Rude sales people can boost luxury sales
BY PATRICK M. SHERIDAN FOR CNNMoney
Apparently, rude sales people and fancy brands go well together.
At least that's what a recent study shows. Shoppers appear to want to buy more of the high end brands after being treated badly, according to research conducted by two professors.
"As upsetting as it is to be condescended to, in a luxury environment it appears to work in the brand's favor," said Morgan Ward, who teaches at Southern Methodist University. He said it's about wanting to be "part of the tribe" or the in-crowd.
Ward co-authored the research paper, which was based on several scenarios in which participants interacted with phony salespeople they thought worked for upscale brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton or Burberry. Some of the people posing as sales staff were rude and some were not.
Surprisingly, customers in the simulations had an increased desire to buy the luxury goods after being treated rudely. In fact, the ruder they were, the higher the desire to buy the posh items.
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Detroit: the bankrupt city turned corporate luxury brand
BY ROSE HACKMAN FOR THEGUARDIAN.COM
Makers of vodka, watches and luxury cars are promising to help Detroit in exchange for its grit, authenticity and brand potential
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Bloomberg: Luxury Brands Are Stupid to Snub the Internet
KURT SOLLER/BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK:
Ninety percent of luxury purchases, which some analysts say is a $300 billion industry, still happen in stores, according to Forrester Research (FORR), but that’s skewed by the limits of acquisition placed on most high-end shoppers. The real business failing, says Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru, is that “there are a lot of affluent people who are intimidated or annoyed by shopping at luxury retail stores.”
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Soaring Luxury-Goods Prices Test Wealthy's Will to Pay
By SUZANNE KAPNER and CHRISTINA PASSARIELLO for The WALL STREET JOURNAL
Despite expanding into new markets, the luxury-retail business has been relying on price increases to drive sales. Now, even the very wealthy are nearing the limits of what they are willing to spend.
In the past five years, the price of a Chanel quilted handbag has increased 70% to $4,900. Cartier's Trinity gold bracelet now sells for $16,300, 48% more than in 2009. And the price of Piaget's ultrathin Altiplano watch is now $19,000, up $6,000 from 2011.
Such increases for some of the world's most expensive indulgences far outpace inflation and contrast with the middle and lower end of the retail market, where even small increases can turn off shoppers.
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Why High-End Luxury Brands Are Losing Their Luster
By Fani Kelesidou, for The Motley Fool
"The best things in life are free. The second best things are very, very expensive," the queen of elegance Coco Chanel once stated. And she was right. In the world of "true" luxury, the relentless effort to create something that's in a class by itself was always rewarded with a sky-high price, which only an exclusive group could afford.
During the last half decade, however, an emerging "luxury for less" or "affordable luxury" industry thrives on emulating what once was considered exclusive and making it accessible to the masses. But, "true" luxury was never meant to be accessible. And this massification is causing an identity crisis, one that could have severe implications for high-end luxury brands down the line.
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Wall St Journal to Investors: Avoid these luxury brands
By Margaret Bogenrief for WSJ Market Watch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — In 2013, many retailers, particularly those in the luxury space, are finding themselves in a difficult position, caught between pricing and profitability.
While higher prices may automatically trigger dreams of high revenues and higher profitability, there are, interestingly, some luxury brands that, lured in by the seemingly promising formula of “lower prices equal more consumers,” now find themselves with less revenue, lower profits, and fewer shoppers.
Here are three luxury brands that, in trying to be all things to all customers, risk losing even more market share in 2013.
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The Luxury Alchemist by Ketty Pucci-Sisti Maisonrouge (Photo: Assouline Books)
How to Build a Luxury Brand? Passion is Still the Key
Excerpt by Horacio Fabiano, The Huffington Post:
What does luxury really mean? How do you create a luxury brand? What does time tell us about luxury? Ketty Pucci-Sisti Maisonrouge's latest book, The Luxury Alchemist, is sure to appeal those who want to find the answers to these questions and take an insider's look at the premium market.
Among the many tools described by Maisonrouge there is one that is the most basic of them all: passion. Passion is the fundamental pre-requisite to starting a luxury brand. "It's all about passion" Maisonrouge explains. "When you have true passion, you only want to create perfection". She recognizes that passion is a requisite for every industry, but "in the luxury field this passion cannot disappear because you don't sell a product to your clients -- you sell a dream. Without passion, it's difficult to share that dream".
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Inside Japan’s Most Insanely Expensive Fruit Parlor →
It is the flagship store of the Sembikiya fruit emporium. Run by the same Samurai-descendant family since 1834, Sembikiya began as a discount fruit store. But the wife of the second-generation owner decided they could make more money the other way around. READ ARTICLE HERE
Forbes: Why Do Luxury Brands Need High Profile Creative Directors? →
When a 21 year-old Yves St Laurent took the helm at Christian Dior after the couturier’s death in 1957, he gained critical acclaim for his first collection and firmly established a template for luxury goods businesses thereon in. So, the concept of a creative director evolved, with a remit to deliver sustainability and growth, built on the heritage of the brand while moving it forward for new audiences. And today, it is a crucial role in the world of selling luxury goods. READ ARTICLE HERE
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Hugo Boss exec: ‘Made by’ trumps ‘Made in’
VIENNA, Austria – The CEO of Hugo Boss at the FT Business of Luxury Summit 2013 said that the quality of a brand and its name are more appealing to luxury consumers than the location in which the products are made.
Read MoreThe Economist: Luxury sales dim in China, but prospects glow
“IT WAS an amazing golden age,” reflects Guillaume Brochard of Qeelin, a Chinese jeweller. From 2007 to 2011 many luxury-goods firms enjoyed double-digit annual growth in China, which became their most important market. The first blows came last year, with an economic slowdown and jitters about the political transition. Now, a crackdown on corrupt gift-giving and a populist backlash against ostentation have added to the woes.
The outlook for luxury-goods firms appears to have dimmed. Internet users have posted incriminating pictures, for example of poorly paid bureaucrats wearing suspiciously pricey watches, which have caused heads to roll. Mobs have also disrupted banquets deemed to be too lavish, on occasions forcing officials to their knees to beg for forgiveness.
Luxury brands gearing up for US expansions: Reuters
Luxury spending in the United States collapsed after the 2008 financial crisis but roared back to pre-crisis levels by 2012. Last year, the world's No.1 and No.3 luxury groups LVMH and PPR saw higher growth rates in the United States than in China for the first time in years.
To capture those buyers, brands are now expanding beyond New York, which accounts for a third of U.S. luxury sales, and the next two main cities of Los Angeles and Miami.
Last month, Hermes opened in Greenwich, Connecticut - an area popular with financial professionals and their families - and plans to expand in cities like LA, Miami, Houston, Dallas and Boston over the next two years.
PPR's brands, which include Balenciaga, Gucci and Stella McCartney, are looking at Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Orlando and Philadelphia.
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CHANEL Spring/Summer 2013 Show
Very good cinematography
