Consumer experience and Luxury Branding - Essay Example

 Consumer experience and Luxury Branding 1. Consumer experience Introduction Getting customer feedback is very crucial in assisting the management to know if the business is making process. The client feedback shows the client’s experience with the service or product. About 85 percent of businesses rely on customer feedback to respond to customer tastes and preferences by coming up with new products or adjusting the existing products. Schmitt defines consumer experience as “the outcome of the interaction between the firm and the customer(s) over a period of their correlation” (2010a, p.22). This relationship comprises of customer’s discovery, awareness, attraction, purchase, advocacy, and utilisation of a service or product (Schmitt, 2010b, p.17). Customer experience is measured by the person’s experience during all contact areas against the expectations of the individual. Zara is a Spanish clothing retailer based in Arteixo, Galicia and it is the world’s largest clothing retailer (Zara, 2013) and has measured its turnover based on consumer experience. More to the point, the company is known to segment customer experience into interactions by means of the Internet (Facebook, Instagram, twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn among others). Businesses have realized the significance of managing the experience of the customer. The organisation that delivers an experience that sets it apart in view of the customers will increase profits and turnover due to increased spending by the customer (Peppers and Rogers 2013, p.32). The apparel consumers use their vision, feel, hands, brain, and other body elements to interact and develop an experience with the product. To that effect, drawing on a variety of sources the paper will discuss consumer experience in international fashion retail with a specific focus to Zara, a clothing retailer. Discussion There are various ways in which the consumers experience fashion retail on a global scale. These experiences can either be seen or felt. The first experience is psychological or emotional. Saprikis, Chouliara, and Broekhuizen (2010, p.2) observed that an individual’s purchasing choices are influenced by four major psychological factors, including perception, motivation, learning, beliefs, and attitude. Liu and Forsythe (2010, p.83) illustrate that the intention of the customer to shop is positively linked with the attitude towards purchasing, and affects their decision-making and purchasing behaviour. Khitoliya (2014, p.18) argue that perceived usefulness, convenience, and perceived enjoyment are the dominant factors that affect consumer perceptions about a brand. Cao, Xu, and Douma (2012, 957) add that enjoyment in intrinsic motivation. When a customer enjoys a product, it impacts positively on the sales of that particular brand. It is equally important to note that when the employees are motivated and satisfied with their job, it translates into a good feeling to the customer since they are able to interact well with the staff and get quality products that make them to be satisfied. Schmitt (2010b, p. 78) claims that products and services that emerge from the brand’s real soul connect psychologically to the consumers. As a result, it generates emotionally positive experience from the customers. Zara uses emotional client experience of increased self-confidence, self-esteem, and happiness to meet the customer preferences (Tungate, 2012, p.89). Next, consumers also have physical experience. Customers physically feel and see clothing products (Jain, 2012, p.89). In the era of digital technology, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogs, forums, Instagram, and other Internet platforms have increased the platforms for enhancing customer experience (Prahalad and Sawhney, 2011, p.61). Buttner and Goritz argue that, “Higher levels of perceived trust and enjoyment of shopping results in more favourable consumer attitudes” (2010, p.35). When consumers have physical feel of the apparel product and measure them to see if they can fit, it creates a relationship with the firm. In the same way, Manning, Bodine, and Bernoff (2012, p.31) note that the customers’ physical experience with the products may result in customer loyalty. Nearly all of Zara’s products can be seen and felt. The other way in which consumers have experiences with fashion is through cognition. Cognitive customer experience is due to internal reflection (Chodchuang and Haron, 2012, p. 13). The customers’ cognitive experiences can enable the firm pinpoint where to improve (Bean and Van-Tyne, 2012, p. 123). Also, it has been reported that positive reflections of the customers towards the company and product impacts positively on the organisational performance (Shaw and Ivens, 2013, p.72). Moreover, when a client has direct contact with the company they can be easily influenced in relation to their purchasing decisions. Zara has set up physical stores where the customers can view and purchase the products. Therefore, the managers need to ensure that service delivery to customers should make them to feel confident, obtain satisfaction, and happy experience. In the same way, cognitive customer experiences build loyalty to brands and channels (Verhoef et al., 2011, p. 41). Also, enhancing customer experience is crucial in retaining market share in case of increased competition (Magner, 2013). The next effect is sensory. The sensory experience of the customer with the product determines the customer’s perception with your brand (Court, et al. 2012, p.124). In addition, Baron, Conway, and Warnaby (2012, p.89-90) posit that incremental sales can be recorded if the customer senses that there is some relationship with the product. In the recent past, Zara has been using demographics and sensors to enhance customer experience at certain touch points, with regard to fashion. They provide vital information in relation to the preferences of the consumers (Magner, 2013). Finally, there is also social experience. About the social experience between the customer and organisation, the consumers have varied social responses due to the rapid development of the retail industry, especially the clothing industry. In a view shared by McArdle-Clinton (2011, p. 65), the use social experience is a way of creating an engaging and integrated experience between channels. Verhoef et al. (2010, p.32) note that tribes, reference groups, and service personnel play crucial role in brand awareness, and they are the touch points of social customer experience. Zara has come up with differentiated products for different age groups and reference groups. Therefore, the creation of a consistent brand experience can be got from the social experience of the customer (Prahalad and Sawhney, 2011). As a consequence, brand awareness is enhanced considering that fashion is among the most dynamic and fastest retailing sectors across the globe (Hansen, 2012). Conclusion In summary, consumer experience is very crucial in determining the manner in which products and services are of significance to the consumers. Customer experience entails the development of the business around the needs of the individual customers. In international fashion retail, the consumers have sensory, cognitive, emotional, physical, and social experiences. Therefore, the company is able to come up with the correct incentive for the correctly determined clients, provided in an enticing environment and manner. In this regard, the business is able to adopt the customer’s mindset. 2. Luxury Branding Introduction In the 21st century, branding is being taken to a whole new level. Branding entails the creation of a unique image or name for a product in the minds of the consumer (Dinnie, 2011, p. 13), mainly through advertisement or promotion. More to the point, branding comes up with a differentiated presence in the market retaining existing and attracting new customers (Oosthuizen, 2013, p. 15). The use of the brand name not only develops awareness of the product, but also sets the product apart from the numerous brands offered by the company as well as the company’s competitors. Equally important, the use of a brand name can compel the customer try out the new brand (Pride and Ferrell, 2010, p.108). However, luxury defies econometric models. It is also known as high-end branding. The use of luxurious products is a symbol of higher social status in the society. Luxury brands are priced highly and are of high quality. Therefore, they play a major role in influencing public opinion in addition to image proliferation. In this perspective, each brand manager is quick to argue that their brands are unique from others, but only those managing luxury brands are justified to assert significant differentiation in their brands. To that effect, drawing on a variety of sources the paper will discuss luxury branding in international fashion retail. Discussion Branding refers to symbols, names, designs and signs, or a combination of these in order to differentiate a firm’s product offerings from competitors (Yue and Zinkhan, 2012, p.229; Shaw, 2012, p.30). Effective branding can develop brand equity; the value of a brand in terms of brand loyalty, company name awareness and high perceived quality (Kapferer, 2012, p. 26). These ideas are at the core of why effective brands can be the base of a firm’s marketing strategy. The marketing concept is that people of high social status purchase high quality brands irrespective of the price. Luxury brands are priced higher thanks to customer loyalty as well as trend setting that attract attention (Hoffmann and Coste-Manière, 2011, p. 31). The higher the price the more consumers believe that it is of high quality. Clifton (2011, p.75) conceives that luxury prices are charges extremely high to generate awareness and maintain the perceived quality and value. This is contrary to the normal brands that have their prices revised downwards so as to gain competitive advantage. It demonstrates how luxury brands defy economic models, which argue that reduced prices increases brand awareness. Another distinctive feature of luxurious brands is that the companies are either small or medium-sized enterprises. Nobody denies that the number of managers at General Motors outnumber the management team at Rolls-Royce. Atwal (2014, p.185) illustrates that the luxury brands enjoy increased brand awareness. This is because they are assisted by awareness as well as top-of-the-mind awareness. For example, Toyota is thrice as bigger than Dior. However, most people across the globe would name the Lamborghini or Lincoln MKS before Toyota when asked about car brands. Even though the Toyota brands are many, the consumers across the globe would read about the Lamborghini in magazines and view them on television in order to know more about them. Brand building as outlined by Aaker (2010, p.25), improves a brand’s equity directly through advertising campaigns and indirectly via promotions, for instance event sponsorship. In the same way, celebrities and public figures have incorporated in the marketing mix of luxury brand promotion (Clow and Baack, 2013, p.108). Brand equity can help marketers to interpret their past marketing performance and come up with future marketing programs (Gould, 2011, p.22). Due to higher brand awareness and perceived high quality, the consumers confer high social status along with prestige to those who consumer luxury brands. Smith (2015, p. 12) posit that firms are able to analyse the customer’s needs and then make decisions based on those needs other than competition. Tungate (2012, p.89-91) shares the view that luxury brands have a very minimal lifespan. The luxury brands are also very few to maintain the perception that luxury is scarce. Over-production dilutes the luxury character. For example, there are very few Bentleys as compared to any other normal car models. In the same way, gold items are scarcer than items made of other metals, like aluminium, copper, or lead. Pike (2011, p.54) asserts that scarcity of the luxury brands generates artificial demand and desire, which in turn maintain sales. This shows that the brand position of luxury products is scarcity. The making of strong brands requires that brand equity is tied to both the actual quality of the service or product and to the various intangible factors such as the type of relationship that it seeks to build within its customers such as being seasonal (Barker, Valos, and Shimp, 2012, p.103-4). Luxury brands are seasonal. Consumers make use of brands that have a factual connection to something. Luxury brands have a factual connection to something in an indexical manner (Okonkwo, 2010). According to the semiotic theory, there is a relationship between the object and interpretant (Sharon, Merrilees, and Kristiansen, 2010, p. 623). Therefore, people consume the luxury as a social tool to communicate the self. In luxury branding, Chevalier and Mazzalovo (2012) are of the opinion that they are considered as something iconic. In this way, the consumers are able to communicate the self to others and production company. The consumers use product category to create and maintain their social identity (Lastovicka and Fernandez, 2012, p.813). For example, people communicate in fashion through luxury brands. Conclusion To sum up, branding is a very crucial product development as well as growth strategy for the business. It entails the creation of a unique name or image in the minds of the consumers, particularly by means of advertising. In response to the discerning customers, firms are focusing on the needs of the customer prior to developing a product. Luxury products appeal to consumers based on price, select availability, innovation, exclusivity, and craftsmanship. Paucity of the luxury brands increases brand awareness. Brand awareness not only increases the market share of the firm, but also increase sales and profits. This creates a brand position based on price, availability, and social status. 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