Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

1. IntroductionLuxury has its origin in the Latin word ―luxus‖. According to the Oxford Latin Dictionary, it denotespleasurable extravagance and opulence (Gupta, 2009). Luxury incorporates beauty and art that appeals tothe senses. It seeks to provide pleasure and experiential benefit that extends beyond the functional utilityof products (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). This benefit comprises of hedonic pleasure, which is furtherrooted in the distinctiveness of luxury. It also enhances the desire for luxury products. Thus, luxury is aqualitative concept that indicates abstract levels of sophistication and multi sensory appeal (Wiedmann etal., 2009).There are numerous typologies for luxury, namely, democratic luxury, inaccessible luxury and massluxury. ‗Democratic luxury‘ is that luxury wherein extraordinary consumers regard it to be common,while the common consumers would regard it to be extraordinary (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). Itsuggests that different people have different perception towards luxury that may even change over time.‗Inaccessible luxury‘ is that luxury wherein the products are over indulgent and highly priced, and thus,they can be purchased by only a handful of consumers (Paskeviciene, 2010). Conversely, ‗mass luxury‘ or‗new luxury‘ is that type of luxury where there are high levels of sophistication and quality, but is lessexpensive, and thus may be afforded by many people (Silverstain and Fiske, 2008). There may bedifferent types of luxury, but still there is one common similarity among all the types of luxury, that is, thesymbolic desire for dominance within a social class. However, this symbolic desire is different fromsnobbery as it is based on provocation, while the desire for dominance is related to social implication.Thus, luxury may be deeply ingrained in the social fabric of human society (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009).2. Luxury BrandsLuxury brands yield prestige to the consumers that can be distinguished from their functional utility(Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). The price of these brands is very high, which translates into possibly lowpractical utility and a high level of intangible utility (Nueno and Quelch, 1998). Luxury brands provideintangible utility as they have the characteristics of uniqueness, superiority, brand distinctiveness and highlevels of observed quality (Phau and Prendergast, 2000). These parameters give luxury brands a fineimage that is preserved through appropriate branding strategies. The features of a marketing program ofthese brands are entwined so that the good quality of the product, memorable and sensory consumption ofthe brands can be maintained. These features are essential competitive advantages that generate exclusiveimportance for luxury brands. In this way, luxury brands provide the essential portrayal of branding(Keller, 2009).