Luxury brands on the Internet - between irony and opportunities

Abstract

The image of the luxury sector on the market is that of selectivity and the scarcity. The challenge for luxury brands is to transmit a burst of accessibility while addressing a segment of consumers, who are the affluent class. Thus, the Internet, which is defined as a mass medium, seems to be incompatible with the world of luxury. Luxury is characterized by the notion of selectivity, targeting a privileged class, while the internet is a media which is accessible to everyone, anywhere and anytime.

However, in recent years, luxury brands have made their presence felt having created their own websites, and even online shops. Indeed, we must take into account that the target of luxury brands is also some of the largest consumers of content. Also, the luxury sports segment today is democratizing, and attracts new customers who are less easy, but followers of Internet media. Furthermore, brands have strong incentives to monitor marketing trends and keep pace with the times, as well as their target.

Many luxury brands are involved in the phenomenon of fashion, and must avoid being seen as outdated. Luxury brands have thus opted to incorporate the Internet into their marketing strategy. Despite the bid to get involved in a world of contradictory values, no luxury brand rejects this new medium and sales channel. Thus, we will develop a problem highlighting a paradox between two contradictory worlds, which holds yet unborn opportunities for brands.

Thus the issue is: Are the new trends in web marketing suited to luxury brands; in other words, what are the limits of internet use for luxury? Should we consider the Internet as a threat to the brand image of luxury goods and a development of the interchange, or on the contrary, can the Internet be a springboard to conquer new consumers?

Since the essence of civilized man, luxury has always appeared as a societal phenomenon. The beginnings of humanity, the organization of companies has emerged, giving rise to groups of leaders, signs and objects, and even lifestyles and consumption patterns of persons belonging to dominant social class. So within those dominant groups that luxury has its origin. But luxury can not be reduced to signs and phenomena of social differentiation or elevation. It is difficult to assign an exact definition.

According to Jean-Noel Kapferer, in her book Deluxe requires "everyone understands but no one agrees on what it actually means exactly what its contours, its borders, its members. In the fragmentation of our societies, the luxury of one is not that of others: to each his luxury."

In this sense, it is understandable that the definition of luxury is different and varies for everyone. However, a luxury product can be characterized by its high price as a result of production in limited quantities. Subjectively, we can assign the specific artistic and aesthetic.

Luxury is defined across several dimensions: The report on the subject: the product itself attributes to himself the concept of luxury. It is an object that lasts over time, and sees its value even intensify in time. He opposes the industrial product that wears out, becomes unfashionable and is devalued over time;

The report to the man, indicating the luxury of any industrial award. He is represented by the handmade. It is also sold directly from one individual to another individual, in contradiction with the sale of mass products in supermarkets, through catalogs or internet etc;

Report to desire: Although subjective, this dimension shows the Maslow pyramid with three levels: physiology, belonging and self-realization by paralleling three concepts: envy, desire and dream. Luxury goods answer personal dreams.

Tags: luxury industry; luxury brands on the internet; luxury sector