To Study the Role of Brand Biographies and Brand Coolness in Shaping Consumers Perception and Purchase Intention for Luxury Products

Abstract

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

The role of brand biographies describes the emerging trend in trading and marketers use stories and narratives for influencing consumers perception regarding brands. Historically, the brand stories only focus on the actions, outcomes, goals and experience for consumers was related. In current time, brand biographies include self-brand connection to extract the consumers value and psychological benefits and product packaging, market communications, corporate websites and blogs narrates the biographies stories of the brand. The goal of study brand biographies is that it helps consumers to understand the brand origin, founder of the brand and it is assisting the costumers what is current brand and the prospective market standings and cool brands includes something extraordinary, high status, subcultural, energetic and authentic brands and cool brands adopted by people all over the world when they are perceived to be more popular and iconic and willingness to pay for the brand. In this project we explore the how brand coolness relates to self-brand connection, word of marketing strategy, brand love, attitude, brand familiarity and also how brand coolness is helpful for shaping consumer perception and purchase intention for luxury products. Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Prada, Dior, Chanel, Gucci and many more. In this report we target Gucci brand for fashion house and Gucci brand provide various products such as accessories, handbags, women sunglasses, watches and men footwear etc. Gucci brand use rare designs, high quality, production and beautiful accessories which allows the brand to charge high and provide additional value to the customers. various factors affecting the luxury brand purchase intention in the terms of rational and emotional bases and quality of brand, competitive price and services affect the purchase intention among consumers. Five different factors such as social, culture, personal, psychological and economic factors also include in this report and how they are affecting consumer purchase intention. In addition to this, social media marketing strategy work as word-of-mouth marketing technique is used for promoting the luxury brands and social media website create purchasing intention among consumers for luxury brands. Social media websites such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube provide information, blogs about luxury brands and attract the consumers for purchasing the products and social media for luxury marketers reach and interact with loyal consumers and promote their new products and announce new offerings to loyal followers.

II. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The purpose to study the role of brand coolness in shaping consumers perception and purchase intention for luxury products as follow: -

1. To study brand coolness and its effects on consumer perception.
2. To study the antecedent of brand perception and the role of brand coolness on purchase luxury goods.
3. To study the impact of brand perception on the purchase intention for luxury goods.
4. The desire for luxury and criteria for consumer choice.

III. LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Antecedents and outcomes of social media WOM towards luxury brand purchase intention in Jan. 2021

This study focus on the role of luxury products perception which explained the consumer engagement in social media and their purchase intention towards luxury products and this research is done by the Jungkun Park, Hyowon Hyun and Thaviasy under journal of retailing and consumer services in January 2021.

Luxury brands and consumers engagement in the social media in which two-way communication platform where consumers allow to get and share information regarding brands, opinions of social community help to purchase pf luxury brands through social media. Social media websites like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram are used websites for purchasing luxury brands and Louis Vuitton have a Facebook page in which consumers have access on contents such as clips, text stories and pictures, these contents are stimuli creators for consumers engagement on social media websites. The social websites work as the word-of-mouth marketing which plays important role in purchase intention and social media through recommendations, review and pictures makes purchase decisions more depend on the social websites WOM. Under this research conceptual framework is given in which includes perceived quality divided into three parts social value, personal value and functional value. These three values help in social media word of mouth marketing which creates purchase intention among consumers.

The three outcomes of this study are that perceived quality of luxury brands positively influence or impact positive through social value, perceived quality of luxury brands positively influence or impact positive through personal value, perceived quality of luxury brands positively influence or impact positive through functional value. For this research 91% consumers search for blogs, read review for luxury products and visit online platforms for purchasing intention. Due to digital information and technology the luxury brands showcase their products by attributes such as quality, personality and rarity of products. This research provides the overall theoretical perspectives which contributes the understanding of mechanism for luxury purchase intention.

B. How power distance influences the effect of brand prominence on luxury goods purchase intention in 2021

This research is done by Eugene Cheng-Xi Aw, Mohamad Fazil Sabri and Norazlyn Kamal Basha in 2021. This study focus on the self-congruity theory under luxury purchase intention. This is the brand communication strategy which attracts considerable interest from both academicians and practitioners in recent times. The purpose of study is to examine the relationship between brand prominence and purchase intention. The results of this study show that the relationship between purchase intention and brand prominence mediates the value for money perception and self- congruence also mediates the relationship among brand prominence and purchase intention. So, the relationship among purchase intention and brand prominence is serially mediated by the self- congruence and value for money perception.

Under Power distance belief moderates the effect of brand prominence on self- congruence. In high power distance belief condition, the effect of brand prominence on self-congruence is stronger and if the power distance belief moderates the indirect effect of brand prominence on purchase intention through serial mediation of self-congruence and value-for-money perception. The positive indirect effect is stronger at high level of power distance belief. The results shows that consumer purchase intention is not directly driven by brand prominence and the acceptance of proposed serial mediation infers that brand prominence stimulates purchase intention by evoking psychological response which is self-congruence, and subsequent cognitive evaluation that is value-for-money perception. In contradiction to prior studies in 2015 in which found that brand prominence is a predictor of luxury brand purchase intention, this study reveals a non-significant direct effect. consumer behaviour is complex and goes way beyond stimulus-response simplicity. In conclude that consumers luxury brand purchases are simply based on brand prominence alone. In this regard, we substantiate the self-congruence-value perception-behaviour model in 2015 highlight the indispensable role of self-congruence and its biasing impact on brand evaluation in luxury brand marketing. This implies that consumers seek for benefits in the exchange of high price paid for luxury goods and possessing products with high brand prominence matches consumers with self-image. By maintaining and reinforcing consistency in self-image, consumers are able to sense the worthiness in spending money on luxury goods which induces their purchase intention.

C. The impact of value perception on purchase intention of sustainable luxury brands in China and UK in 20 December 2020

This research is done by the Pengji Wang, Adrian T.H. Kuah, Qinye Lu and Caroline Wong in 2020 which is published under journal brand management article. This research shows that consumption values, effect on consumers and acceptance of luxury brands in which two countries included CHINA and UK. The main focus of this study on Luxury brands, Cross-culture and Consumer attitude towards the luxury products.

In this study people in China use sustainable luxury under environment friendly durable and high quality but in UK people use sustainable luxury under ethical and more friendly. So, it is clear that in this study UK is more concerned about ethical treatment sustainable practices employed by the luxury brands and China is more concerned by protection of natural resources. Research shows that luxury brands incorporation of sustainable development can enhance brand differentiation sustainability image and sustainable efforts value on luxury brands not that much put by the consumers. if the consumers do not appreciate sustainable practices of luxury brands, then investment in various sustainable practices will become extra cost without threat and payback. For address that issue cross-cultural context is used in this study and in which consumers understand the sustainable luxury as compared to the concept of luxury. The results of study provide practical insights for organizations to promote the sustainable luxury in Western and Eastern markets and linking sustainability with social contribution help increase consumers purchase preference for sustainable luxury.

Public relations and promotional campaigns showcase the luxury brand fair treatment of workers and suppliers and care for animals and the environment can give positive feelings that consumers are helping society and the environment, making their purchase of sustainable luxury is worthwhile.

For integrate sustainability effectively important component is luxury brands which can make their sustainable production processes and business practices more transparent as compared to past and UK luxury consumers and firms can take sustainability as a unique feature like showcase their innovative design and creative solutions in sustainability.

This study was conducting before the COVID-19 pandemic which was serious threat to the luxury sector and result of pandemic rising unemployment, lower spending power, disruption of tourists purchases due to travel restrictions. Bain and Company forecast a 25–30% market contraction in first quarter of 2020. luxury retail market was resilient overall and benefiting from the rise of Chinese consumers appetite for luxury and past data shows that small dip in 2003 and larger decline during the recession of 2008 to 09. Global luxury goods market grew by 6% (CAGR) compound annual growth rate from 1996 to 2019 so, results shows that luxury industry is resilient to economy downturns and market shocks implying the strong relevance of the study results.

D. Consumer values, motivation and purchase intention for luxury goods in 2014 published in journal of retailing and consumer services

This research is done by the Sonny Nwankwo, Nicolas Hamelin and Meryem Shaled in 2014. This study is focus on the consumer values and motivation influence purchase intentions towards luxury goods and influence of religion appears to diminish and consumer affordability of luxury goods increase. The purchase behaviour of women was found more positively disposed to impulse purchasing of luxury goods as compared to the men and more educated people indicate that a greater tendency towards rational than impulse while buying decisions.

Personal values are principles guiding individual behaviour and it is closely linked to the motivation and so, the personal value and value of perception constitute principal driving force behind the purchase intention for luxury goods especially in Western developed and in the Eastern markets. force of personal value lies in the utility perception arising from image and symbolism in association with the demographic, socio-economic and cultural.

Motivation has with why of behaviour how behaviour gets started, is energized, sustained or stopped and the recent study has challenge that the rational man theory in economics in which assumes consumers are purely rational in the purchasing endeavours and the presented a more complex view where emotional drivers are acquired and consumer society in which consumers seek for positional goods to show the group membership, identify themselves, mark their position and with the positional goods satisfaction is arises from a product scarcity and social exclusiveness.

E. Effect of value perceptions on luxury purchase intentions: an Indian market perspective in 2018

This study is done by the Sheetal Jain and Sita Mishra in 2018 and published under international review of retail, distribution and consumer research. This study is focus on to build and empirical test and then theoretical framework designed to measure the effect of value perceptions on intention to purchase luxury fashion brands among the Indian consumers and also includes determination of the role of gender in the understanding of relationship among luxury value dimensions and purchase intention in the Indian market. The outcome of this study is also show that the gender does not play moderating role in the relationship among the luxury value dimensions and purchase intention. Conspicuous value defines in this study that the value which is derived by consuming luxury items in public to display affluence and position. It is clear that conspicuous value, uniqueness value, social value, hedonic value and quality value have the positive impact on the Indian consumers intention to purchase luxury fashion brands.

The significance of theoretical framework to understanding the Indian luxury consumer behaviour and statistical analysis shows the conspicuous value is the most significant predictor of purchase intention followed by the hedonic value and social value. So, people in collectivist societies like India purchase luxury brands to convey their social status and position and they are motivated to acquire the luxury brands to impress others. It is concluded that subjective norm is key predictor for the luxury purchase intention which shows the Indian consumers purchase intention. luxury buyers in the collectivist societies do not value hedonism and contrast the results of this study reveals that hedonic dimension of a brand has a strong impact on purchase intention according to the past research and these findings show that the gradual changes in Indian luxury consumer behaviour in which people are no longer buying luxury only to impress others and rather than they are also motivated to purchase these exorbitantly priced items to attain self-gratification and experiential values. Social value has the positive and significant relationship with purchase intention and reconfirms that Indians use luxury as a status symbol to shows their achievements to others.

F. Purchase intention for luxury brands: A cross cultural comparison in 2012 published under journal of business research

This study is done by the Qin Bian and Sandra Forsythe in 2012 and this paper is base on the cross-cultural study examines the effects of individual characteristics in which includes consumers need for the uniqueness, self-monitoring and also includes the brand-associated variables in which social-function attitudes toward luxury brands and affective attitude on U.S. and Chinese consumers purchase intention for luxury brands. In this study the social function attitudes towards luxury brands positively influence the consumer purchase intention by affective attitude and attitude plays mediating role among the social function attitudes toward luxury brands and purchase intentions. This study focus on the Luxury brands, Individual characteristics, social-function attitude, purchase intention and cross-cultural.

The outcome of this study is based on the model examining U.S. and Chinese students purchase intentions for luxury brands consist of two exogenous variables that are NFU and self-monitoring and it includes the four endogenous variables that were self- expression attitude toward luxury brands, self-presentation attitude toward luxury brands, affective attitude and purchase intention. It includes conceptual model in which need for uniqueness of luxury brand represents the self -expression attitude and self-monitoring represent the self-presentation attitude of consumer.

It is clear that both self-expression attitude and self-presentation attitude represent the affective attitude towards purchasing intention of customers. Self- expression attitude and self-presentation attitude towards the luxury brands influences purchase intentions for luxury brands positively and self-expression attitude and self-presentation attitude towards the luxury brands has a positive influence on affective attitude as well. Reverse relationship was notice among

U.S. and Chinese which includes self-presentation attitude has a stronger impact on affective attitude and purchase intention among Chinese consumers than among U.S. consumers and on other side self-expression attitude has the stronger impact on the affective attitude and purchase intention among U.S. consumers than Chinese consumers and the functional theory of attitude and cognitive– affective model as the framework examines the impact of individual characteristics on the NFU and self-monitoring and on the consumers social- function attitudes toward luxury brands which includes the turn influence affective attitude and purchase intention for luxury brands. This study supports functional theory of attitude showing that the attitudes serve important social- functions as they impact both affect and behaviour and also includes the emotions are linked to the central attitudes which plays the important role in purchase intention formation.

G. Luxury shopping in tourism in Wiley inter-Science-

In this study the shopping behavior especially in luxury products among tourism and identify types of luxury shopping venues, services during vacation.

Concept of luxury- luxury is word drives from Latin term LUXUS which means pomp and splendor. The features or characteristics of luxury means unique design, high quality, extraordinary, comparable substitute all these characteristics highlight or justify the high price of product. Luxury products and services shows the superior quality and social status of the consumers.

Differences in concept of luxury products and different categories- For some buyer luxury is long term rest and for others ability that luxury is passion.

Luxury depends upon different gender, age, education, income, experienced, informed and well-travelled of buyer. The categories of luxury products are expanding since past and more, new offers are growing to meet the demand of the buyers. Some categories of luxury products are home appliances, designer fashions, jewelry, food, wine and autos. The largest luxury products like fashion and leather category represent the largest part of the market. Handbags which represent US market with 70 million dollars which is fastest luxury growing product. Especially young single women strolling in the malls and showing off their expensive clothes, handbags and jewelry.

In Japan it is fashion to collect luxury products among brand conscious women and some examples of luxury electronic products like apple iphone.

Luxury tourism goods- tourists buy luxury products and under in the study four categories of luxury products were divided in tourism-:

Sustenance (champagne and a chef to cook), Shelter, Clothing, Entertainment sporting. In this study luxury products and services among tourism includes luxury hotels, private villas, luxury cruises, private islands, adventures travel, private jet, holidays.

Affluent and middle aged 45 to 54 were luxury tourists’ shoppers included in this study because they are baby boomers and their high disposable income and they have much time to travel and shopping. The luxury shopping venues are shopping centers, malls, luxury hotels, restaurants and airports.

H. Critical success factors for luxury fashion brands in emerging markets: Insights from a qualitative study in 2021

This study is done by the Sheetal Jain, Sita Mishra and Sandip Mukhopadhyay in 2021 which is published under journal of global fashion marketing. This study focusses on the creating and maintaining the successful luxury brand has many challenges and emerging markets such as Indian brands face additional challenges because of small size of market as well as consumers general preference for value over luxury.

In this study the qualitative approach shows or aims to the empirically develop of the analytical framework of the critical success factors for luxury brands keep in the mind for uniqueness of the emerging markets and it also includes the consumer maturity and brand status, four types of consumption patterns such as aspirational, conspicuous, experiential and heritage for luxury brands are identified in this research. luxury consumption patterns from the homogeneous and luxury fashion brands need to be managed in various ways in the four consumption patterns and luxury marketers need brand falls in framework and which combination of Core and Augmented CSF are more important and how they should employ their marketing strategy in this framework.

I. Brand Coolness

This study is done by Caleb Warren, Rajeev Batra, Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro, and Richard P. Bagozz is published under American Marketing Association. This study uses a combination of methods to consider product cooling and to identify the collection of features associated with cool products. Focus groups, in-depth discussions, and essay research prove to be cool products are seen as unusual, attractive, dynamic, high quality, rebellious, authentic, authentic, culturally, it is a building of fame, and validate a measure of brand coolness that incorporates ten characteristics that distinguish cool brands from uncool brands..

In this study it describe about develop a multi-item scale that measures the ten components, as well as the higher-order construct, of brand coolness. Set of variables that are related to, yet conceptually distinct from, coolness, including self–brand connections (SBC), brand love, brand familiarity, brand attitude, word-of-mouth (WOM) about the brand, and willingness to pay (WTP) for the brand.

In study the method used to identify charactertics are Qualitative research as well as quantitative research. It confirmed the structural measurement model for the ten characteristics associated with brand coolness (useful, aesthetically appealing, energetic, high status, rebellious, original, authentic, subcultural, iconic, and popular). Second, the study confirmed that all ten characteristics were more closely associated with cool brands than uncool brands. Third, the study tested the nomological relationship between brand coolness and related constructs, including brand personality, SBC, brand love, brand attitude, WTP for the brand, and intentions to spread WOM about the brand.

J. Brand Coolness, Brand Engagement and Brand Equity of Luxury Brand in 2021

This study is done by Anon Khamwon, Urasaya Kularbkaew in September 2021 is published under Asian Journal of Research in Business and Management.

This study presented the direct and indirect effect of brand coolness on brand engagement. The result was consistent with the previous researches (Grayson & Martinec, 2004; Grayson and Schulman, 2000). In the same vein, the study is also supportive of the work by Goldsmith, Flynn, and Clark (2012) as well as the idea that brand coolness elicited higher brand equity both direct and indirectly. The findings of this study could add to the body of literature on  brand management in that the power of brand coolness influencing brand engagement and brand equity in the luxury brand. In addition, thisstudy is designed to expand the understanding of the importance of building coolness in luxury brands. Practitioners of this context may benefit from these insights in an effort to build and maintain brand engagement and brand equity.

K. Enhancing brand coolness through perceived luxury values: Insight from luxury fashion brands

This study is done by Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro, Jano Jimenez-Barreto and Jaime Romero is published under Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services in 2020. In this study consumers of luxury brands have been described as seekers of products that can offer a signaling value to present to others but also a value for their self-concepts in an existentialist spirit potentially linked to being “cool or not.” Prior studies have conceptualized brand coolness and evaluated its impact on consumer responses to brands.

However, few studies have contextualized the construct of brand coolness concerning luxury brand realism. We assessed the semiotic tension that luxury brand consumers feel between self-concept and self-presentation to others via a theoretical consideration of four antecedents of brand coolness: individual, social, financial, and functional luxury values; and one intentional outcome such as consumers’ passionate desire to use luxury fashion brands.

In this study findings indicated that luxury values positively influence brand coolness, and brand coolness positively influences passionate desire. It further confirmed that brand coolness plays a complementary mediating role between luxury values and passionate desire. A final contribution is to invite brand managers to consider how luxury values and brand coolness might be used proactively to drive consumers’ passionate desires in the relationships with luxury fashion brands.

L. Technology product coolness and its implication for brand love

This study is done by Amit Anand Tiwari, Aniban Chakraborty and Moutusy Maity published under Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services in 2020. In this study it describe about increased similarity of features of technology products has led to a waning of unique differentiating factors. In an absence of any tangible unique selling proposition, coolness has emerged as one of the compelling differentiators. This study investigates the coolness of technology products through in-depth interviews and an application of the critical incident technique (CIT).

Thereafter, the findings of the qualitative study are empirically validated by collecting data through survey methodology and analyzing it by using structural equation modeling technique. Six dimensions of perceived coolness, viz., rebelliousness, desirability, innovativeness of technology, reliability, attractiveness, and usability are identified and empirically validated. The impact of coolness on brand love (which is a brand-related outcome of coolness), an under-researched construct, is studied and the relationship is found to be positive.

M. Relationship between users’ perceptions of coolness and intention to use digital products: a user-centered approach

This study is done by Jian Li, Yanping Gong, Julan Xie and Yuxuan Tan was published under Information and people in July 2021. In this study it describe about to employ a user-centered approach to identify subgroups of people with similar profiles based on their perceptions of multiple dimensions of digital products’ coolness and to test the differences across subgroups in the intention to use these products.

In this study the method used to evaluate are first adults rated a virtual digital product on four dimensions of coolness. Second, 660 college students made similar ratings and also reported their intention to use a real digital product.

Participants’ ratings were analyzed using a user-centered approach, namely latent profile analysis.

Study identified groups of participants who had similar profiles of product ratings on the four dimensions of coolness: niche cool, mass cool, uncertain cool and uncool. It replicated the findings of study and in addition showed that these groups varied in their intention to use the product and in whether a specific dimension increased or decreased this intention.

The findings of this study provide several unique insights for professionals who design and develop digital products. Developers and designers of digital products may attempt to increase the product’s perceived coolness by improving originality, subculture appeal, attractiveness and utility, but little is known about how to combine coolness dimensions to develop different types of cool products that appeal to users.

N. What makes things cool? How autonomy influences perceived coolness

This study is done by Caleb Warren and Margaret C. Campbell published under Chicago Journals, Journal of Consumer Research, The University of Chicago Press in 2014. In this study despite assertions that coolness sells products, little is known about what leads consumers to perceive brands as cool.

This research uses an experimental approach to examine the empirical relationship between consumers’ inferences of autonomy and perceived coolness. Six studies find that behaviors expressing autonomy increase perceived coolness, but only when the autonomy seems appropriate. Autonomy seems appropriate, and hence increases perceptions of coolness, when a behavior diverges from a norm considered unnecessary or illegitimate, when the autonomy is bounded (i.e., deviations are small or occasional rather than large or perpetual), and when the consumer views social norms as being overly repressive.

A final experiment further supports the connection between autonomy and coolness and illustrates that coolness is distinct from liking by showing that whether a consumer has a goal to express autonomy moderates preference for cool brand.

O. What’s Cool? Examining Brand Coolness and its Consequences

This study is done by Rajendran Sriramachandramurthy in 2009 was published under Southern Illinois University Carbondale. In this study it describe about market research firms and the media in identification and understanding of what is considered cool. It describe about what makes brand cool, and market research firms strive to understand what the term means to consumers and how it affects their purchasing behavior.

Western cultures typically favor independence, individuality and hedonism while collectivist cultures favor emotional dependence, cohesion and value of the collective (Triandis 1994). Therefore, the importance of cool as described in this study will be more relevant for western societies.

The scope of this study is limited to defining cool and developing a measure for brand coolness as well as testing the relationship between BCI and its expected consequences. This idea of cool captured a sense of originality and exclusivity that is still relevant today. It provides a venue for separation from the masses along with a sense of identification with the special.

P.  Brand love

This study is done by Rajeev Batra, Aaron Ahuvia, & Richard P. Bagozzi published under Journal of Marketing. In this study, Using a grounded theory approach, the authors investigate the nature and consequences of brand love. Arguing that research on brand love needs to be built on an understanding of how consumers actually experience this phenomenon, they conduct two qualitative studies to uncover the different elements (“features”) of the consumer prototype of brand love.

Then, they use structural equations modelling on survey data to explore how these elements can be modelled as both first-order and higher-order structural models. A higher-order model yields seven core elements: self–brand integration, passion-driven behaviours, positive emotional connection, long- term relationship, positive overall attitude valence, attitude certainty and confidence (strength), and anticipated separation distress.

In addition to these seven core elements of brand love itself, the prototype includes quality beliefs as an antecedent of brand love and brand loyalty, word of mouth, and resistance to negative information as outcomes. Both the first order and higher-order brand love models predict loyalty, word of mouth, and resistance better, and provide a greater understanding, than an overall summary measure of brand love. The authors conclude by presenting theoretical and managerial implications.

Q. Coolness: An Empirical Investigation

This study is done by Ilan Dar-Nimrod, I. G. Hansen, T. Proulx, D. R. Lehman,

B. P. Chapman, and P. R. Duberstein published under Journal of Individual Differences. In this study it describe about how some people are routinely described as “cool,” but it is unknown whether this descriptor conveys trait-like information beyond mere likability or popularity. This is the first systematic quantitative investigation of coolness from a trait perspective. Three studies of North Americans converged to identify personality markers for coolness.

Study 1 participants described coolness largely by referring to socially desirable attributes (e.g., social, popular, talented). Study 2 provided further evidence of the relationship between coolness and social desirability, yet also identified systematic discrepancies between valuations of coolness and social desirability. Factor analyses (Studies 2 and 3) indicated that coolness was primarily conceptualized in terms of active, status-promoting, socially desirable characteristics (“Cachet coolness”), though a second orthogonal factor (“Contrarian coolness”) portrayed cool as rebellious, rough, and emotionally controlled. Study 3, which examined peer valuations of coolness, showed considerable overlap with abstract evaluations of the construct.

We conclude that coolness is reducible to two conceptually coherent and distinct personality orientations: one outward focused and attuned to external valuations, the other more independent, rebellious, and countercultural. These results have implications for both basic and applied research and theory in personality and social psychology.

R. Measuring the coolness of interactive products: the COOL questionnaire

This study is done by Anders Bruun, Dimitrios Raptis, Jesper Kjeldskov and Mikael B. Skov published under Behaviour and information Technology in 2015. In this study coolness is to be exploded as a design goal for interactive products from practitioners as well as researchers within human–computer interaction (HCI), but there is still a need to further operationalise the concept and explore how we can measure it. Our contribution in this paper is the COOL questionnaire.

Based the creation of the questionnaire on literature suggesting that perceived coolness is decomposed to outer cool (the style of a product) and inner cool (the personality characteristics assigned to it). In this paper, they focused on inner cool, and they identified 11 inner cool characteristics. These were used to create an initial pool of question items and 2236 participants were asked to assess 16 mobile devices. By performing exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we identified three factors that can measure the perceived inner coolness of interactive products: desirability, rebelliousness and usability.

These factors and their underlying 16 question items comprise the COOL questionnaire. The whole process of creating the questionnaire is presented in detail in this paper and they conclude by discussing their work against related work on coolness and HCI.

S. The Globalisation of Luxury Fashion: The Case of Gucci

This study is done by John Armitage and Joanne Roberts published under Journal of history, culture and consumption. This study offers the reader an encounter with crucial writings on the globalization of luxury fashion. In so doing, it introduces an original conceptualization of luxury fashion. The historical meaning of the globalization of luxury fashion from Roman times up until the present period is examined. The globalization of Gucci, the Italian luxury fashion brand specializing in leather goods, is then analyzed. Through this case study the complexity of the globalization of luxury fashion is revealed. The Italian luxury fashion brand has from its inception in 1921 drawn on and absorbed a range of cultures from across the globe. Globalization of national luxury fashion brands is, therefore, far from unidirectional. Rather, such processes involve a multidirectional flow of luxury cultural influences. Indeed, it is concluded that luxury fashion itself is a globalizing medium of luxury culture.

IV. LUXURY GOODS

This case was done by bearden and etzel ,Luxury goods are the high quality, high price and unique features of the products. Luxury products are used to identify the social status and prestige of person. It can display the level of wealth and power of a person (Bearden and etzel). In addition, the term of brand is the image in the minds of consumers, which are designed by luxury brand corporations to identify their goods or service.

V. COUNTERFEIT PRODUCTS

A term of counterfeit is a symbol which is indistinguishable from a registered brand name (The Lanham Act). A good counterfeit is the substitution of luxury good. It can provide social status and face saving, it can shows a personal like for example (Yi Qian), some companies invested in product attributes that are difficult to copy such raw materials, technology, and attractive appearance. This will lead to better customer loyalty to the luxury brand. It is believed that the poor quality of counterfeits will adversely affect the perceived quality of luxury. However, the quality of luxury counterfeiting is improving in recent year. Some counterfeits even claimed that they had same quality, same design and even better durability. Therefore, it is suspected that the improving quality of counterfeits will have a negative impact on the real luxury. Consumer who focuses on price criteria but not quality would not purchase luxury goods when the price of counterfeit product is cheaper than original one. However many studies found that monetary deliberations and affordability are one of the factors to affect purchase intention. Hence, no matter whether the consumers become attentive of the product as expensive or low priced, the affordability of consumer’s financial situation will affect their purchase behavior. According to the traditional view on the consumer behavior, consumers act rationally choosing the goods that provide the greatest value with the least cost during the buying process. However, the studies on this subject suggest that consumers do not always act rationally and they may sometimes get fully emotional focusing on the feelings like pleasure, happiness, etc., they get through the buying behavior. People consume to obtain nice, quality, interesting and luxury goods, and they acquire some rational and hedonic values because of the consumption activity. Today, the demand for luxury goods is increasingly gradually since the individuals can acquire more revenue and enjoy more consumption opportunities thanks to the condition of the modern era. In recent years, the concept of luxury has expanded from materialism to time and passion, and become eventually more available. As consumers satisfy their feelings of pleasure and gratification through the luxury goods, the available luxury products will also continue to enhance its charm for consumer. Today, the rich have no more a monopoly on the luxury goods.one of the most important factors leading to the actual growth of the luxury market is the introduction of luxury goods to the middle and upper-middle class. The figures from the luxury consumption markets in Turkey and the whole world suggest an upward trend, an increase in the share of the upper-middle class in luxury consumption, and some changes on the buying behaviors of the luxury consumers.

There have been some changes on the consumers’ preferences for the luxury goods. Consumers prefer the luxury goods with superior quality, craftsmanship and without a logo. It is remarkable to find the people do not prefer the brand to appear on the goods they buy. People seem to prefer design, aesthetics and quality to brand.

According to this report, the growth rate of the luxury goods market will be 4- 6% in 2020. There are striking differences across the regions in the global luxury goods market. The luxury market in Turkey, China and Japan are expected to rise, whereas the Russian market is expected fall. China is the current leader in the global luxury market. The categories expected to get the highest share are accessories and menswear and the demand for luxury goods is increasing rapidly in menswear. It is anticipated that the expenses on luxury goods will grow in the developing economies thanks to the increase in spending power of the middle class. Technology, tourism, entertainment, food and cultural activities are among the industries expected to get the highest share from the luxury consumption. Since this report includes some long-term predictions that the Brain & Company report, there are different anticipations for the industries expected to see an increase in the luxury consumption.

The activities including vacation, sightseeing, eating, hedonism, etc., are expected to be associated with luxury in the future.

The Boston Consulting Group, the total expenses on luxury goods worldwide have reached to 1.8 trillion dollars in 2019. Out of this 1.8 trillion-dollar luxury expenses, the hedonic experiences such as vacation, food, art, etc., get the biggest slice with 1 trillion dollars. Runner-up is the category of luxury cars with 440 billion dollars. Finally, the personal expenses on goods like jewelry, bags, watches and clothing gets the third biggest slice with 390 billion dollars. It is expected that the luxury consumption will grow 7 percent in the future.

A. Top Dog Brands As Against The Underdog, The Leading Top Dog Brand: The Underdog Effect

Not surprisingly then, when individuals are presented with top dog brands as against the underdog, the leading top dog brand, which experiences distinct advantages over the weaker underdog brands (Hoch and Deighton ), is likely to influence consumer judgement owing to the invisible yet significant pressure to conform with the favourite. Therefore, individuals are likely to adhere more to the social norm of preferring a top dog when their behaviour is identifiable than when it is anonymous, in which scenario, inhibitions against performing unusual behaviours are relaxed. In other words, while privately consuming a product, there is no public self-presentation (image) that needs to be monitored and regulated for the sake of desired public appearances. However, in social conditions with a high likelihood of behaviour being subject to public scrutiny, people are likely to engage in more socially desirable behaviours.

B. Familiarity Of Brand Under Gucci Case Study

One of the primary assertions in this study is that the familiarity of the brand, new versus established, will affect the extent to which ad viewers will process brand biographies. Therefore, prior to conducting the experiment, a pretest was conducted to assure the appropriateness of the stimulus material relevant to the research sample. Selection of an existing underdog brand was done by presenting twenty respondents with a list of three popularly known brands – Apple, Nike, gucci and HP along with the characteristics of an underdog brand– external disadvantage and passion and determination. Participants were asked, ‘Which brand had more external disadvantage/ humble beginnings?’ and ‘Which brand had more passion and determination?’ (Paharia et al. 2011). Results of the pretest revealed that for the three underdog brands, 90% of the respondents voted Nike to have had humble beginnings, followed by Apple (85% votes) and HP (65% votes). Also, Nike was considered to have more passion and determination than the other two brands (95%). Therefore, Nike was selected as the established brand for the experiment.

C. Luxury Consumption

This case study was done by Husicand, yeoman, sathyanarayan. Today ,the demand for luxury goods is increasing gradually since the individuals can acquire more revenue and enjoy more consumption opportunities thanks to the conditions of the modern era (HusicandCicic 2009: 231). In recent years, the concept of luxury has expanded from materialism to time and passion, and become eventually more available. As consumers satisfy their feelings of pleasure and gratification through the luxury goods, the available luxury products will also continue to enhance its charm for consumers (Yeoman 2011: 50).

Today, the rich have no more a monopoly on the luxury goods. One of the most important factors leading to the actual growth of the luxury market is the introduction of luxury goods to the middle and upper-middle class (Savitha and Sathyanarayan 2014: 86). The figures from the luxury consumption markets in Turkey and the whole world suggest an upward trend, an increase in the share of the upper-middle class in luxury consumption, and some changes on the buying behaviours of the luxury consumers.

D. Attitude And Perceptions Towards Luxury

This case study is done by Vigneron and Johnson in which he describes the attitudes of consumers towards luxury and the feelings and perceptions of consumers on it are among the factors shaping the concept of luxury. The buying behaviours, loyalty to luxury brands and brand satisfaction of consumers are heavily influenced by how consumers see luxury, which goods they consider luxury, their relationship with luxury and their perceptions on luxury. In this sense, it is very important to assess the perceptions and attitudes of consumers towards luxury brands when deciding on the design, identity, communication, marketing and sales strategies of the luxury brands. There are various studies on this subject in literature. According to the results of a study on the luxury perceptions of consumers, the personal consumer perceptions towards luxury are as follows. These perceptions are also associated with five basic values that differentiate luxury and non-luxury brands (Vigneron and Johnson 1999: 4- 8;Engand Bogaert 2010: 58; Ghanei 2013: 24-25).

E. Consumer Preference Towards Luxury Brand

According to the Bain & Company report titled “Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study Spring, there have been some changes on the customers’ preferences for the luxury goods. Consumers prefer the luxury goods with superior quality, craftsmanship . It is remarkable to find that people do not prefer the brand to appear on the goods they buy. People seem to prefer design, aesthetics and quality to brand, the growth rate of the luxury goods market will be 4 - 6% in 2021. There are striking differences across the regions in the global luxury goods market. The luxury markets in Turkey, China and Japan are expected to rise, whereas the Russian market is expected fall. China is the current leader in the global luxury market. The categories expected to get the highest share are accessories and menswear and the demand for luxury goods is increasing rapidly in menswear

The total expenses on luxury goods worldwide have reached to 1.8 trillion dollar. Out of this 1.8 trillion-dollar luxury expenses, the hedonic experiences such as vacation, food, art, etc. get the biggest slice with 1 trillion dollars.

Runner-up is the category of luxury cars with 440 billion dollars.

Finally, the personal expenses on goods like jewelry, bags, watches and clothing gets the third biggest slice with 390 billion dollars. It is expected that the luxury consumption will grow 7 percent in the future. Turkey is one of the most important countries in the luxury goods market. In addition, Istanbul gets the biggest share from the luxury consumption in Turkey and it is the 10th fastest growing city worldwide in luxury consumption. The growth in luxury consumption in Turkey is attributed to the growth of the high-income and middle-income groups (EconomyAgenda, 2019).

VI. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this work we chose to follow a quantitative methodology. The quantitative methodology is used in descriptive research to relate variables and draw conclusions. This quantitative methodology has gone through logistic regression after confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in the scale used to measure the constructs. A set of validated scale of academic literature were used.

In this work we opted for a structured questionnaire to ensure that respondents answer all the same questions. Removing the issues of socio demographic characteristics, all other questions were measured with five point likert scales. The questionnaire is divided in two parts. The first contains information regarding the characterization of individuals and the second part contain questions related to the research objectives.

VII. QUESTIONNAIRE

Objective of the questionnaires to collect information of the Indian consumer perceptions regarding the luxury brand shopping-

1. What is your gender?

• Male
• Female

2. What is your age group?

• 15-19
• 20-24
• 25-30
• Above 30

3. What is your civil status?

• Married
• Student
• Other

4. What is your monthly income?

• Under 25k
• 25k-49k
• 50k-100k
• Above 100k

5. How do you know information about luxury fashion products?

• Television
• Online advertisement
• Facebook/twitter
• Newspaper magazine
• Friends
• Video
• Others

6. Do you buy fashion branded products such as Versace, Gucci, calvin klein, dolce Gabbana, hugo boss, ralph lauren, dkny, tommy Hilfiger, louis Vuitton, escada, diesel, adidas, nike etc.

• Yes
• No

         7. How often do you purchase luxury fashion branded products?

• Monthly
• Weekly
• Every months
• Once a year
• Never

8. Do you think luxury brand with a high price means good quality compared to other brands?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree or disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

9. Do you think a luxury product can fetch a good resale value?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree or disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

10. Do you think investment in a luxury products is worth it a retail price?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree or disagree
•  Disagree
• strongly disagree

11. Do you feel like acquiring more luxury products in the future?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree or disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

12. Are you agree that quality, style, communication strategy and competitive price help you build a good luxury brand?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

13. Are you agree that TV, family & friends, celebrities and social media influences you more to take decision to purchase luxury goods ?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

14. Are you agree that quality, value, social status and fashion trend main motivations in purchasing a luxury item?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

15. Would you ever purchase a counterfeit (fake) product?

• Very likely
• Likely
• Unlikely
• Very unlikely
• Never

16. Are you agree that a good brand image help you buy a product?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

17. Are you still agree to purchase luxury fashion products even if the prices increase?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

VIII. DATA ANALYSIS

Survey conducted on why consumer buy luxury product, where we intend to investigate the behavior of luxury brand buying consumer, considering that the luxury brands involving strong consumer emotion. The present study follows a qualitative methodology with data collected through an online survey on perceptions of consumers on channel. We demonstrate the importance of the subject, since consumers respond by a buying behavior if there is a strong attachment to the brand and recognized their prestige and attractiveness.

Conclusion

We conclude that coolness is reducible to two conceptually coherent and distinct personality orientations: one outward focused and attuned to external valuations, the other more independent, rebellious, and countercultural. These results have implications for both basic and applied research and theory in personality and social psychology. This idea of cool captured a sense of originality and exclusivity that is still relevant today. It provides a venue for separation from the masses along with a sense of identification with the special. In addition to these seven core elements of brand love itself, the prototype includes quality beliefs as an antecedent of brand love and brand loyalty, word of mouth, and resistance to negative information as outcomes. Both the first order and higher-order brand love models predict loyalty, word of mouth, and resistance better, and provide a greater understanding, than an overall summary measure of brand love. The authors conclude by presenting theoretical and managerial implications. Today, the demand for luxury goods is increasingly gradually since the individuals can acquire more revenue and enjoy more consumption opportunities thanks to the condition of the modern era. People consume to obtain nice, quality, interesting and luxury goods, and they acquire some rational and hedonic values because of the consumption activity. Therefore, individuals are likely to adhere more to the social norm of preferring a top dog when their behavior is identifiable than when it is anonymous, in which scenario, inhibitions against performing unusual behaviors are relaxed. Personal values are principles guiding individual behavior and it is closely linked to the motivation and so, the personal value and value of perception constitute principal driving force behind the purchase intention for luxury goods especially in Western developed and in the Eastern markets. Force of personal value lies in the utility perception arising from image and symbolism in association with the demographic, socio-economic and cultural. The Indian luxury consumer behavior and statistical analysis shows the conspicuous value is the most significant predictor of purchase intention followed by the hedonic value and social value. So, people in collectivist societies like India purchase luxury brands to convey their social status and position and they are motivated to acquire the luxury brands to impress others. Luxury retail is growing at a fanatic pace in India, and with a growing aspirational class, has a huge opportunity for the market. Brand narratives make it easier for people to remember brands due to an experience created through the brand related story (Brakus et). And Indian luxury market will be very crucial to the luxury retailors on a global level. However, luxury retail players should keep in mind certain considerations while dealing with the Indian luxury retail sector. They need to focus on the Indian consumer and behave according to local flavour and body structure. Some clear trends have obviously developed by now in the country, leading to better penetration rates of luxury brands. A lot of luxury brands have reached the starting point of identifying successful luxury brand strategies in India. These have been established by identifying certain salient aspects of luxury brands that remain constant as well as identifying the stage of mindset of the Indian consumer towards these brands. Also we did a survey through which we came to know about people preferences on brands, where fascinates towards more on branding culture. Overall this paradigm describes the characteristics of luxury branding and towards phenomenological experiences and socio-culture influences, in our pursuit understanding what brand luxury conveys in the broader context of post- modern consumer culture.

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Copyright

Copyright © 2022 Anuradha Sharda, Rashmi Toppo, Manmeet Kaur . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.