The “timber box” effect for premium wines

The present research aimed to examine the effectiveness of using luxurious external packaging boxes to improve customer perceptions towards premium wine. Consumers viewed images of wine presented in four types of packaging: (1) no box; (2) a plain wooden box; (3) a wooden box with explanatory text; and (4) a wooden box with both explanatory text and a transparent window; and completed a survey measuring product attitude, willingness to pay, perceived luxury, and perceived risk associated with the product. Results indicated all box types resulted in higher willingness to pay, and that the explanatory and transparent boxes were able to elicit significantly higher product attitudes than the plain box or no box at all. The positive effects of the transparent and explanatory boxes were fully mediated, or explained, by perceived luxury. Furthermore, the negative effects underlying the plain box conditions were partially mediated by perceived risk. The present study was the first to empirically investigate the psychological mechanisms responsible for the influence of packaging, and to examine how perceived product luxury and perceived risk underlie these effects. Managerial implications are discussed, and recommendations are provided for retailers.     

Predictors of relationship quality for luxury restaurants

Relationship quality is increasingly emerging as a strategy for organizations that strive to retain loyal and satisfied customers in today's highly competitive environment. However, a limited number of studies have investigated relationship quality within the hospitality industry. This study examines and applies a measurement model originally tested with Korean customers to American customers to confirm that the predictors of relationship quality for luxury restaurants are cross-culturally valid. This study also examines the relative importance of each predictor of relationship quality, and identifies strategies for luxury restaurants that should enhance their level of customer trust and satisfaction.     

Consumer values,motivation and purchase intention for luxury goods

There is considerable ambivalence in how different societies and cultures relate to the consumption of luxury goods. Thinly focused in the literature are Islamic societies (with rapidly emerging ‘super-rich’ consumer segments) where the concept of luxury may be in tension with religious values. Set against this background, this paper investigates how consumer values and motivation influence purchase intentions towards luxury goods. Based on a sample of 400 respondents drawn from Morocco and applying logistic regression models, the paper finds correlations between the intention to buy luxury goods, motivation and personal values. Paradoxically, the influence of religion appears to diminish as consumer affordability of luxury goods increase. Partly due to globalization of markets and impacts on consumer values, Moslems are not fundamentally different from western consumers with regard to predispositions towards luxury consumption. Potential impacts of religion on luxury consumption attitudes and personal values appear to be moderated by the global consumer culture. The results also show an important gender underpinning especially when considered alongside perceived gender biases in consumption decision-making in many Islamic countries. Regarding the nature of purchase behavior women were found to be more positively disposed to impulse purchasing of luxury goods compared to men while more educated people, generally, indicated a greater tendency towards rational than impulse buying decisions.     

Dynamic asset allocation when bequests are luxury goods

Luxury bequests impart systematic effects of age to an investor's optimal allocation: the expected percentage allocation to equities rises throughout retirement. When bequests are luxuries the marginal utility of bequests declines more slowly than the marginal utility of consumption. This is essentially lower risk aversion. As a retiree approaches death, her expected remaining lifetime utility is increasingly composed of bequest utility, and thus generates progressively lower risk aversion. A retiree responds by increasingly favoring the higher-return risky asset. Compared to standard preferences, luxury bequests elevate a retiree's average exposure to the risky asset, but the difference is small in early retirement.     

Swiss watch cycles: Evidence of corruption during leadership transition in China

This paper presents evidence of corruption during China's leadership transitions when governmental positions are open for competition. The import value of luxury watches, a popular medium for corrupt exchanges, peaked during regular leadership transitions in 1996–97, 2001–02, and 2006–07. However, imports of nonluxury watches and other luxury items unpopular for corrupt exchanges did not exhibit the same cycle. Nor did imports of luxury watches increase in Hong Kong, Singapore, or the US. During the leadership transition of 2011–12, since wearing a conspicuous luxury watch was by then likely to be exposed on social media and trigger an anti-corruption investigation, this “Swiss watch cycle” vanished.     

抑制奢侈品消费热涨与外流的路径探讨

我国奢侈品市场发展迅速,但消费热涨与外流现象十分严重。如何实现奢侈品消费健康发展?目前各界争议难决的途径有两种:一是增加消费税,抑制奢侈品消费热涨,二是降低进口关税,遏止奢侈品消费外流。然而,由于调整奢侈品消费税或进口关税所致的进口环节税及其他方面的联动效应具有复杂性,加之局部均衡和一般均衡的经济分析表明,增加消费税抑制不了奢侈品消费热涨,降低进口关税难以阻截奢侈品消费外流,因此不必纠结于在增加奢侈品消费税与降低其进口关税之间该做何选择。针对奢侈品消费热涨与外流的多种原因,治本之道在于以完善奢侈品税制为核心,在合理量化奢侈品、注重奢侈品税率累进分层的同时兼之以多方举措。     

Desire,need, and obligation: Examining commitment to luxury brands in emerging markets

The availability of a wide variety of luxury brands has resulted in declining commitment toward a single brand. Enhancing brand commitment has, therefore, become a significant challenge for international businesses and marketing managers. We develop a multi–dimensional brand commitment framework underpinned by marketing, organizational, and social psychology literature streams. The simultaneous examination of brand–commitment dimensions based on consumer desire, need, and obligation in our framework offers a novel perspective that advances research on brand commitment. Our findings demonstrate stability of the framework in important emerging markets for luxury brands, namely China, India, Russia, Turkey, and Thailand. The framework, incorporating affective, continuance, and normative brand commitment dimensions, offers a conceptually robust fit. We demonstrate that each brand commitment dimension is influenced by distinct antecedents, and we show the direct and interactional impact of consumers’ emotional attachment, economic motivations, and normative pressures on purchase intentions. Supported by well-established theories in organizational and social psychology, our study offers new insights on how consumers commit to brands. We provide international brand managers with a blueprint for strengthening brand commitment across countries.     

Intrinsic motivations, self-esteem, and luxury goods consumption

Despite the dramatic growth of the luxury market over the past two decades, luxury consumer research remains fragmentary and scant. To address this knowledge gap, this study investigates consumers' intrinsic motivations for purchasing luxury goods. Data were collected from 587 consumers and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that consumers who are primarily intrinsically motivated tend to purchase luxury products for superior quality and self-directed pleasure. The findings also demonstrate that self-esteem, an important concept in psychology and consumer behavior but rarely studied in luxury research, relates strongly to self-directed pleasure.     

关于我国奢华品消费的理性思考

文章在分析我国奢华品消费现状的基础下,梳理了我国奢华品消费的主要特征表现为:消费群体多样化,消费时间集中,消费产品外显化,消费目标偏物化;基于我国奢华品消费存在的问题,提出了正确引导中国奢华品消费行为的对策建议:进行奢华品消费主题教育,引导奢华品消费理性行为,拓展奢华品消费合理渠道,完善奢华品消费服务配套等.     

Do luxury room amenities affect guests’ willingness to pay?

Intangible services have fewer cues to enable consumer evaluation compared to physical goods. Cues are therefore particularly important for highly intangible services, since they provide tangible evidence of quality. This study explores whether luxury brand room amenities can be used as cues for customers to evaluate a hotel. This study attempts to identify what items and amenities guests find most/least useful and to examine whether luxury brand room amenities can enhance customers’ evaluation of a hotel and increase willingness to pay based on positivity bias. Wi-Fi was regarded as the most useful hotel amenity, while telephone was regarded as the least useful amenity. This study found customers willingness to pay is affected by providing luxury brand room amenities. When luxury amenities were placed in the room, customers’ estimation of the room rate and their willingness to pay for it both increased. Moreover, about two out of five expressed a willingness to pay extra for an upgrade to access luxury brand room amenities. The findings of this study provide important implications for hotel practitioners.