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    The New Luxury Experience: Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience
    The New Luxury Experience: Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience
    The New Luxury Experience: Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience
    Ebook503 pages5 hours

    The New Luxury Experience: Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience

    By Wided Batat

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    About this ebook

    This professional book introduces marketing and luxury brand professionals to a new definition of luxury and the art of designing the ultimate luxury experience in both the physical space (e.g., in-store, hotel, restaurant) and the digital space (e.g., social media, website, e-commerce). Specifically, it offers an overview of customer experience issues and explores big five experiential strategies that can be applied by luxury houses in order to provide the best luxury experience to their customers. Themes such as quality of customer luxury experience, immersion and co-production/co-creation in luxury, creation and management, digital and immersive marketing, and innovative market research are also examined.

    How do consumers define luxury? Is there one luxury or several “luxuries”? What kind of luxury experiences consumers want to live? How can luxury houses design the ultimate luxury experience? More than in any other sector, luxury consumption is a response to a search foremotions, pleasure, uniqueness, consideration and greatest services. The luxury consumer wants to live luxury experiences – not just buy luxury products or services. In this way, this book presents the luxury consumption experience as a combination of symbolic meaning, subconscious processes and nonverbal cues and characterized by fantasies, feelings and fun.

    Featuring case studies and interviews from international luxury sectors and brand managers such as Burberry, Dior, Porsche, Breitling, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, and Louis Vuitton, among others, this book offers both a research and management perspective on luxury experience to professionals in the luxury sector (e.g., CEOs, brand managers, marketing and communication professionals), as well as marketing professors, students, and people eager to learn more about how to design the ultimate luxury experience.

     

    Praise for The New Luxury Experience

    “This book providesa holistic perspective on marketing of luxury brands, offering both useful practical advice as well as illustrating important cases.”

     -- Ravi Dhar, Director, Yale Center for Customer Insights, Yale University

    “Wided Batat’s book offers a fresh, insightful and comprehensive analysis of the concept of the consumer’s experience with luxury whatever that may be. The Five experiential luxury strategies proposed by Wided highlight that luxury management should go above and beyond the design and branding of luxury goods and services.  I also commend the consideration given to the younger generations’ approach to luxury and to corporate social responsibility aspects.  Luxury marketers should find this book very useful indeed.”

    -- Francesca Dall’Olmo Riley, Professor of Brand Management, Kingston Business School, UK


    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSpringer
    Release dateApr 29, 2019
    ISBN9783030016715
    The New Luxury Experience: Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience

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      Book preview

      The New Luxury Experience - Wided Batat

      Part IThe Evolution of Luxury: From Object to Experience

      © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

      Wided BatatThe New Luxury ExperienceManagement for Professionalshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01671-5_1

      1. Luxury, Back to Origins

      Wided Batat¹ 

      (1)

      B&C Consulting Group, Paris, France

      Prior to defining the luxury experience, we first need to explain what we mean by luxury and what are its origins, characteristics, and typologies. In this chapter, I’ll trace back the rise of luxury and its shift from a traditional perspective grounded in the logic of conspicuous and distinctive luxury consumption to the emergence of the luxury experience, a more emotional, sensory, and symbolic consumption of luxury. The objective of this chapter is, first of all, to explore the existing definitions of luxury by providing a summary of relevant aspects that should be retained throughout the analysis of several books and studies on luxury marketing. I’ll then offer a new definition of luxury, which is more in tune with the customer experience and today’s customer perception and practice of luxury.

      This chapter takes a multidisciplinary perspective on authors, particularly in sociology, who focused on luxury and the way they define luxury consumption and consumers’ motivations to purchase and consume luxury products and services. In sociology, luxury has been studied according to two main approaches: conspicuous (American approach) and distinctive (French approach). These two approaches are often at the heart of the motivations that drive individuals to buy and consume luxury brands and goods (products and services). These two perspectives are embedded within two cultural settings, French and American, in which the definition of luxury is shaped and which can help luxury brand managers understand the different motivations of luxury consumption.

      1.1 French and American Perspectives on Luxury

      This section introduces the French and American perspectives through two major theories: (1) the theory of leisure class or conspicuous consumption introduced by the American anthropologist Thorstein Veblen in the United States in 1899 and (2) the distinction theory of the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu published later in France in 1979. These two theories have, in fact, dominated studies on the consumption of luxury in many disciplines (e.g., sociology, history, psychology, economics, etc.) which then contributed to the study of luxury in the marketing and consumer behavior field.

      1.1.1 Conspicuous Luxury

      The conspicuous consumption theory of the anthropologist Thorstein Veblen has contributed much to the understanding of the characteristics of the consumption of luxury items and brands. Veblen states that the motivation of the individual to purchase luxury items is to define a social status which should be recognized by all the other social actors belonging to the same social sphere. Throughout understanding luxury consumption practices within the old American aristocracy to the adoption of luxury and its codes by new emerging social classes, such as the bourgeoisie and new rich (e.g., wealthy traders from the provinces), Veblen identified the traits related to the consumption of luxury within these different social classes. These luxury traits can be summarized as follows:

      In the Roman times, wealth preceded power, and abundance indicated the level of influence and power. Money reflected strength and power, so people had to show that they have money by exhibiting their rare and valuable objects.

      In the imperial society, competition between politicians generates ostentation, which provokes the pleasure of being envied and, consequently, contributes to belittling envious people. The gift of luxurious presents, although it does not reflect one’s real financial situation, is a common motto among politicians. The main purpose of this practice, although it may harm the donor, is the assurance and the gain of a high social status. This practice has also been observed among aristocrats who ruin themselves by living beyond their means or by offering valuable gifts in order to maintain their social position.

      Unlike aristocrats, who may struggle to keep their rank in society, the wealthy, new bourgeois has a more rational and realistic approach to luxury consumption and its contribution to his/her social status. The bourgeoisie also views such lavish practices as wasteful.

      Veblen has also identified other forms of waste: conspicuous/visible leisure, which consists of dedicating time to unproductive tasks such as reading, learning dead languages (e.g., Latin), music, etc. The conspicuous consumption practices and the desire to show one’s wealth can also be expressed through activities that are not related to productive work. The United States of the 1920s is an iconic era that reflects in a very obvious manner conspicuous consumption practices proudly displayed by a certain group of wealthy American people. For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby , as adapted for the big screen, perfectly portrays the conspicuous lifestyle of the rich new Americans by examining the life of a young millionaire Gatsby born from a modest background. The conspicuous lifestyle of this rich young man was mainly illustrated by his luxurious and extravagant receptions to which were invited the notables of the city. This allowed the young, rich man to generate for himself a legitimate and recognized image of wealth and, consequently, seduce a young woman belonging to the aristocratic American society.

      These kinds of practices did not disappear; instead they still persist in our contemporary consumer societies in which the middle-upper classes, whether they are Western, Eastern, or from other cultures, are often led to develop and adopt conspicuous consumption lifestyles for several reasons, such as social anxiety, the desire to rise in social status, the search for new consumer experiences, self-esteem enhancement, etc. These examples highlight the evolutionary factors (according to the era) and changing aspects (following social motivations and cultural settings) of the conspicuous consumption of luxury. This type of consumption can be defined by drawing on the work of the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and his concept of capital disseminated in marketing and consumer studies. Table 1.1 summarizes the different types of conspicuous consumption of luxury classified according to four dimensions of the individual’s capital, cultural, social, economic, and symbolic, as well as a new dimension I have added, which is very important for studying luxury experiences: emotional capital.

      Table 1.1

      Five typologies of conspicuous luxury

      As shown in Table 1.1, we can assume that the conspicuous consumption of luxury has a strong link with an individual’s emotions and symbolism as well as the meanings individuals assign to their luxury consumption practices, which are anchored within a particular cultural setting and are shaped by certain social norms and codes.

      Following Veblen’s definition, the conspicuous consumption of luxury is not only related to the usefulness of the objects and the types of goods consumed; it is also considered according to its orientation and the motivations of the individuals to purchase and buy luxury goods (products and services). Veblen emphasizes the idea that the individual does not consume in order to merely satisfy a tangible need. His/her main expectation is not only related to the utility aspect of the good or service consumed, but it is also related to how individuals consume in order to defend their social status in the society and preserve their honor. Thus, conspicuous luxury operates by sending tacit social signs as well as explicit messages, visible or invisible, directly or indirectly, to other social actors who can decode them by referring to luxury objects and lifestyles displayed by individuals. The four components of conspicuous consumption of luxury, visible, symbolic, identity, and social, are all related to each other, function in an uninterrupted interaction, and are connected to the evolution of consumption experiences throughout time and within different cultural settings (Fig. 1.1).

      ../images/461742_1_En_1_Chapter/461742_1_En_1_Fig1_HTML.png

      Fig. 1.1

      The components of conspicuous consumption

      The four key elements exposed in Fig. 1.1, namely, visibility, symbolism, identity, and social belonging are explained in the next section.

      Visible luxury. It is an integral part of the conspicuous luxury consumption that allows individuals to display and communicate their wealth and social status in order to attract and retain the esteem and the consideration of others. To achieve this objective, individuals display luxury items and brands that encompass suitable social meanings to communicate their values. These values can be decoded by other social actors by focusing on three main aspects that make luxury visible:

      The desire to express one’s identity;

      Its recognition by others;

      A high visibility of the good, in other words worn to be seen.

      Veblen argues that the purchase of luxury goods allows individuals to highlight their financial power and wealth. Furthermore, excessive, outrageous, and socially unacceptable visible behaviors may be associated with the desire to make luxury not only visible but also transgressive (e.g., lighting cigars by burning $100 bills or Instagram’s #Rich Kids of Beverley Hills).

      Mini-case 1.1

      Visible luxury in the digital age: When rich young people show off on Instagram

      In the digital age, visible luxury is expressed without complex or shame on social media where it is also shared and commented on by others. Tumblr’s #rich kids of Instagram is a perfect illustration of the expression of uninhibited luxury in today’s contemporary and digital Western societies (e.g., #rich kids of Beverly Hills, #rich kids of France) or even Eastern consumer societies (#rich kids of Teheran). In these online communities, the rule is that luxury should be displayed and obviously seen and noticed by others.

      This conscious and desired exhibition of luxury brands and items speaks to the desire of these wealthy young people to express their identity, to be recognized by others, and to make visible their wealthy status by displaying luxury in an artistic, creative, ostentatious, and sometimes provocative manner.

      The hashtag #rich kids of Instagram is a combination of visible and obvious clichés regarding wealthy and materialistic, spoiled young people that are posted on the social media site Instagram where the golden youth of the world shares its luxurious everyday life. On vacation, partying on a yacht with friends, or unveiling their new luxury watches, these young people, who have always known this luxurious environment, assume and share external signs of wealth in a logic of competition and provocation. On Tumblr, one can notice there is a lot of opulence that shows young people’s favorite luxury brands , luxury leisure habits, ability to travel by private jet, etc.

      Therefore, the visibility of luxury can be explained by focusing on three main levels: intimate luxury, open internal luxury, and external luxury (Table 1.2). These levels are closely related to individuals’ social spheres and the kind of luxury good they consume.

      Table 1.2

      Three dimensions of visible luxury

      Symbolic luxury. The symbolism of conspicuous luxury refers to luxury goods that have a symbolic meaning anchored within a particular social context or within a certain brand community. Thus, luxury goods go beyond a simple utilitarian logic and are considered in these communities as an extension of the individual’s personal and social identity by displaying conspicuous but meaningful behaviors and attitudes toward luxury through:

      A conspicuous consumption of luxury used by individuals to convey a set of signs and values referring to a style of consumption linked to a higher social class.

      The search for social symbols in luxury allows consumers to differentiate themselves and affirm their unique identity while maintaining a close relation to a given social group.

      The purchase of luxury products is driven by the appropriation of symbols desired by the individual to satisfy his/her needs of social belonging to a reference group that displays similar values and lifestyle.

      In luxury consumption, in which the display of conspicuous consumption is obvious, we can name two sectors: fashion and automotive. In these sectors, many symbolic reasons can encourage the consumer to buy a particular luxury car or a luxury brand outfit.

      Furthermore, consumers can use luxury goods for a double purpose: (1) in order to convey a message to their reference group (the group they belong to) or to their aspiration group (the social group they would like to join thanks to the consumption of similar luxury goods and brands) and (2) in order to build a social identity (e.g., me as seen by others when I wear these luxury clothes or when I drive this luxury car). Identity construction and social belonging created by consuming luxury are, therefore, two critical factors that contribute to improving the individual’s well-being at the personal, relational, and social level.

      Mini-case 1.2

      Rolex , a symbolic and social expression of one’s identity

      Beyond the functional dimension and the ancestral know-how of the Haute Horlogerie brand, the Rolex watch meets the expectations of consumers who are looking for both symbolic and social dimensions. This type of motivation is particularly characteristic of the luxury watchmaking industry in which statutory consumption is an integral part of Rolex’s identity that seeks to satisfy symbolic needs beyond functional aspects and the know-how of the watch brand.

      Customers who buy a Rolex watch would then seek psychological compensation for unsatisfied symbolic and social needs. The purchase of a Rolex watch is therefore a dream and a symbolic projection in an aspirational world, in other words, the aspiration that is related to the universe of the Rolex brand, the history of the house, its heritage, its values, its reputation, or even its prestige.

      In contrast to the functional motivation (e.g., the quality of the watch or the technology used), the brand (Rolex) becomes a priority over the product (watch), and it is especially its capacity to embody the concept of ideal self of the consumer which will motivate the decision of purchase and especially the adhesion to the universe of the brand.

      Identity. Personal identity is unique and reflects the real me that includes all the elements that belong to it, such as personality, lived experiences, and attitudes. This personal identity, although unique, is composed of several dimensions:

      Spiritual self or self-awareness;

      Social self referring to the identity of the individual as seen by others;

      Physical self including hair color, eyes, size, etc.

      The consumption of luxury goods can, therefore, affect one or all of these three me’s. For example, by displaying luxury brands, individuals hope to gain recognition and legitimacy at the level of their social self, which is important in the conspicuous consumption of luxury since it signifies the way one is perceived by others who can decode his/her acts of consumption that are often associated with one’s personality. In this perspective, the consumer attempts to buy luxury goods and brands that convey an image of him/herself and allow him/her to connect with his/her reference group or strengthen his/her position as well as his/her differentiation among his/her own social group.

      Mini-case 1.3

      Vegan-luxury identity : Stella McCartney to build a committed, modern, and responsible identity

      Stella McCartney is a vegan and eco-friendly luxury brand and company. The brand claims a responsible, honest, and committed identity and federates around itself consumers who define themselves and perceive themselves as such.

      The differentiation of the brand vis-à-vis its competitors lies in its commitment and fight against animal abuse in order to meet the needs of fashion while being in tune with a consumer who is aware of the impact that his/her luxury consumption has on the environment.

      This committed luxury consumer defines him/herself as unique in relation to his/her environmental values and principles. He/she buys luxury brands that respect his/her ideology. In addition to its commitment, the luxury brand Stella McCartney also works to develop innovations that replace animal raw materials by using similar products of non-animal origin, guaranteeing modernism, comfort, and aesthetics without guilt or shame.

      On its website, the brand also displays its identity, its philosophy, and its vision of luxury through an engaged discourse, Our Sustainable Commitment, which focuses on three main aspects: responsibility, honesty, and modernism.

      Social belonging. The conspicuous consumption of luxury allows individuals to identify with certain social groups. Norms in social groups can influence the conspicuous consumption of individuals. Indeed, the purchase of a luxury good (product and service) should obey the dominant values and meanings in the social group individuals belong to. Thus, the social group is as important as the symbolism of the conspicuous consumption of luxury. Therefore, if a luxury brand would like its products to be adopted by consumers, it should make them stand out or assimilate them according to the symbols and codes of the consumption culture within a particular social group.

      Mini-case 1.4

      Porsche GTS community and the art of belonging to the Porschists community

      The German sports car brand Porsche adopts a strategy focused on the relationship with its customers through the launch of a community of Porschists who meet each other to discuss the brand’s models as well as the social and sporting activities around luxury sports cars. By launching its GTS models (Grand Touring Sports), Porsche wanted to show to its current and potential customers that its cars were made for beautiful roads, with elegance, and sportiness.

      The Porsche GTS app was launched by the brand to federate its customers around its values. If the Community App is for Porsche customers, it can easily be employed by many other users for its usefulness. The app allows Porschists to discover the most beautiful GTS roads all over the world. The system is based on Google Maps. One can zoom in on a region as well as choose the roads and consult the user’s appreciation. Porsche’s communication through this app is focused on discovering the pleasure of driving on the most beautiful roads.

      Furthermore, Porschists can help enrich the app by creating Porsche courses and sharing their favorite roads with other GTS enthusiasts. The objective of Porsche is to connect the Porschists community and enhance the exchange between its members who can feel free to propose and share beautiful roads.

      1.1.2 Distinctive Luxury

      The consumption of luxury and the motivations behind it can be explained by the theory of distinction that the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu introduced in 1979. Although this theory is based on certain principles of Veblen’s approach to conspicuous consumption, Bourdieu does not relate directly to the theory of the leisure class. In the Bourdieusian perceptive, the consumption of luxury is seen as a means that allows individuals to distinguish themselves from the massive trend of consumption prevalent in the society. In the theory of distinction, Bourdieu explains that the upper classes that are trying to distinguish themselves construct and affirm an identity of their own. Luxury goods (products and services) are transformed into symbols of power that convey their specific culture and communicate their high social status.

      For example, the codes and sociocultural norms of brands, such as Dior, Chanel, or Yves Saint Laurent, are defined according to the brand identity DNA and are part of different luxury cultures whose codes are aimed at different profiles of women. While the codes that Chanel wishes to communicate to its female clients refer to the elegance of women who are considered sophisticated seductresses and who like to be noticed, for Yves Saint Laurent, the codes are rather related to a profile of a woman who wants to be fatal, independent, inaccessible, and in competition with men. Table 1.3 highlights the distinction between the codes of two luxury brand cultures: Dior and Chanel.

      Table 1.3

      Two distinctive luxury cultures: Dior vs. Chanel

      The consumption of luxury, therefore, reflects an important social function. It allows the establishment of connections and relationships with other social actors belonging to reference groups. In this case, the conspicuous and distinctive consumption of luxury guides the preferences and choices of luxury goods and brands consumed and exhibited in the public sphere. Therefore, the consumption of visible and identifiable luxury brands contribute to the affirmation of one’s identity and social status. In the Bourdieusian perspective, to be distinctive, luxury should be inaccessible, exclusive, rare, and new. If luxury becomes widely diffused, it loses its distinctive value and becomes commonplace, mundane, and trivialized. Therefore, luxury brands should find a balance between diffusion and banalization of luxury by remaining attentive to the extension of the brand’s domain and its associations with other consumer goods and brands.

      Mini-case 1.5

      Pierre Cardin , from exclusive luxury to mundane brand

      Pierre Cardin is one of the luxury fashion brands that have become commonplace because of a massive democratization generated by the over-selling of the designer’s name. Today, the brand is associated with a wide variety of products that do not necessarily have a link with the brand’s universe and DNA (e.g., Cardin chocolate sold in supermarkets). Thus, by popularizing its name in various products, the Pierre Cardin brand has lost its luxury value and has become commonplace.

      The distinct theory of the consumption of luxury highlights the importance of status and social life that are structured around codes, symbols, and negotiation strategies. Every consumer plays a specific social role by consuming certain types of luxury goods and brands to affirm his/her social status while differentiating his/her identity. Through the consumption of certain luxury brands, the consumer makes a representation of him/herself and expresses his/her values. Thus, the two theories refering to a French perspective (distinctive luxury) and an American perspective (conspicuous luxury) are very complementary and provide a profound comprehension of the social and symbolic dimensions associated with the consumption of luxury and the motivation behind it. This idea supports my proposal for a redefinition of luxury, which is at the heart of this book and which refers to luxury as a personal experience that offers a major focus on the intangible dimensions of luxury beyond the functional aspects and incorporates symbolic, social, ideological, subjective, and emotional dimensions. Thus, my definition highlights the conceptualization of luxury in marketing using an experiential approach that takes into account different perceptions and applies a bottom-up approach of what luxury means from a consumer’s perspective. In the next section, I explain the multinational aspect of luxury, explore its multiple approaches, and offer a new accurate definition that can be useful for luxury professionals and academia.

      1.2 Redefining Luxury Through Seven Main Perspectives

      In this section, I explore the different definitions given to luxury by authors in the marketing field. By analyzing prior studies that dealt with luxury consumption, I noticed that defining luxury, its sector, and its categories in a precise way is not a very easy task because it is viewed as a sector in which luxury can be defined according to several approaches: by price, quality, exclusivity, and regulations, as well as by economic and social market actors. These approaches make it almost impossible to define luxury. For this reason, I attempt in this section to redefine luxury by approaching it from a global standpoint, bringing together different perspectives.

      Most studies analyzing the luxury sector highlight the difficulty of defining luxury and its typologies. Existing definitions are far from convincing and are limited to certain types of practices, goods, or luxury brands. Definitions also vary among luxury players. For example, Karl Lagerfeld defines luxury in a very subjective way my greatest luxury is not having to justify myself to anyone and in another definition luxury is the freedom of mind, independence, in short the politically incorrect or as stated by Coco Chanel luxury is not the opposite of poverty but that of vulgarity. If we seek a more exhaustive definition of luxury, we can find it in dictionaries that define luxury as a lifestyle characterized by large expenditures devoted to the acquisition of unnecessary goods, for a taste of the world’s ostentation and greater well-being.

      In marketing, Kapferer and Bastien explained the difficulty related to the definition of luxury. They evoke a definitional blur of luxury, which in some studies is considered as a category and in others as a field of application (sector of activity). The two authors associated the notion of the brand with that of luxury to propose an updated definition of luxury: the concept of luxury is not a category in the absolute, but a relative set that cannot be dissociated from the political and social structure of the century to which it belongs (2015:53). By drawing on this definition, I can say luxury is in each of us. It is produced by and for the individuals who practice it. What is luxury for some is commonplace for others. The same brands can be perceived as luxurious or not according to how they are defined, perceived, and consumed by those who wear them. On the other hand, if a consumer is asked what luxury means for him/her, a variety of responses can be expected from the same individual depending on how his/her lifestyle changes.

      However, luxury has often been defined in terms of a single chosen perspective that makes the concept ambiguous and non-operational from a managerial standpoint. To propose a new definition that is both global and operational, I offer an analytical work that highlights seven main perspectives according to which luxury can be defined: institutional, organizational, academic, media, craftsmanship, consumer, and historic and cultural (Fig. 1.2). These perspectives are explained in the next section.

      ../images/461742_1_En_1_Chapter/461742_1_En_1_Fig2_HTML.png

      Fig. 1.2

      Seven main perspectives of luxury

      Following the identification of these seven perspectives, it seems important to propose a new definition of luxury based on the perspective chosen to define luxury.

      A New Definition of Luxury

      Luxury is both evolving and multidimensional. It gathers several meanings that the individual assigns to it according to the norms and codes of his/her own consumption culture. These meanings evolve with time as well as with social and individual changes. Luxury is also closely tied to the culture and practices of the group in which it emerges, shapes, and develops. Therefore, luxury is in all of us. It is produced by and for the individuals and professionals, institutions as well as by political and social actors who practice it. What is luxury for some is, therefore, mundane for others. Thus, the definition of luxury depends on the chosen perspective that must be identified beforehand.

      1.2.1 Institutional Perspective: How Does Regulation Define Luxury?

      In the institutional perspective, public organizations define luxury according to economic and social criteria. For example, in France, the Office of the Economic and Social Council commissioned in 2007 a study on luxury, the production of goods and rendering of services in the luxury sector. This study was commended to the section of productive activities, research, and technology with the main objective of delivering recommendations aimed at sustaining employment and training, identifying all the luxury actors in

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