Does your showroom sell luxury products? If you believe it does,
you may have another "think" coming. Sebastien van Laere of the Future
Laboratory recently wrote that the term luxury has been so overused that
it no longer has meaning. Luxury is defined as "an inessential,
desirable item which is expensive or difficult to obtain or a pleasure
obtained only rarely," by the Oxford English Dictionary. If
that definition is accurate, then any product in your showroom that is
offered at a substantial discount by an online etailer or competitor
cannot be considered luxurious.
Millennials create another challenge to using luxury
nomenclature. The largest generation in US history is generally not
attracted to products just to show them off. For Millennials,
conspicuous consumption is a negative. Throughout the luxury world,
manufacturers and retailers are changing the narrative to align with new
consumer expectations and desires. Van Laere notes that cultural
changes have spawned anti-luxury approaches. Tiffany employed a rapper
to promote its new Paper Flower products and its new London concept
store features fragrance vending machines, neon lights and
sneaker-wearing sales professionals.
Using the word "luxury" to describe a product or a showroom no
longer has cache. But it is more than nomenclature that needs to
change. The entire customer experience needs to follow suit as well by
delivering high-quality, sustainable and memorable moments that are
remarkable. What do you offer to customers that will make them want to
talk about their experience to neighbors, peers and friends?
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