Buyer Behavior of Luxury Products

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According to Maslow, a limited percentage of people can achieve the level of self-actualization needs (Husain and Idris, 2010, p.150). According to various economists of USA, Europe and Asia Pacific the luxury product can be defined by depending upon six factors. These are exceptional quality, expensive and elite price range, scarcity and exceptionality, aesthetic, ancestral heritage and traditional and non-functional.

The consumer buying behavior of luxury goods differs from one country to another due to the cross cultural practices. The buying behavior of consumer changes due to different social and cultural background of people. From the literature review it can be uncovered that, people tend to buy the luxurious goods only after satisfying their basic needs.

Desire to having luxury goods is not the basic need of people. It is the want of people. According to Maslow’s hierarchy theory of needs it can be state that people look to satisfy their higher level of needs in the hierarchy theory if they fulfill their basic needs. A renounced luxury brand name can support people to make the buying decisions. Moreover different cultural aspect also effects on the perceptions of consumers regarding the luxury products.

Research Questions

The objective of the study is to evaluate the consumer buying behavior of luxury products in different countries.

- Does premium pricing strategy of a brand motivate the people to purchase luxury products or not?

- Do people perceive that the expensive branded luxury goods are of superior in quality or not?

- Does income level of people moderate the buying behavior of consumers of branded luxury goods?

- Does the brand loyalty of a luxury good motivate the buyers to buy?

- Does the socio-cultural status of having a branded luxury goods influence the consumer buying behavior.

Research Design and Methodology

The research methodology is used in a research work to find out the objectives. Using of a correct method will significantly help to achieve the desired result of a particular research (Blessing and Chakrabarti, 2009, p. 9). Firstly to achieve the research objectives the qualitative method can be applied. Moreover the secondary data collection is going to be implemented. In order to find out the interpersonal and external effects on the buying behavior of consumers a qualitative analysis and secondary research work has been implemented.

Qualitative analysis

The qualitative analysis will help to determine the consumer buying behavior of luxury products. Such as why people tend to buy the luxury products can be revealed by the analysis.

Teenagers tend to buy the luxurious goods

According to most of the Thai respondents the western culture has influenced the teen agers in Thailand has influenced the people to buy the luxurious goods. They believe the consumption of luxury goods will help them to get the social belongingness. Moreover according to them the luxury goods poses high quality. According to most of the Thai to achieve self esteem and to be popular teen agers tend to buy the luxury products. Now according to people of UK, they consume luxury goods due to fit in with their relatives and friends. Moreover they have an attitude to show off their personalities by the consumption of luxury goods.

The celebrity brand endorsement and showing status of UK society motivate the teen ager to buy the luxury products such as expensive mobile phones, fashionable designing clothes. UK has the largest consumption rate of luxury products. From the analysis few Chinese respondents were found who think that the only reason of consumption of luxury goods is the high quality of products. Major of the Chinese respondents think that celebrity endorsement and the media influence plays a big role for the high consumption of luxury products (Ferrel, Fraedrich, Ferrel and Ferrel 2012, p. 238).

Influence of western culture

The maximum Thai respondent thinks that the luxury branded products is good in quality than the local products. The Thai people always tend to purchase the branded goods (Chevalier, Lu, 2011, p. 103). Thai consumers get influenced by the western celebrity brand endorsement. As a result the people of modern generation are focusing to buy the luxury products. Now the majority of the UK people respond that their own culture influences them to buy luxurious goods as the people of UK has the tendency to show off their personality. Moreover the advertisement of the products basis on their cultural background motivates to consume luxury products. In terms of the Chinese respondents, they have failed to give the opinion about the western culture influence on the consumption of luxurious goods. However, according to few of the respondent, western culture influences the Chinese to purchase luxury products. Moreover the celebrity endorsement has changed the buying behavior of people in China.

Perception about the luxury product

According to majority of the Thai respondents, the luxury products are high in price, quality and good brand image. Consumer of Thailand thinks that the luxury products have an attractive design. However, the few of the respondents think that the products which are not basically necessary for the sustainable life can be defined as luxury products (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard, 1999, p. 199). According to UK’s respondent the product which is high in quality, price and have an attractive design can be called luxury products. Moreover, they think the luxury products are more expensive than the average product. These products offer uniqueness and exclusiveness to the consumers. The cultural trend of UK is, people hardly buys a luxury product but very often buys a necessary products (Schor, 1998, p. 148). Similar to Thailand and UK, Chinese think that products in high price and quality are known as luxury product. Moreover according to them luxury products are unnecessary; these products can not satisfy the basic needs of people.

Different Buyer Behavior between Asian and European Market

Chinese Believes luxury means waste, years ago. This concept was not accepted for a long time in Chinese culture. It is feasible that, the people of developing Asian countries are changing their trends in terms of consumption of luxury goods. The young