The Characteristics of Luxury Products 奢侈品特性

奢侈品課程小essay：英國利茲大學奢侈品管理專業的Essay.摘自：http://www.ttc-switch.com/management/ 管理專業課程essay

Although the definition of luxury can be approached in different ways, all of them have gravitated towards six common characteristics coined by Laurent and Dubois (1996). They count rarity, utility, high price, craftsmanship, story, and perceived quality. The six characteristics will be introduced in the following.

雖然奢侈品的定義可以以不同的方式接近，所有的人都被吸引向6個共同的特點，由Laurent和杜波依斯（1996年）鑄造的。他們算稀有，實用，價格高，制作工藝，故事，和感知質量。將介紹在以下六個特點。

Rarity
Luxury companies ensure rarity through limiting production and the individualization of their products (Catry 2003, p. 11 et seqq.; Kisabaka 2001, p. 103; Nueono and Quelch 1998, p. 63). There are natural limitations, which arise from the limited availability of product components such as noble metals. In addition, most luxury brands employ artificial limitations such as special editions. These limited editions can be improved further towards the ideal of a unique piece by individualization. This includes intended irregularities by hand-made manufacturing, by http://www.ttc-switch.com/Thesis_Writing/ using natural materials or by artificial variations, which includes the change of the starting point during the processing of fabrics or labeling products with serial numbers. These measures are complemented with personalization of products according to consumer wishes (Kisabaka 2001, p. 97 et seqq.). The consumers of the Guerlain "Kiss Kiss Or & Diamants’" lipstick for 45,000 €, for instance, can choose jewels to decorate their lip stick cover, request an engraving and get the creative director to mix them their very own lip stick color (Trommsdorff and Heine 2008a, p. 1669).
Utility

The second dimension is that of utility or rather the decreased emphasis on functional aspects of the product and more emphasis on the emotional utility that is derived from owning or consuming a luxury product. The functional utility of a luxury good is not necessarily higher than the functional utility of a similar good that is not considered luxurious; for instance, any well-functioning car can transport a person from one place to another, but the experience of driving may differ depending on whether driving a Ferrari or a Saab.

2.2.3. Craftsmanship and Price
The price of luxury goods is another important aspect to consider. The price of luxury goods must be higher than the price of commodity goods with the same functional utility. The price premium illustrates the rarity or quality of the raw materials and/or of the craftsmanship used to produce the product.

Craftsmanship is a crucial characteristic for many brands. It is vital for Louis Vuitton to manufacture in France in the old workshop in Asnières, employing highly trained craftsmen. This is why outsourcing has always been considered incompatible with luxury.

Story and Perceived Quality
Due to the craftsmanship, the perceived quality of luxury goods is higher than the perceived quality of non-luxury goods regardless of the extent of the actual performance difference between the two categories. The link between effort and result is strongly emphasised in the concept of craftsmanship. The numerous hours put into learning the necessary skills and the care with which the products are produced results directly in a premium based on a quality gap between luxury products and non-luxury products. Production experience tends to equate having a long history and heritage is thus an important element of competitive advantage for top-of-the-pyramid companies.#p#分頁標題#e#

Luxury and Internet
Due to the developing technology on the Internet the conditions for consumer behaviour and the way of doing businesses has changed, Okonkwo (2007, p. 178). Consumers have become more empowered and their expectations on the brands have risen. The Internet has made it possible for consumers to get immediate information and easy product comparison at no cost. Because of this it has become more difficult also for luxury brands to keep the interest and loyalty among the consumers. E-retail is now an essential complementary sales channel for retailers that work offline, including luxury fashion retailers. The Internet is also a great channel for increasing brand awareness, reaching new markets and a way of generating competitive leverage and being different.

The Internet is an important factor for these brands in order to reach a global consumer group, as mentioned earlier. Since the fashion trends are becoming more global, the brands can to a greater extent offer the same products to a bigger market, therefore is the Internet a suitable and convenient tool. For the brands is the Internet also a tool to keep a high level of band equity and a way for creating many opportunities for developing deeper consumer relationships (Okonkwo, 2007, pp. 178-179). Additionally, the Internet has also made it possible for consumers all  over the world to get access of the same information at the same time, thereby have their desire for more information and purchase possibilities increased. The assortment for luxury consumers has expanded greatly through the Internet. Consumers are now used to have access to product in this way and have therefore become more demanding and impatient. Product accessibility has for that reason become one of the key decision factors when buying luxury products (Okonkwo, 2007, pp. 179-180).

Luxury Customer’s Behaviour
Bastien and Kapferer (2008) theorised the luxury customer behaviour process. The model consists of three phases

Figure 1 Bastien's and Kapferer's model for luxury customer purchasing process
Post-purchase behaviour

Pre-buying behaviour
Purchasing decision       
---->   ----->
                 
   Long phase             Pleasure to buy          Keep up the dream
   Dream                 Aesthetic and human     High quality customer
   Utility and Price are      environment            service is expected#p#分頁標題#e#
   secondary

Phase 1. The pre-buying phase
Craftsmanship and the story associated to the brand make customers dream of the product. This phase can last several years which in itself prolongs the entire process compared to that for mass-market goods. The dream of the product ranks higher than the functional utility of the product along with its price. Nevertheless, the high price leads to high customer involvement because it influences the perception of risks associated with the purchase (Boyd, H.W, Walker, O.C. Mullins, J. and Larreche, J-C 2002); that is, the monetary consequences are higher if the buyer regrets the purchase after the purchasing process is complete.

Phase 2. The purchasing decision phase
The pleasure of buying the product is considered luxurious in itself. The aesthetic and human environment is crucial as it helps justify the high product price.

Phase 3. The post-purchase behaviour phase
Customers must find confirmation that they made a good decision. With the purchase of a luxury item the dream of ownership disappears and is replaced by ownership. This necessitates investments in marketing and communication to preserve the dream of the brand even after ownership of the product has been achieved. (Bourrat,F. 2011)At this point, the brand can distinguish itself from the providers of commodity goods through strong relationship building with the buyers. This is also expected by the customers who expect high quality customer service.

Luxury customer behaviour on the Internet 奢侈品客戶在互聯網上的行為
The previous models do not specifically address how the option of Internet shopping affects the consumption patterns. As the thesis investigates what makes luxury customers decide to purchase from an online boutique rather than from the stores that have been polished and perfected a brief venture into how online shopping affects the purchasing behaviour model is necessary.

Park and Kim (2003) have built a model focusing on online aspects that entice customers to buy on the Internet. The model lists two main factors: information satisfaction and relational benefit. Both of these factors are based on underlying factors that link to site commitment, which is the very factor that enables the online purchase.

Figure 4: Park and Kim's model for online purchasing behaviour

Information satisfaction is defined by the satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the overall information service encounter (Crosby, Stephens 1987). Information satisfaction rests on
information quality, which concerns both products and service, and user interface quality, which concerns ease of use (Wang, Strong 1996). The relational benefit is defined as the benefit customers receive from long-term relationships above and beyond the core service performance (Gwinner, Gremmler & Bitner 1998:104). Security, trust and confidence comprise the relational benefit (Morgan, Hunt 1994, Garbarino, Johnson 1999).#p#分頁標題#e#

In essence, the model states that when a website is easy to use, is trustworthy (e.g. the site will actually deliver the goods), is safe to use (e.g. in terms of sharing of personal details), and the information provided about products and service is ample and accurate, consumers will be willing  to make their purchases in the virtual world. It thus outlines which elements must be addressed for an online strategy to be successful. The model does, however, not rank the importance of each individual factor, nor does it explain exactly what drives a customer choose the online channel over the physical store. The physical store ought to fulfil the above conditions, being an established luxury company, and the e-boutique must fulfil the conditions to be considered a valid alternative to the high street stores by the customers.