IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v35y2017icp68-75.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An exploratory study of consumers’ perceptions: What are affordable luxuries?

Author

Listed:
  • Mundel, Juan
  • Huddleston, Patricia
  • Vodermeier, Michael

Abstract

Specialty media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Business Insider have increasingly featured articles that stress the growth of the affordable luxuries market. However, “affordable†and “luxury†are two terms that do not conform to luxury goods literature. While the concept of luxury has been traditionally associated with expensive, difficult to find, and exclusive products, the aforementioned business periodicals seem to suggest that a number of products such as specialty coffee, chocolate, and other commodities can be considered affordable luxuries. We conducted an exploratory investigation to determine whether millennial consumers differentiate between the terms “luxury†and “affordable luxury,†which products they perceive to be affordable luxuries, and the price range they are willing to pay for affordable luxuries. Our exploratory study (1) shows that consumers hold similar quality expectations for luxury and affordable luxury products, (2) reveals differentiating descriptors for luxury and affordable luxury products, (3) suggests that consumers see these products as a way to enhance one's image, and (4) offers pricing guidelines for such products.

Suggested Citation

  • Mundel, Juan & Huddleston, Patricia & Vodermeier, Michael, 2017. "An exploratory study of consumers’ perceptions: What are affordable luxuries?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 68-75.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:35:y:2017:i:c:p:68-75
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.12.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698916304404
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.12.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nueno, Jose Luis & Quelch, John A., 1998. "The mass marketing of luxury," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 61-68.
    2. Kemp, Simon, 1998. "Perceiving luxury and necessity," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 591-606, October.
    3. Huhmann, Bruce A. & Franke, George R. & Mothersbaugh, David L., 2012. "Print advertising: Executional factors and the RPB Grid," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(6), pages 849-854.
    4. Bernard Dubois & Sandor Czellar & Gilles Laurent, 2005. "Consumer Segments Based on Attitudes Toward Luxury: Empirical Evidence from Twenty Countries," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 115-128, April.
    5. Christian Gourieroux & Joann Jasiak & Peng Xu, 2016. "The Tradability Premium on the S&P 500 Index," Journal of Financial Econometrics, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(3), pages 461-495.
    6. Evanschitzky, Heiner & Emrich, Oliver & Sangtani, Vinita & Ackfeldt, Anna-Lena & Reynolds, Kristy E. & Arnold, Mark J., 2014. "Hedonic shopping motivations in collectivistic and individualistic consumer cultures," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 335-338.
    7. Sandor Czellar & Gilles Laurent & Bernard Dubois, 2005. "Consumer Segments Based on Attitudes Toward Luxury: Empirical Evidence from Twenty Countries," Post-Print hal-00458399, HAL.
    8. Jean-Noël Kapferer & Vincent Bastien, 2009. "The specificity of luxury management: Turning marketing upside down," Post-Print hal-00493180, HAL.
    9. Ferber, Robert, 1977. "Research by Convenience," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 4(1), pages 57-58, June.
    10. Ann Kronrod & Shai Danziger, 2013. ""Wii Will Rock You!" The Use and Effect of Figurative Language in Consumer Reviews of Hedonic and Utilitarian Consumption," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(4), pages 726-739.
    11. Bagwell, Laurie Simon & Bernheim, B Douglas, 1996. "Veblen Effects in a Theory of Conspicuous Consumption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 349-373, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gurzki, Hannes & Woisetschläger, David M., 2017. "Mapping the luxury research landscape: A bibliometric citation analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 147-166.
    2. Michel Gutsatz & Klaus Heine, 2018. "Is luxury expensive?," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(5), pages 411-423, September.
    3. Tynan, Caroline & McKechnie, Sally & Chhuon, Celine, 2010. "Co-creating value for luxury brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(11), pages 1156-1163, November.
    4. Hamelin, Nicolas & Thaichon, Park, 2016. "Consumer motives and impact of western media on the Moroccan luxury buyer," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 164-170.
    5. Silvia Ranfagni & Wilson Ozuem, 2022. "Luxury and Sustainability: Technological Pathways and Potential Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-12, April.
    6. Kapferer, Jean-Noël & Valette-Florence, Pierre, 2021. "Which consumers believe luxury must be expensive and why? A cross-cultural comparison of motivations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 301-313.
    7. Farhad Aliyev & Taylan Urkmez & Ralf Wagner, 2019. "A comprehensive look at luxury brand marketing research from 2000 to 2016: a bibliometric study and content analysis," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 69(3), pages 233-264, September.
    8. Lionel Fontagné & Sophie Hatte, 2013. "European High-End Products in International Competition," PSE - G-MOND WORKING PAPERS hal-00959394, HAL.
    9. Liselot Hudders & Mario Pandelaere, 2012. "The Silver Lining of Materialism: The Impact of Luxury Consumption on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 411-437, June.
    10. Roux, Elyette & Tafani, Eric & Vigneron, Franck, 2017. "Values associated with luxury brand consumption and the role of gender," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 102-113.
    11. Klaus Heine & Glyn Atwal & Sandrine Crener-Ricard & Michel Phan, 2018. "Personality-driven luxury brand management," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(5), pages 474-487, September.
    12. Stokburger-Sauer, Nicola E. & Teichmann, Karin, 2013. "Is luxury just a female thing? The role of gender in luxury brand consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 889-896.
    13. Loureiro, Sandra Maria Correia & Araújo, Cristiano Mineiro Branco de, 2014. "Luxury values and experience as drivers for consumers to recommend and pay more," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 394-400.
    14. Hartmann, Laura & Spiller, Achim, 2015. "Luxusaffinität deutscher Reitsportler - Implikationen für das Marketing im Reitsportsegment," Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (DARE) Discussion Papers 260785, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    15. Brun, Alessandro & Caniato, Federico & Caridi, Maria & Castelli, Cecilia & Miragliotta, Giovanni & Ronchi, Stefano & Sianesi, Andrea & Spina, Gianluca, 2008. "Logistics and supply chain management in luxury fashion retail: Empirical investigation of Italian firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(2), pages 554-570, August.
    16. Aaron M. Garvey & Simon J. Blanchard & Karen Page Winterich, 2017. "Turning unplanned overpayment into a status signal: how mentioning the price paid repairs satisfaction," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 71-83, March.
    17. Chandon, Jean-Louis & Laurent, Gilles & Lambert-Pandraud, Raphaëlle, 2022. "Battling for consumer memory: Assessing brand exclusiveness and brand dominance from citation-list," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 468-481.
    18. Lionel Fontagné & Sophie Hatte, 2014. "European High-End Varieties in International Competition," Working Papers 2014-27, CEPII research center.
    19. Prayag, Girish & Hosany, Sameer, 2014. "When Middle East meets West: Understanding the motives and perceptions of young tourists from United Arab Emirates," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 35-45.
    20. Raluca CIORNEA & Marius D. POP & Mihai F. BACILA & Alexandra M. DRULE TIRCA, 2012. "Was Luxury Little Researched? An Exploration Of Studies And Research Trends In The Area Of Marketing Of Luxury Goods, Before 2005," Management and Marketing Journal, University of Craiova, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 0(2), pages 325-340, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:35:y:2017:i:c:p:68-75. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.