luxury consumers are continuously evolving and their monitoring should be
a permanent activity.- The luxury consumer is smart and intelligent. It is difficult to mislead
the luxury consumer of today in terms of any aspect of a brand’s offerings.
Consumers can now interpret marketing and branding messages in a whim.
They are knowledgeable about product materials and their sources; they
have travelled extensively and are interculturally aware and competent.
They know the difference between Zen and Yen. They are also more
informed through product comparison, reviews, virtual communities and
publicly accessible information about luxury brands. Today’s consumer
has a personal calculator that helps them understand the overall value
package of a brand’s offerings in terms of product design and quality, price
and brand identity. They also know when to trade down in some categories
of goods in order to trade up in luxury goods. If a luxury brand offers an
empty box, today’s consumer can smell it from miles! - The luxury consumer is powerful. There has been a power-shift from
luxury brands to luxury consumers. The authority in the luxury market now
belongs to consumers and they know it. This is because consumers have
more choices in products, shopping channels and pricing of luxury goods.
There are more luxury brands today than thirty years ago, offering more
product variety and shopping choices. Also the old luxury brands are
extending their offerings to include lesser-priced sub-brands. Consumers
also have easier access to viewing the product choices and lower switching
costs to purchasing them, especially on the Internet. They can now exchange
digital photos of luxury products taken with their cameras or phones and can
also shop on their mobile phones in addition to the Internet. Consumers also
have the increasing flexibility of purchase and payment methods through
credit cards and store accounts. They can buy at will but they also know
when to buy and, most importantly, what brands to buy from. - The luxury consumer is individualistic. Today’s luxury consumer is a
fashionista but not a fashion victim. They know who they are, what they
want and how they prefer to interpret their personal style. Irrespective of
location, from America to Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East,
luxury consumers are becoming their own individual stylists. The expan-
sion of the fashion market environment has provided them with the tools
to become fashion experts. Diffusion fashion brands like Zara and H&M
have given them the confidence to be experimental and bold enough to mix
high-street with luxury fashion in one outfit; something that their grand-
mothers would have considered taboo in the past. This means the empow-
erment to stamp their personality through an independent style rather than
through a single brand. Today’s luxury consumer uses fashion as a defini-
tion of their individual personality and identity, in their own way and
according to their own terms.
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luxury fashion branding