The Impact of Luxury Products on Consumers: A Study on Difference in Attitude of Urban Educated Indian Youth

Abstract

Domestic and international luxury brands are ambitious of expansion in the Indian luxury market. Now-a-days, luxury is defined as the new normal. The propensity to indulge in luxury is based on the confounding influence of upscale demographics, penetration of internet, growth of e-tailing and couponing. This has created newer frontiers, opportunities and challenges for the marketers to cater to the hedonic needs of the target segments in the Indian luxury buying space. These changes are also fueled by the changing gender roles in the modern society. Luxury items are perceptual in nature. It is a function of disposable income clubbed with psychographic and demographic influences which drive discretionary spending. Items with high income elasticity can be tagged as luxury in the consumption basket of an individual. The paper tries to unearth the field of luxury consumption of products and services. It attempted to study the gender difference in attitude towards consumption of luxury in urban educated youth. Implications are also drawn to formulate strategies for designing the marketing mix for luxurious items for the Indian market.