in the segment, of course, during the year. Can you share your findings on this segment so far? What kind of potential do you see on that? Of course, is there some room to include resale at the kind of brand level going forward? Of course, thinking of the concern around brand equity. Thank you.
I will start with the performance of Saint Laurent in Q4. Considering that the main drivers of the growth, in fact, there was a sort of deceleration in terms of performance of wholesale. Wholesale should turn negative in 2022, on par with the plan of rationalizing the distribution as well for Saint Laurent. The main driver of the growth for Saint Laurent in Q4 was retail. In retail, I would make the same comment as I made for Gucci.
I think that there was a contribution of all regions and all the categories of the achievements we had already commented on for the leather goods and the shoe categories. I think that all we have green light everywhere in Q4 for Saint Laurent with improved performance by the way especially in Asia. Further progress also in America, while the brand was very strong already in Europe with a very high degree of penetration with locals in Europe and in Japan. Overall, the performance is very strong across the board for Saint Laurent in Q4 with continuous operating leverage which explains the level of EBIT margin.
Here again, we have defined a trajectory for Saint Laurent. We expect to improve further the EBIT margin for next year. We will continue to invest in the brand. I think that in terms of space expansion, we made the bulk of the job in the past few years. In terms of space expansion, it should moderate. We will continue to invest in the brand in different areas, and typically in terms of communication and marketing. Here again, the EBIT margin improvement should be very gradual and well under control.
Concerning your question about the future of Saint Laurent and the potential of the brand, that's a good question because it's probably a brand that is highly underestimated in my opinion. As you saw, the level of performance last year has been striking at Saint Laurent, reaching maturity level that are very interesting. As Jean-Marc mentioned, Q4 retail +61%, just to mention that. It's a brand that is far from being mature in some area of the world. When you look at how strong the brand is in America, there's no reason why the brand cannot reach a much stronger level of performance in China.
The brand is pushing a lot in China and in the future this will bring a very significant potential to the brand. On another aspect in terms of categories, the brand is very healthy with a very strong growth on ready-to-wear, which is the desirability engine of the brand. As you know, a very strong offer in accessories, very attractive with a strong and a pricing power that is increasing going forward. Saint Laurent has a little bit like Gucci also, is putting a strong emphasis on the high-end segments on the high-end customer segments, where the brand has a huge potential for growth going forward.
All the cylinders are firing up at Saint Laurent and I'm absolutely convinced that the potential of the brand is very significant, and it's a brand that will join what you call the mega brands of this industry in the near future.
Regarding secondhand, I will say that circularity is at the core of our vision of modern luxury. Also, we think that secondhand provides us with a great opportunity to bring additional services to our clients, and also to reactivate our inactive clients, and also to transform one-timers into repeaters. As you know, we took a stake in Vestiaire Collective, and we built a very good relationship with them. We do collaborate a lot. We put in place with them some proof of concept tests with a few of our brands to build differentiated experiences with their clients that resonates with their own specificity and business models. Again, we are convinced that we will soon integrate second-hand in our service offering.
Excuse me, Carole, have you finished with your questions?
Yes, thank you very much.
Thank you so much. The next question comes from the line of Luca Solca from Bernstein. Please ask your question.
I was impressed by the performance that you produced in the fourth quarter in Europe. I presume it's coming primarily from domestic customers. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I wonder what you expect about the return of tourists to Europe. I heard François-Henri Pinault speaking about the potential tailwind that the travel retail could provide in the latter end of the year. Some of your peers are more pessimistic about the return of tourists. I wonder where you stand on that and whether just a focus on domestic consumers could be on the menu going forward. I would also like to ask about the digital distribution. You focus on brand.com, which seems to be the best approach as far as maximizing consumer data and margin, but you're also referring about tightly controlled e-concessions.
I wonder what you mean by that and what could be the criteria that you use in order to ascertain which e-concessions are good and which are less attractive. Thank you very much indeed.
Good morning, Luca. Regarding Europe, we are enjoying some supportive factors. In Q4, we were quite satisfied with the development regarding our local clienteles. We work hard to tap this potential. We increased specifically our level of service. We also enhanced our client experience specifically for the locals. We also build a specific and closer relationship with previews, one-on-one appointments, dedicated spaces. Of course, we revived our distance selling approach. Our CRM activities were quite focused on locals, and so on and so forth.
We reaped fruit from that with quite an increase of the share of locals, obviously, but also a very sound and loyal customer base. Regarding you know the impact of travel constraints on tourism, do not forget that in Europe, we have a significant portion of intra-European tourism. Okay. Also, we've had some tourists from the Middle East and also at the end of the year, a resumption of American tourism. That was good. The fact is that we are quite cautious, and we do not bank on the tourism in Europe to tap the level of 2019 before long.
Regarding digital and e-concessions, the strategy, as you mentioned, is to tighten control over our direct distribution, and that's why we internalized our e-commerce activities first at Gucci and then in 2020 and finalizing in 2021 for the other brands. Now we want also to tap this fantastic potential with you know e-tailers, but preferably in concessions in order for us to control the brand and enhance the brand equity and avoid some price situations that can be detrimental to the brands. Having a concession-type activity, we will monitor the buying, we will monitor the prices, and we will also make sure that the brand equity is you know safeguarded.
We have had a very good penetration, 15% on average, of e-commerce, with quite a diverse situation, regionwise. You know, something between 23%-25% in the U.S. and Europe, but low penetration in Asia and Japan, where we have therefore a great potential. Everything there is made together with our own brand websites and e-concessions.
Thank you. Jean-François, can you give us a rough breakdown of the brand.com versus e-concession or e-tailer split as a percentage of total?
Well, I would say it depends on the houses and on the regions. In China, for instance, we have a very good approach through Tmall. As you know, the ecosystem in China is quite peculiar with a very large share of Tmall. Conversely, in Europe, it's our brand websites or, in the U.S., our brand websites that take the lion's share. Again, it's quite variable.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Graham Renwick from Berenberg. Please ask your question.
Hello, good morning, and thanks for taking my question. I just have two, please, on Gucci. Just firstly on the collections. Aria was clearly very well received and performed very well for you in Q4. I just wonder what your early indicators and industry feedback is for the next Love Parade collection. How does that compare to the early indicators you had on the Aria collection last year? Do you think Love Parade could match or even surpass the success that you saw recently with Aria? Secondly, on product, I just wondered if you could give us a bit of color on how the Gucci brand performed by product category through 2021.
I just wonder if there's any category that may have underperformed in recent years through the pandemic, but where we could be in line with a much stronger catch-up as we return to more normal environments. I think, you know, leather goods has clearly been a much stronger category in recent years. You know, are you expecting stronger outperformance in categories like ready-to-wear and footwear this year? Thank you.
Thank you for your question. We'll start with your question on the Love Parade, but more importantly on Aria. Again, let me stress again that Aria, of course, is the name of a collection, but for me it's just more a moment in time in 2021 when we decided it was the right time to broaden the offer and to put an emphasis on the high-end segment of the offer at Gucci. This was embodied through this collection. Of course, it's a movement going forward. Love Parade is in the same vein in terms of strategy.
As I mentioned, Gucci is by far not just creative seasonal injections, it's also about code, it's about craftsmanship, it's about timeless, iconic products as you saw with the launch of the Diana, or the Bamboo 1947. Of course, the Love Parade that has been presented in L.A. is in that strategy going forward. The AUR, for instance, is completely consistent with the one that Jean-Marc mentioned about Aria. It's the continuation of that movement of broadening the offer, reaching new segment of clientele thanks to that, having more pricing power going forward. Love Parade is absolutely not an exception and it's consistent with this strategy. Jean-Marc, I will let you answer the next question.
First of all, I would start by saying that if we compare to 2020, we were very pleased with the performance across categories with double digit growth in all categories and further acceleration in Q4. Q4 was very strong in all categories. Now, if we look to your stack, it's true that it was very strong. It was within the category. What is very interesting is that it was not only about newness, but also on the bag lines, typically, where we had a very solid results. Typically, the Diana, the introduction of Diana and the introduction of the Bamboo 1947 were very successful in some key markets.
I think that I would not mention any specific category which will be lagging or something like this. We are constantly monitoring the performance product category by product category. I'm more interested also on about what has been the evolution of the average price by category. The strategy was clearly to elevate the average price and the perception around the collection. I think that we have achieved here great results because across categories the AUR has increased quite massively compared to 2019 and compared to 2020.
That's very helpful. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The next question comes from the line of Thierry Cota from Société Générale. Please ask the question.
Yes. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking my questions. First, if you could come back on the balance sheet. You are now more or less at zero debt. I know you did another EUR 500 million share buyback last year. What do you expect going forward if there is no large scale M&A materializing? Are you happy to go below zero net debt, or could you envisage a considerably larger share buyback program than what you have been doing up to now? Secondly, more on the technicalities. Can we, should we expect still a double-digit increase in other brands store count growth this year as we've had in the past? Or do you expect a moderation, as you mentioned for Saint Laurent?
Just on BV, I was wondering whether this year the EBIT margin, I suppose, reasonably should be expected above 20%. I wonder if you think it's gonna be a moderate increase or level above 20% or something more of a higher stage? Thank you.
I will start with your question in terms of share buyback, in terms of more broadly of our balance sheet. Of course, we are, as I said, committed to a steady return to shareholders. We are active, and we never stop to be active on the M&A side, so we are looking at opportunities, and we will continue to do that. At the same time, as I said, return to shareholder is an important part of our commitment. As you saw, the dividend that we propose to the next AGM is at a very strong level compared to, of course, last year, but we are back to EUR 12 per share.
In terms of share buyback, we will continue to activate share buyback programs very tactically, going forward. All those elements will be at stake, so it should be quite healthy in terms of use of our resources between acquisition, fueling our expansion through the brands, our organic growth, and of course, committing to a steady return to our shareholders. Jean-François?
Yes. Regarding the store network, all our brands have a very important program to, you know, expand their store network in 2022, not only in terms of number of units, but also in terms of locations. Like I said earlier, in order for us to go into new locations, particularly in the U.S., but also in China. Also some of our brands that are less mature than others are intensifying their store openings, particularly in Asia Pacific. And also, we will work on the size of our stores, because generally speaking, our stores are quite small.
This is particularly the case at Bottega Veneta, where most of the stores, we cannot even display the full monty of our product categories. There's a huge amount of work to be done in 2022. We have started that, and we have a very sound plan to improve and increase our store network.
As regards your question, Thierry, on the BV margin, let's start maybe with a broad perspective, and what the story around Bottega Veneta. I think the first comment I would make is that we have successfully repositioned BV from a niche brand to focused on high-end leather goods to a house that while keeping its positioning, is able now to leverage on its code and to expand into a global brand. Which is important to have in mind because it does give also an indication about the profile of the margin. In fact, we have invested massively in that brand, and we will continue to do so.
However, the brand has a strong potential that will be gradually unleashed and that needs to be nurtured. First of all, because sales are driven by full price sales in retail. Wholesale will continue to decrease. First there will be a stable store count, but with some relocations and expansion and then further extension of the store network, but not for next year. All in all with more, let's say, retail in the mix of the distribution, with the strong pricing powers that the brand has, clearly we are confident that BV will continue or will pursue its steady growth, top line growth trajectory and will confirm its profitability improvement that just resumed.
At the end of the day, to exceed the 20% mark in terms of EBIT margin for 2022 is exactly what we have in mind.
We will now take our last questions.
Thank you. The last question comes from the line of Rogerio Fujimori from Stifel. Please ask your question.
Hi. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. I have one on China and one on Gucci. On China, how do you read the Chinese market at the moment, given the tough comparatives and the COVID restrictions? Do you have any general color on Chinese New Year, in terms of traffic and domestic travel activity at market level that you could share with us? What kind of growth range do you envision for the Chinese luxury market in 2022? Just a quick follow-up on Gucci. How should we think about the marketing investment as a percentage of sales this year to keep the marketing intensity compared to 2021? Thank you.
All right. Regarding China, obviously we are enjoying very good and sound and healthy growth in China. We think that repatriation has been full steam last year and will continue to bear fruit, because we don't expect international travels to resume before at least one year. We have deepened our penetration and reach in mainland China. For the brands, the houses that were late in you know conquering this huge market, like Brioni or Pomellato or Boucheron, we are opening stores there with high intensity. We have also focused our communication efforts on China with specific events, you know, showings, fashion shows, and so on.
We have localized our CRM activities, leveraging a very good knowledge of the digital ecosystem. Like I said earlier, we are also leveraging the capacity of Tmall to showcase our brands with a very good impact, a very good synergy on our brand.com and on our brand.cn sites. We are carrying on our investments in China. We also have a very good presence in Hainan, which has been phenomenal since 2020. We expect even more touristic flows to be developed towards Hainan, but also to some other venues in mainland China. As a whole, we are very confident about the health of the Chinese consumer and the potential of this market.
We have a lot of new consumers entering into luxury every year with a very good propensity to buy and to buy more. Again, we are very confident with China.
Maybe a few words on the A&P on Gucci and not only about Gucci, because first of all, what we saw in 2021 is that advertising and promotion expenditures returned or exceeded 2019 levels when measuring this OpEx as a percentage of revenues. Typically, if we look now at Gucci, it's true that the A&P and marketing costs have increased in 2021 as a percentage of revenues driven by the group and the brand decision to reinvest quite substantially in the brand. A lot of marketing initiatives launched by the brand as we had the occasion to describe during this call.
What is interesting is that for all the major brands, the COVID crisis created a clear shift in media buying strategy towards digital media platforms compared to traditional offline media supports. That's really a shift that is a long-lasting trend. On top of that, there is a broader scope of initiatives with something which is sometimes closer to marketing activities, clienteling activities. It does explain principally the increase of the A&P cost at Gucci level in 2021. It does explain also why the extension of the EBIT margin has been more moderate. Obviously, I think that we have reached a more or less normative level in terms of percentage of sales reinvested in A&P for all brands.
Maybe if we consider Balenciaga, which is becoming more and more mature, there will be further increase. When it comes to Gucci, I think that in terms of percentage of sales for next year, we can expect for 2022 something very similar to the percentage posted in 2021.
Thank you very much.
Dear participants.
Okay.
Thank you so much for all your questions. I would like to hand over the conference to CEO François-Henri Pinault for closing remarks.
Thank you. As a word of conclusion, I just want to say that, we are, of course, very pleased with the performance of last year, very confident in our ability to deliver another strong year this year. As you see, and it's important for me to emphasize on that, all our houses has contributed to our strong performance. Our strategy based on a portfolio of complementary brand is working full speed, and this will continue going forward, everyone contributing to the overall performance in a much balanced way going forward. All our brands have never been as creative and desirable as they are right now. They're also pioneers and have a very strong impact on the luxury sector.
We have this ability to blend modernity and tradition, and our focus on the high-end segment to enlarge our customer base will deliver a significant growth going forward. We are, as you understood, focused on the long-term vision, focused on the future, enjoying a very important potential across our brands, and we will continue to invest to nurture our growth starting this year and the following years. Thank you for your attention.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect. Have a nice day.