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The spending capacity of the middle-income class increases with growing economies. With this increase, luxury goods are not only consumed by rich people alone. For this reason, luxury brands are expanding their target population and enriching their products and services accordingly. Thus, the luxury market which addresses the middle- and upper-middle-income groups is changing and its importance is increasing. In this chapter, the definition of luxury, the classification of luxury goods, the requirements of the luxury marketing mix (product, price, distribution and promotion) and applied strategies are examined. This chapter also covers how luxury products have authentic features, premium and masstige brands, fake luxury products that are the exact copies of original luxury brands, and how and why this fake luxury market grows. At the end of the chapter, the luxury market in Turkey, which has been growing rapidly, especially in recent years, is examined in detail and all the features of the market are presented. It is expected that this market will continue to grow in the future, as a large number of tourists from nearby regions, Central Asia and Arab countries come to Turkey to buy luxury branded products and services.

The market for luxury products and services plays a significant role in the world economy. The luxury hotel market is a crucial segment within the global market for luxury products and services. Luxury hospitality recorded a 5% growth rate along with demand for luxury cruises recording the growth of 7%, the highest among all luxury segments. The remarkable performance of luxury products and services over a period is attributed to the laudable marketing communication strategies of luxury marketers. In this research, we aimed to analyse how a multi-brand hospitality firm differentiates its luxury brand with other luxury brands in the portfolio, using textual messages aimed to communicate the uniqueness of the brands in its official websites. The case study method and content analysis are adapted to achieve the research objective. The study results show that different luxury brands under the brand portfolio of Marriott International can communicate the differences through the textual contents. Most of the differentiation relies on brand-specific features, traditions, services, location of the hotel and metadata on the Internet, followed by branded differentiators. It may be concluded that Marriott has been successful to an extent in using text contents in the website to differentiate its luxury brands.

This study aims to determine whether the branded luxury guestroom amenities provided in five-star hotels of Delhi influence the guest's hotel purchase decisions. It also identified the amenities which are found to be most and least influential in affecting the guest's hotel selection and purchase behaviour. The study was conducted in the three upscale five-star hotels of Delhi. The selection of amenities and brands to be considered as luxury was based upon three focus group interviews with the room's division manager of the hotels. A structured questionnaire was drafted to identify the most and least useful hotel amenities among the respondents, influencing their hotel selection and purchase behaviours. Wi-Fi in the guestroom was found to be the most valuable amenity, with stationery items regarded as least valuable. It was also found that the guest's hotel selection and purchase decisions were significantly influenced when luxury branded amenities were placed in the guestroom. Guests were even found to pay extra when the hotel provided access to luxury branded amenities in the guestrooms. This is a novel attempt to find how the guests' hotel selection and purchase intentions are influenced by the placement of branded luxury amenities in guestrooms.

This chapter aims to introduce luxury brand management strategies applied in the hospitality industry and illustrate how luxury hospitality business operators can create, communicate and sustainably manage luxury brands. This chapter introduces the definitions and dimensions of luxury brands, followed by an exploration of the concept and importance of luxury brand sustainability. This chapter then explores how to maintain long-term luxury hospitality brand sustainability by applying a luxury brand framework. This chapter uses a case study featuring the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (FSHR) to understand how a luxury brand communicates and maintains its sustainability through its various dimensions through the process of brand creation, communication and management. The chapter ends by providing practical implications for existing luxury hospitality brand organisations in the arena of customer service.

The luxury brands sales in emerging markets will see rapid growth. When entering the emerging markets, luxury fashion brands always find it challenging to balance adaption with local consumer culture and standardization to maintain their global brand image. The present study attempts to examine this intriguing issue of adaptation and standardization and many other challenges for luxury brands in the emerging market by focusing on China’s luxury market. A case study on China is conducted, which consisted of reviewing academic literature and consulting trade reports, examining over 50 luxury brands’ Chinese websites, reading newspaper articles, conducting field trips to luxury retail outlets, and studying luxury brands’ advertisements in major Chinese fashion magazines. We identified five intriguing market characteristics that must be taken into account in order to succeed in this market. Specifically, we found that to perform well in China’s luxury market, luxury brands should have a good understanding of the conflicting Chinese social cultural sentiments toward luxury consumption. Luxury brands should seek a balance between standardization and adaptation and appeal to both consumers’ converging needs and their desire for products that embrace local elements. Further, given the unique consumer characteristics, luxury brands should better serve the young and economically diverse consumer base in China.

The purpose of this research is to conduct a literature review on the evolution, antecedents, and outcomes of luxury consumption (LC). To accomplish our goal, we used a combination of bibliometrics and systematic approaches to review 165 articles published between 1998 and 2019. The investigation revealed that the evolution of LC is mostly driven by consumer motivation and is influenced by cultural and psychological variables. Furthermore, we explored the aforementioned antecedents of LC along four major axes. Antecedents related to (1) individual characteristics, (2) brand components, (3) cultural and social values, and (4) organizational strategies. Furthermore, based on the outcomes of LC, we found two categories (individual traits and social values). The chapter concludes by proposing a broader research agenda for the future.

Luxury goods manufacturers may find it profitable to enter a different demographic segment, and several strategies are available to do so. Nevertheless, such market expansion can be risky, and the luxury goods company must avoid tarnishing the equity contained in the luxury brand. This study examines the effects of a co-branding strategy between luxury brands and retailers on consumers’ evaluation of the luxury brand's image. We use information integration theory (IIT) as the basis for our study, as it can be used to explore how attitudes are formed and changed as new information is combined with existing cognitions and thoughts. A theoretical model based on IIT is built and empirically tested using a sample of 240 Taiwanese adult consumers. We conduct an experimental survey study in which we manipulate luxury brand familiarity and product and brand fit between luxury brand and the co-brand, and assess prior-attitudes and post-attitudes toward the luxury brand and attitudes toward the co-brand. We find support for many of our hypotheses: prior-attitudes toward the luxury brand is positively related to the attitude toward the co-brand, brand fit is related to attitudes toward the co-brand, and brand fit is marginally related to the post-attitude toward the luxury brand. Other hypotheses, however (such as those regarding product fit) were not supported. We conclude by discussing our theoretical and managerial contributions.

The digitalization process has been influential on the way marketing is conducted. However, luxury brands have not yet fully channeled the benefits of the integration of various touchpoints. The aim of this chapter is to provide insights into building a luxury fashion omnichannel strategy through the integration of online and offline consumer journeys, based on the emerging needs and lifestyles of different luxury consumer segments. Accordingly, exploratory research is designed to understand luxury consumer typologies and luxury fashion shopping journeys. In-depth interviews were conducted for data collection in Istanbul, with 16 participants. Grounded theory coding was used for analyzing the data. Findings revealed four-consumer typologies –Luxury Beginners, Nouveaux Riches, Conservatives, Established Luxury Consumers. Luxury fashion journey map covering three major steps – pre-purchase, purchase, and post-­purchase – was illustrated based on the usage of both digital and non-digital channels and agents through the journey with discussions to present consumer differences. The results of the study add to the current literature and provide an omnichannel roadmap for the practitioners.

Luxury branding, in the context of tangible luxury consumables, has received academic attention. But the notion remained inconclusive in the context of consumption of luxury intangibles. The travel setting provides an excellent backdrop to explore the complex cognitive process of assigning meaning to the relationship between travellers and luxury travel brands. The shifting image of luxury consumption from elitism to mass aspirational, too, needs to be studied for its transformative implications. The chapter focused on developing a brand relationship scale, namely, TraveLux, in the context of luxury travel consumption and tested its robustness to explain the shared sentiments and emotions of travellers, engaged in luxury travel, across social media. The chapter identifies a four construct instruments capturing the essence of immersive experience, ethnocultural acculturation, passion and excitement and self-congruence as a seedbed of luxury brand affinity for travellers. TraveLux was also found to capture the shared experience of travellers consuming luxury travel brands, thereby establishing a synch between the instrument constructs and manifested human cognition in real-life situations. The study expanded on the volume of literature pertaining to luxury branding in the context of product-oriented industry and addresses the existing void in understanding traveller–brand relationships in luxury travel contexts. The study implicates a theoretical change in branding concept in perceiving luxury brands as price-based exclusivity to a transformative cultural experience. Further extrapolations of the study could be made by incorporating subtle behavioural patterns of travellers in perceiving luxury and subsequent evocation and predisposition towards decision-making.

By celebrating tourism destinations through cruise collections, luxury brands open to new influences. They may develop deeper connections with certain geographical areas, but may also challenge the quintessentially national dimension of luxury brand culture. The best example of synergies between a luxury fashion brand and tourism destinations are the Christian Dior cruise collections with Maria Grazia Chiuri at the helm. This chapter is to understand how cruise collections may enhance luxury fashion houses' brand culture through the connections they develop with tourism destinations. Further, the chapter assesses the extent to which destinations can benefit from the exposure provided by luxury fashion brands' cruise collections.