Notes on:Marketing to the luxury consumer

Change Nation London & Singapore

March 2014

www.changenationbrand.com

Notes on: Marketing to the Luxury Consumer

The luxury consumer is driven experientially; it’s not about the money. The luxury consumer primarily interprets and participates in the luxury market experientially. Luxury isn’t just about the thing; it’s about the special experience the consumer feels in buying or owning that thing.

For these consumers, luxury is about achieving a comfortable lifestyle in the material realm, having those things that make life easier, more pleasant, and more satisfying. But the real meaning in the luxury comes through family, friends, and experiences and feelings that having enough money can buy.

Luxury transcends the physical and material. It is interpreted personally and experientially and not about what one has or owns. As a result, it transforms the individual, it enhances his or her appreciation of life. Almost 90 percent of luxury consumers agree with this statement; “Luxury doesn’t have to be the most expensive thing or the exclusive brand”

Luxury Consumers are democratic in their approach to luxury, individuality over exclusivity. Although much is made in the luxury goods industry about maintaining the exclusivity of goods, usually through high prices and limited distribution, luxury consumers don’t particularly buy the idea that luxury is better when it is something exclusive to them. Rather, they have a very democratic view of luxury ( believing that luxury id for everyone, and different for everyone). Because luxury is not really about money, it is something that everyone from the highest to the lowest income can, and surely does, participate in. It’s about the feeling, not the thing.

Exclusivity, in and of itself, brings very little luxury value to today’s democratically attuned luxury consumer. That said, luxury consumers also yearn for more ‘special-ness” in their experience of luxury, Exclusivity for the sake of exclusivity is not what (American) luxury consumers value, rather, it’s exclusivity derived from one’s ability to express a personal point of view, an attitude, and one’s uniqueness. So the challenge for luxury marketer is to deliver greater exclusivity by making the luxury consumer feel special and unique, but never let that morph into class snobbishness or arrogance. It is a delicate balance that is very hard to pull off successfully, but those that do it will achieve great rewards.

Luxury Goods are better; quality counts, When interviewed over 90 percent of respondents share the view that when you pay for a luxury item or service, you expect it too be a cut above the average. It is this expectation of higher quality that makes luxury consumers willing to dig deeper to buy that extra feeling of confidence. But that extra quality doesn’t always have to cost more.

Luxury Consumers are bargain shoppers always looking for a good deal. Even though luxury consumers appreciate superior quality they also get an experiential thrill out of paying less for the best. Over 80 percent of luxury consumers enjoy the feeling of buying luxuries on sale and enjoy searching out the lowest price of best value. This ironically means that these consumers who can afford to pay full price in every category that they participate in are unwilling to.

The luxury shopper is ready, eager and always willing to search out the best price. They don’t feel compelled to pay the highest price or shop for full-price, full-service store, when they know that they can get the same thing somewhere else cheaper. They are savvy consumers and know how to find a bargain and get a good price.

Notes on: Marketing to the Luxury Consumer p2

Luxury consumers are highly invested in their lifestyle; they put little at risk. One characteristic of luxury is clear; Luxury is always evolving, changing and moving. Once consumers achieve a certain level of luxury, that level becomes the ordinary, and they seek out some new higher plane of luxury. Thus, what was once the extraordinary becomes the ordinary, and they seek out a new luxury fulfillment.

Luxury is something that consumers strive for. It also is something that luxury consumers are heavily invested in maintaining and keeping. For luxury consumers, you can’t go back once you’ve experienced luxury. It’s a divide a consumer crosses to say “i have made it”

Luxury Consumers don’t buy because of the brand, brand justifies the purchase. The Brand is not the arbiter of whether a specific product is a luxury. Neither does it play the deciding role in whether to buy. Rather the brand becomes the justification for the purchase. It assure consumers that of the superior quality of the item and that it will last for years.

The brand transmits the value and quality messages so important for consumers who participate in the luxury lifestyle.

www.changenationbrand.com