Love for Luxury, Preference for Counterfeits –A Qualitative Study in Counterfeit Luxury Consumption in China

Abstract

The aim of this study is to deepen the understanding of luxury counterfeit consumption by using the theories of luxury. This study is an interpretative qualitative research in which the social and personal meanings of luxury counterfeit consumption are explored. Both luxury and counterfeit provide a successful meaning transference. A good counterfeit can be regarded as the substitute good of luxury, which provides social meanings (conformity/status seeking/face saving), whereas it may also operate on a personal level (brand experience/fashion/adventure). The process of purchasing and consumption is fun and enjoyable due to the illegal nature of counterfeit. The research aspires to shed light on the essence of counterfeit in a brand perspective.

Counterfeit purchase typologies during an economic crisis

“…This view supports the work of Van Kempen (2003) and contradicts the view of others (i.e., Jiang and Cova, 2012), who state that today many counterfeits have the same quality and even better durability than the genuine ones. Moreover, some respondents expressed their concerns about whether the genuine luxury brands that are sold in the regular stores or department stores are not counterfeits.…”

“…The approval of this purchase by the consumers' reference group is critical to the decision about a potential repurchase. Thus, the possibility of repurchasing a counterfeit product depends on the level of satisfaction (Tom et al, 1998) and social influence (Jiang and Cova, 2012) since the price is a factor that will always contribute positively to this decision.…”

“…It is still a new area of research with several literature gaps, and a need for more rigorous research (Staake et al, 2009). First of all, the majority of empirical studies apply quantitative approaches and only a few studies are qualitative in nature (i.e., Jiang and Cova, 2012;Perez et al, 2010). Secondly, although, there are several studies focused on consumers and counterfeit products from developed countries such as the USA (i.e., Wilcox et al, 2009;Marcketti and Shelley, 2009), and developing countries such as Morocco (Hamelin et al, 2013), or comparative studies; such as between the UK and China (i.e., Bian and Veloutsou, 2007), none of them has researched consumer purchasing behaviour during the global economic turndown nor has researched this in countries facing major financial hardship, like Greece.…”

New insights into unethical counterfeit consumption

“…Specifically, consumers' preferences for counterfeits and the subsequent negative changes in their preferences for the genuine brand are greater when their genuine brand attitudes serve a social-adjustive, rather than value-expressive, function. In the same vein, Perez et al (2010) and Jiang and Cova (2012) also reveal that the consumption of counterfeits allows consumers to construct a desired social identity.…”

“…By definition, perception is the belief and interpretation of sensory information (Assael, 2004), whereas motivation is "an activation, an incentive or a reason to start or maintain behavior" (Antonides & van Raaij, 1998, p. 164). Indeed, several recent studies emphasize that a clear and actionable understanding of the motivational drivers for consumers' counterfeit purchases remains elusive (e.g., Jiang & Cova, 2012;Tang et al, 2014;Zaichkowsky, 2006).…”