High-end Consumers Research Articles

Fashion Design Innovation on Market Share in Luxury Brands in South Africa

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the fashion design innovation on market share in luxury brands in South Africa. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Fashion design innovation plays a crucial role in enhancing the market share of luxury brands in South Africa by driving consumer interest and brand differentiation. Innovative fashion design enables luxury brands to create unique, trend-setting collections that capture the attention of high-end consumers, thereby increasing their market presence. By adopting cutting-edge materials, incorporating cultural elements, and utilizing advanced design techniques, these brands can effectively position themselves as leaders in the luxury segment. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Resource-based view (RBV) theory, disruptive innovation theory & diffusion of innovations theory may be used to anchor future studies on fashion design innovation on market share in luxury brands in South Africa. In practice, adopting sustainable design practices such as using eco-friendly materials and transparent manufacturing processes can significantly boost a luxury brand’s market share. From a policy perspective, governments and industry bodies should promote sustainability in fashion through regulatory frameworks and incentives. Policies could include subsidies for sustainable materials, certifications for eco-friendly products, and regulations encouraging transparent production processes.

High-end fashion as a social phenomenon: Exploring the perceptions of designers and consumers

Grounded on the social constructionist theory, this paper intends to compare the perceptions of the realities of high-end consumers and fashion designers on high-end brands. The main aim is to understand how the perception of luxury brands is socially constructed by designers and consumers and to explore the impact of the social interaction, specifically, the designers' realities impacting consumers' realities.The research consists of two studies. Study 1 comprised sixteen interviews with worldwide high-end fashion designers, while Study 2 considered three consumer samples (A) consumer interviews (B) consumers' tweets (n = 145,986) specifically on sixteen high-end fashion brands, and (C) consumer online questionnaire (n = 330). We found that high-end fashion designers had more negative (less positive) sentiments compared to the consumers. Designers defined different characteristics that comprise luxury brands. They tend to classify their brand category lower than the consumers. Corroborating the social constructionist theory, we found that the value of high-end brands is constructed by the designers' and consumers' interactions. Consumers gave lower value to a luxury brand if they knew that the designers were unsatisfied and critical of their work, compared to when they were satisfied and confident about it. Therefore, high-end fashion brand managers should consider the different realities of designers and consumers and their interaction in the strategic planning process to ensure designers are satisfied with their work and aligned with the brand's values and image to maintain its luxurious status and appeal to consumers.

Analysis of Marketing Strategies of Louis Vuitton Based on The Marketing Theory of 4Ps

Increasing economic development and disposable income are transforming China into a middle-class society. As more and more people are able to meet their basic needs (e.g., leisure and employment), they are more inclined to pursue luxury products to fulfill their material needs. Consequently, luxury brands should use effective marketing strategies to attract as many potential consumers as possible to maximize their chances of tapping into this huge market. Therefore, this essay aims to provide insight into luxury brand marketing strategies in China, using the example of Louis Vuitton. The article adopted the 4P marketing model to identify the successful marketing strategies for LV through price, product, promotion, and place, as well as to provide additional advice on the existing strategies. While the research clearly indicates that these marketing strategies are efficient, LV should also take precautions to avoid diverting its target market from high-end consumers, do more research on their ambassador choices, co-brand with more native Chinese designers, and launch more China-exclusive special edition products.

The Analysis of the Differentiation Strategy as Marketing Strategy of Haidilao

Haidilao has been in the leading position in the industry by virtue of its unique service approach. This paper evaluates the impact of the marketing strategy of differentiated services on consumers. To determine the pain points, mental activities, emotional changes, and behaviors of consumers during the dining process.The paper cite the marketing models of two brands for comparison.Haidilao's differentiated marketing model is more conducive to consumer repurchase than the experiential and celebrity effect marketing model. Haidilao has captured the hearts of most consumers in brand service concept, and the differentiation services helps to increase consumer loyalty.But small stores and high prices compared to competitors become the main threats. Through the stp analysis method, it was found that Haidilao is targeting the middle and high-end consumers among young people, both service and product are crucial factors to achieve success. With the change of time, consumers will feel no privacy because of the overly attentive service.The brand should maximize the use of modern technology for digital marketing and media outreach. This result could help Seabed establish a stronger foothold in the restaurant industry in the future and develop an optimal marketing strategy that takes into account consumer needs first.

Chinese Patients' Virtual Consultation Use of Different Sponsorship Types of Telemedicine Platforms: A Cross-Sectional Study in Zhejiang Province, China.

Background: Virtual consultation has been one of the most prevalent direct-to-consumer telemedicine services in China. However, little is known about patients' virtual consultation use of different sponsorship types of telemedicine platforms. This study aimed to examine Chinese patients' virtual consultation use and identify the factors that affect consultation use of different sponsorship types of platforms. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey on 1,653 participants in tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 hospitals in 3 cities with different income levels, in Zhejiang Province, in May and June 2019. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors that affect patients' virtual consultation use of different sponsorship types of platforms. Results: The most frequently used consultation platform was digital health company-sponsored platforms (36.60%), hospital-sponsored platforms (34.57%), doctors' personal social media (11.09%), other company-sponsored platforms (9.24%), and medical e-commerce company-sponsored platforms (8.50%). The patients' virtual consultation use of different sponsorship types of platforms was determined by education levels, monthly income levels, perceived health status, internet use, and city income levels. Conclusions: Chinese patients' virtual consultation service use varied by platform sponsorship type. Digital health company-sponsored platforms owned advantages over other platform types in high-end consumers with higher education levels, higher income levels, living in high-income cities, and active in internet use. This study implied that different sponsorship types of direct-to-consumer telemedicine platforms in China differ from each other in online health care resource allocation, business model, and competitive advantage.

Commercial dynamics in urban China during the COVID-19 recession: Vulnerability and short-term adaptation of commercial centers in Shanghai

Studying the commercial dynamics during the COVID-19 recession could help deepen our understanding of how the pandemic damages the commercial economy and how to against the pandemic. This study aims to explore the vulnerability and adaptation of commercial centers using a weekly consumption data of UnionPay cards in Shanghai. A vulnerability index and multiscale geographically weighted regressions (MGWR) are employed. Our results suggest that retail, leisure, and entertainment sectors are less vulnerable to the pandemic at the early stage, when catering, life service, and wholesale sectors are more influenced. Catering, life service, and wholesale sectors were better adapted to the second wave of the pandemic, while the retail and entertainment sectors were even more vulnerable. Further analysis using MGWR models suggests that the commercial centers with higher consumption volume are better adapted to the shock. The diversity of commercial sectors mainly reduces low-level commercial centers' vulnerability to the pandemic. The commercial centers targeting high-end consumers with wider hinterland were less adapted to the pandemic. These research outcomes reveal the disparities in commercial centers' vulnerability against COVID-19 and highlight adaptation's role during the pandemic.

How to Sell Zero Emission Vehicles when the Petrol is almost for Free: Case of Kuwait

The world is witnessing an accelerated shift towards Electric Vehicles (EV) and Plug in Hybrid Vehicles (PHEV). At the same time, vehicle manufacturers face many challenges when they in-troduce high-tech electric vehicles in emerging markets. Focusing on Kuwait as an emerging market for electric vehicles, this exploratory research examines the components of value for the car dealers and car owners. The results of the study indicate that there is a potential market for high-end EVs manufactured by famous marques which have dealerships in Kuwait. They also indicate that high-end consumers would consider buying fully-equipped EVs as second or third cars

How does Store Branded Lookalike Packaging Affect Competition in a Dyadic Supply Chain: A Consumer Confusion Perspective

Store branded lookalike packaging resembling national brand product (NB) packaging creates confusion for consumers who are uncertain about their quality preference of the store brand product (SB). This paper presents a model for exploring the NB manufacturer’s wholesale price decision, and the response of the SB retailer, considering consumer confusion. Consumers differ in their quality preferences for products and are classified into two groups: deliberate and confused, depending on whether they have precise quality preferences of the SB. We find that when facing a hybrid structure of consumers, the retailer will introduce the SB only when the quality preference difference between high- and low-end consumers is moderate. When the SB is offered, the retailer may not always benefit from targeting low-end consumers with the SB only; a mixed strategy by attracting low-end (high-end) consumers to the national (store) brand product can bring higher profit. Examining the effect of consumer confusion, we find that it may bring a win-win, lose-lose, or win-lose situation for the manufacturer and retailer, depending on the quality preference difference and proportion of high-end consumers. We then consider the case when being deliberate is a choice of the consumer, finding that the retailer will induce consumers to be deliberate only when the store brand quality is low. Consumer confusion will always create a win-win outcome for the manufacturer and retailer when (1) SB quality is higher than NB quality, (2) SB quality is endogenized, or (3) consumers are confused about their quality preference for both the NB and SB. The consumer surplus may be enhanced or weakened, depending on the retailer’s market segmentation strategy. Our results reconcile some discrepancies between theoretical predictions and empirical findings regarding the impacts of consumer confusion about the SB derived from lookalike packaging on a two-echelon supply chain, and our insights are robust.

Supply Chain Coordination of Product and Service Bundling Based on Network Externalities

Since the commercialization of 5G, the government has actively encouraged 5G industry chain enterprises to accelerate the progress of 5G. Bundling is a popular means to expand 5G subscribers and improve 5G market coverage. Considering the characteristics of bundling, this study establishes a secondary supply chain composed of a terminal manufacturer and a telecom operator under the condition of network externality strength. In this supply chain, the product quality of the terminal manufacturer is complementary to the service quality of the telecom operator. Using Steinberg’s theory, we derive the optimal value of each decision variable in a centralized mode and a decentralized mode and take profit maximization as the goal. This paper also designs a contract of bidirectional cost sharing and revenue compensation for supply chain coordination. Finally, the influence of network externality strength and a mass-additive factor on the supply chain is discussed using numerical analysis. The results show that higher network externality strength has a significant impact on product pricing, the quality of each entity and the profit of the supply chain. At the same time, the degree of complementarity between the terminal product quality and the telecommunications service quality affects whether consumers choose to buy contract products. A higher degree of complementarity promotes the market inflow into high-end consumers.

Brand extension and channel structure: An analysis of the effects of social influence

We observe in practice that manufacturers of conspicuous or luxury goods extend their major brands to the low-end market with different channel structures. The brand extension will cause social influence between the parent and sub brands. On one hand, the high-end consumers are less willing to buy the parent brand due to the sub brand sales to the low-end market. On the other hand, the low-end consumers may find the sub brand more attractive with parent brand sales to the high-end market. In this paper, we build a game-theoretical model to study the impacts of social influence on a luxury good manufacturer, which sells the parent brand through a retailer and has the option of extending to a sub brand under different channel structures. Specifically, we study the following three brand extension structures: brand extension with the same retailer, with different retailers, and with direct selling. We study and compare the equilibrium decisions and profits across different structures, and find that social influence and channel structure have significant impacts on the brand extension decisions and profits. For example, as the positive influence of the parent brand on the sub brand’s sales increases, the manufacturer’s and retailer’s equilibrium profits may decrease under brand extension. Compared to the benchmark of no sub brand, both the manufacturer and retailer get higher profits under brand extension with the same retailer. Under the other two extension structures, however, the manufacturer’s and retailer’s profits may be lower. Interestingly, the retailer’s profit from selling both the parent and sub brands may be even lower than that of selling the parent brand only.

Is the Superfruit Dates (Phoenix Dactylifera L.) Meant for High End Consumers?

ABSTRACT Superfruit refers to food items with exceptional health benefits. The study aims to determine the factors that influence the intention of Malaysians to consume dates; to compare the consumption patterns of dates between the B40 and non-B40 groups; and to explore both groups’ willingness to pay when date prices decrease or increase. Employing the survey research design, 329 survey questionnaires were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and descriptive statistics. The results showed that attitude was not a significant predictor of intention to consume dates, but subjective norm significantly and positively predicted intention. The consumption patterns of B40 and non-B40 consumers were contrasting: The share of regular B40 consumers was lower than that of non-B40, while the group’s non-consumers were higher. The non-B40 group, relative to the B40 group, was more willing to pay higher prices for all types of dates, likely due to the former’s higher income level. Based on these findings, marketing managers should target health-conscious consumers so that they can encourage their friends and families to consume dates.

Organic Farming: Paradigm Shift during Pandemic to ‘Food Safety” Complying ‘Food Security” in India

The organic farming is gaining worldwide acceptance since the conventional farming gratifies the demand of both food security and the food safety especially during the pandemic year 2020 of COVID 19. Though demographic rise demands for high yielding grains, fruits and spices but under present scenario it fails to satisfy the food safety. The high yielding highbred seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides are degrading the fertility gradually and raising health concerns and do not meet the cosmetic standard. The organic farming is labour intensive with higher input costs and lower yields as compared to conventional farming yet it is in demand for its food safety. The search is to uncover whether the yields from Organic farms in India is capable to ameliorates manage pests and diseases, economic feasibility, food safety, nutrient requirement, environmental sustainability, augment food quality. The influence of shut downs are revealed. The producers face the challenges of certification, beating income during transition, seeds and manures and marketing etc. In India, the end produce of organic products are highly expensive and have high end consumers. The cost amelioration needs to be attended by government institutions as tribal and hilly areas in India like Sikkim, Meghalaya and other tribal areas. The tribal population has high organic farming inputs, logistics facilities and huge organic produces from food grains to fishes and cosmetics and spices. But the novice cropping pattern needs “cluster approach for organic lands (ODOP)”, “compensation for incomes losses during transition phase”, “active participation of Corporate houses and NGOs”, “assuring adequate return on investments”, for registering phenomenal rise in the organic farming in India.

Test-Retest Reliability of a Food Frequency Questionnaire to Assess Seafood Intake Dynamics for High-End Consumers in Coastal Gulf of Mexico Communities.

Background Estimates for fish and shellfish intake are used to inform communities and healthcare systems about potential health risks and benefits for individuals, communities, and vulnerable populations. A dietary assessment instrument was designed for use in populations of high-end consumers of seafood to examine intake of finfish, shrimp, oysters, and blue crab in coastal communities across the Gulf of Mexico. Objective To validate the reliability of a novel food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for seafood intake. Design Test-retest reliability of the FFQ, which included a species-specific photographic portion guide, was evaluated by the inperson administration and readministration of the instrument with each participant by the same interviewer. Responses from coastal and noncoastal participants were compared to discern FFQ reliability in heterogeneous samples. Participants/setting. A convenience sample of 27 coastal participants from Cedar Key, Steinhatchee, and Apalachicola, Florida, reported data for 101 household members; and 15 noncoastal participants from Gainesville, Florida, reported for 42 household members. Analysis. Repeated measures from the FFQ were evaluated using correlation concordance for continuous variables (age, weight, and height) and kappa coefficient for categorical variables (type, amount, and frequency of seafood consumed). Results Concordance correlation coefficient (1.00) and kappa coefficient (r = 0.73 to 1.00) for yearly and seasonal seafood consumption indicated substantial to almost perfect reproducibility, i.e., participants provided responses that were reproducible. Test-retest agreement was highest for coastal participants who consumed more seafood, as compared to occasional, noncoastal consumers, based on the intergroup comparison of kappa coefficients for yearly and seasonal seafood consumption (r = 0.69 to 0.99). Conclusions The seafood FFQ instrument evaluated in this study, included as a supplement to this report, used in tandem with a photographic portion guide, provides a utilitarian tool for assessing fish, shrimp, oyster, and blue crab intake dynamics in adult and youth populations drawn from coastal communities.

A Data-Driven Approach to Personalized Bundle Pricing and Recommendation

Problem definition: The growing trend in online shopping has sparked the development of increasingly more sophisticated product recommendation systems. We construct a model that recommends a personalized discounted product bundle to an online shopper that considers the trade-off between profit maximization and inventory management, while selecting products that are relevant to the consumer’s preferences. Academic/practical relevance: We provide analytical performance guarantees that illustrate the complexity of the underlying problem, which combines assortment optimization with pricing. We implement our algorithms in two separate case studies on actual data from a large U.S. e-tailer and a premier global airline. Methodology: We focus on simultaneously balancing personalization through individualized functions of consumer propensity-to-buy, inventory management for long-run profitability, and tractability for practical business implementation. We develop two classes of approximation algorithms, multiplicative and additive, to produce a real-time output for use in an online setting. Results: Our computational results demonstrate significant lifts in expected revenues over current industry pricing strategies on the order of 2%–7% depending on the setting. We find that on average our best algorithm obtains 92% of the expected revenue of a full-knowledge clairvoyant strategy across all inventory settings, and in the best cases this improves to 98%. Managerial implications: We compare the algorithms and find that the multiplicative approach is relatively easier to implement and on average empirically obtains expected revenues within 1%–6% of the additive methods when both are compared with a full-knowledge strategy. Furthermore, we find that the greatest expected gains in revenue come from high-end consumers with lower price sensitivities, and that predicted improvements in sales volume depend on product category and are a result of providing relevant recommendations.

Luxury Brand Licensing: Free Money or Brand Dilution?

Marketing research has traditionally focused on centralized brand-extension strategies where a brand expands its product offerings by controlling the design, production, marketing and sales of new products `in-house'. However, luxury brands frequently use `brand licensing' as a decentralized brand-extension strategy under which a brand licenses its brand name to an `external licensee' that designs, produces and sells the new product. Licensing is a time-efficient and cost-effective brand-extension strategy for luxury brands to reach out to their aspirational, low-end consumers (`followers') who value a brand more when more high-end consumers (`snobs') purchase the brand's primary product (i.e., `positive popularity effect'). On the other hand, over-licensing might dilute the brand for snobs who value brand exclusivity (i.e., `negative popularity effect'). We develop a game-theoretic model to study luxury brand licensing in the presence of these two countervailing forces. First, in the monopoly setting (a benchmark), we find that the monopoly brand should license only when the negative popularity effect is not too high, and it should prefer `royalty licensing' over `fixed-fee licensing' when the negative popularity effect is intermediate. Second, to explicate our analysis, we study the duopoly setting under fixed-fee contracts. In contrast to the monopoly setting, we find that fixed-fee licensing can `soften' price competition between brands so that licensing is `always' profitable for both brands under competition. Interestingly, in equilibrium under fixed-fee contracts, competing brands face a prisoner's dilemma and both brands prefer not to license, even though both would be better off if they could commit to fixed-fee licensing. Finally, we expand our analysis of the duopoly model by incorporating royalty licensing in addition to fixed-fee licensing. We find that, in contrast to fixed-fee licensing, royalty licensing can `intensify' price competition so that both brands have to lower their prices. Consequently, when the positive popularity effect is sufficiently strong, fixed-fee licensing `dominates' royalty licensing. We also show that, under competition, luxury brands should adopt royalty contracts only when the licensing market is large, and positive and negative popularity effects are small enough.

Probabilistic risk assessment for high-end consumers of seafood on the northeastern Gulf coast.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (April 20, 2010) caused concern regarding Gulf seafood safety. Communities were skeptical of governmental risk assessments because they did not take into account the higher consumption of seafood along coastal areas. The objective of this study was to perform a probabilistic risk assessment based on the consumption rates of high-end consumers of Gulf seafood. We utilized seafood consumption data from five communities across the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. This study collected finfish, shrimp, blue crab, and oysters from these communities and analyzed their tissues for polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). A probabilistic risk assessment was performed using population-specific seafood consumption rates and body weights for commercial fishers, recreational fishers, and a Filipino-American community. For non-cancer effects, 95th percentile hazard quotients for these targeted populations ranged between 1.84E-04 to 5.39E-03 for individual seafood types. The 95th percentile hazard indices for total seafood consumption ranged from 3.45E-03 to 8.41E-03. Based on total seafood consumption, highest hazard indices were modeled for the Filipino-American community followed by commercial and recreational fishers. Despite higher consumption rates, hazard indices for the high-end consumers targeted in this study were two to three orders of magnitude below the regulatory limit of 1.

The Supply-side Analysis and Countermeasures of Exuberant Phenomenon of Outbound Consumption at Present

In recent years, the exuberant phenomenon of Chinese residents leaving the country shopping has caused much attention in academic circles. Applying game theory, from the supply-side not the demand-side interpreting outbound consumption boom, it is the addition of brand value and reputation guarantee, as a result, the middle- and high-end consumers in our country are more willing to go abroad to purchase well-known foreign brand products, not to purchase domestic products with low prices, and not to favor the high domestic prices of foreign brands. Therefore, to guide the overseas consumption backflow of middle-and high-income families, we need to implement supply-side structural reform such as strengthening the brand construction of national enterprises, attaching importance to scientific research input and human capital accumulation.

Conspicuous Consumption on the Long Tail: How Can Luxury Brands Benefit from Counterfeits?

We study how luxury brands can use product line expansion as a strategy when facing a threat from the counterfeit market. Consumers who are status-conscious consider the bene fits and costs of buying luxury items in order to strengthen the beliefs of others about their status. Our findings suggest that product line expansion strategy serves these high-end consumers and their motives to strengthen their status image. In a market with counterfeiters, consumers have an incentive to buy additional products in order to reduce the uncertainty of their status signals. Increasing consumption makes it harder for others to imitate status when authentic brands signal quality and status with higher precision compared to counterfeits. Since each luxury item purchased contributes to one's status in a marginally declining fashion, it is rational for a luxury brand to expand its product line such that it maintains its core product and introduces peripheral products with lower status signalling benefi ts and prices. We further show that an increasing counterfeit market share can increase status-conscious consumers' willingness to pay for luxury goods. As a result, presence of counterfeiters can increase the pro t of a luxury brand.

Empirical Assessment of Factors Influencing Corporate Performance of China’s Independent Brand Automobile Companies

China’s independent brand automobile is an infant industry in China. It is characterized by a small share in the world market and low price with unreliable quality. However, continuous expansion of China’s population, an increase in the number of high-end consumers, coupled with rapid economic development, serve altogether to promise China’s independent brand automobile companies a bright future. In October 2014, China introduced a favorable policy that low-exhaust models (1.6L and below) pay half of previous purchase tax. Afterwards, China’s independent brand automobile industry experienced a booming period. Nevertheless, the gradual degradation of policy dividend, changes in market environment, and consumer awareness, have compelled China’s independent brand automobile companies to adjust their original business model and to innovate accordingly so as to meet new market demand.This paper empirically investigates factors influencing corporate performance of China’s independent brand automobile companies. It utilizes data of all 18 listed China’s independent brand automobile companies between 2012 and 2016. Factors assessed include capital scale, enterprise growth rate, capital turnover rate, enterprise solvency, research and development expenditure input intensity, sales channel, human resources etc. Empirical results find that the scale of the company, the growth rate of total assets, the growth rate of net profit, the profit margin of core business, the operating profit margin, the current ratio, the quick ratio, the intensity of research and development investment, and the ratio of highly educated employees, are the key factors which enhance corporate performance of China’s independent brand automobile companies.

Consumer Preferences, Cannibalization, and Competition: Evidence from the Personal Computer Industry

Understanding the degree of cannibalization and competition in online and offline markets is important to firms’ product line designs. However, few empirical studies have measured both effects simultaneously or have examined the factors that determine the extent of cannibalization and competition. In this study, we develop an empirical model to identify cannibalization and competition effects simultaneously in different markets, and further examine the impacts of consumer preferences on these two effects in a single integrated framework. Using data from the U.S. personal computer (PC) industry, we find that the online market exhibits stronger cannibalization and competition than the offline market. Both effects are significantly influenced by consumers’ search behaviors and brand preferences. Specifically, more active consumer search not only intensifies inter-brand competition but also amplifies intra-brand cannibalization. In addition, search has a higher impact on cannibalization than competition. Stronger consumer brand preference mitigates inter-brand competition, but its effect on intra-brand cannibalization varies for different consumer segments. In markets consisting of more high-end consumers, the intra-brand cannibalization increases with consumer brand preference, while, in contrast, in markets consisting of more low-end consumers, the intra-brand cannibalization decreases with consumer brand preference. The differences in consumer search and brand preference explain a significant fraction of the variations in both cannibalization and competition between different PC markets.