Marketing Strategies of Burberry for the Chinese Luxury Market - Essay Example

This research study intends to provide an understanding of the luxury goods brands’ market positioning and dynamics and to some extent the appropriate marketing strategies in relation to the non-luxury segment of products and how these factors culminate in the overall brand appeal of luxury brands. The relationship between luxury and non-luxury goods is important as it differentiates consumer behaviour and appropriate responses to market conditions relative to luxury goods consumers and non-luxury goods consumers.

While there are many categories of luxury goods, this research delimits the area of investigation by targeting ready-to-wear and accessories.  Ready-to-wear and accessories are targeted because unlike other categories of luxury goods, anyone can own a purse, a pair of shoes, or an article of clothing and thus the range and variations of consumer preferences are less subtle than among consumers who purchase cars or alcoholic beverages (Han, Nunes & Dreze, 2010). Luxury goods typically involve uniqueness accompanied by high value/quality and high pricing which tends to distinguish luxury good consumers from non-luxury goods consumers.

  This distinction is typically characterized as functional (non-luxury goods consumers) and socially/personally oriented (luxury goods consumers) (Wiedmann, Hennigs & Siebels, 2007).   It is also well-documented in the literature that in determining the drivers of consumer behaviour it is important to identify consumer perceptions of value, price and quality (Zeithaml, 1988).  It is obvious therefore that consumers of luxury goods are less price-conscious than consumers of non-luxury goods and thus perceptions of value, price and quality differ among these groups of consumers.

  The motivation for purchasing luxury goods is arguably quite different from the motivation for purchasing non-luxury goods (Vigneron & Johnson, 1999). This research study attempts to identify the psychological and functional factors driving luxury goods’ consumer behaviour and the appropriate marketing strategies for predicting and responding to this category of consumers.