Okonkwo Prelims

over the world, notably in New York, Paris and London. These stores would

have been considered as junk stores twenty years ago but they are currently

treasure islands for luxury consumers. They stock goods ranging from vintage

apparel and accessories to designer home decoration pieces and other rare

knick-knacks. Some of the stores have branded themselves as ‘lifestyle

concept’ stores. An example is Collette located on Paris’ Rue Saint Honoré,

which stocks goods ranging from luxury branded clothes, accessories, make-

up and cosmetics, books, CDs, DVDs and other funky lifestyle ‘stuff’. The

store has become both an institution and a tourist attraction. It also has an

underground Water Bar that serves as a fashionable meeting point for savvy

consumers. Stores like Collette provide an avenue for consumers to interact

with luxury brands without the intimidation that is sometimes felt in the

luxury brands’ own stores.

Effect 6: intangible luxury

When the question, ‘What is luxury?’ was posed to several people, including

professionals in the branding and luxury goods fields, their answers included

intangible qualities such as time, family, health and well-being, rest, travel,

peace, essence, desire and substance. Others say that luxury is a dream and

this dream mainly comprises of intangible qualities that are lacking in

consumers’ lives. Yet others insist that luxury is now a question of personal

perspective. These answers reflect two things. The first is that there is a

change in the definition of what constitutes luxury for several consumers. The

second is that the interpretation of luxury is now completely individual. The

reasons for these changing definitions of luxury are fairly obvious.

The first reason is that consumers of the present generation have access to

more wealth. They are much more likely to attain career success and wealth at

early ages compared to their counterparts of previous generations. This is

mainly as a result of the expansion of the corporate and business sectors due

to global economic and technological advancement, which have created

wealth acquisition avenues. The same group of consumers are also working

more as a result of increased responsibilities. The implications include stress,

chaos, lack of time, health problems and all the negative associations that

come with being busy all the time. These effects are most evident among the

group of consumers known as Young Urban Professionals (YUPs), High Net-

Worth Individuals and Career Women with families. These groups of

consumers desire an escape route from their chaotic lifestyles. As a result, they

have come to perceive luxury as the intangible substances that they wish to

have in their lives, such as simplicity, time, well-being, de-stressing services,

freedom, space and peace of mind. Other notions of luxury by this group are

elements that add true meaning, value and happiness to their lives, such as

family, friends, community and charity work. These intangible qualities have

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luxury fashion branding