Psychological and cultural insights into consumption of luxury Western brands in India

Abstract

India has always had wealthy elites such as the maharajas, upper class and royalty that consume luxury products throughout its consumption history. The relatively recent economic rise of the middle class with an increase in disposable income is leading to consumption of luxury en mass. This qualitative study examines why consumers buy luxury, what they believe luxury is and how their perception of luxury impacts buying behaviour in the context of India. The present study explores luxury constructs drawn from the literature and provides some explanation for luxury consumption behaviour in India. The findings reveal that psychological and cultural factors in Indian society play a major part in shaping luxury consumption. While the findings suggest little support for homogenous luxury preference, Indian consumers share cultural characteristics of lavish consumption of luxury and display of wealth in social functions. Luxury reflects conspicuous consumption and status, and signals wealth for individuals, and conveys social identity and status in Indian society.

Materialistic consumers who seek unique products: How does their need for status and their affective response facilitate the repurchase intention of luxury goods?

“…The exact nature of the relationships among status consumption, affective response and repurchase intention has yet to be specified. Eng and Bogaert (2010) stressed that status consumption actually fulfils the need for hedonic consumption.…”

The Importance of Dream in Advertising: Luxury Versus Mass Market

“…Beyond this, there is no clear consensus on what really constitutes luxury and luxury brands (Eng & Bogaert, 2010;Dubois & Duquesne, 1993;Urkmez & Wagner, 2015;Vickers & Renand, 2003), mainly because the classification of products into luxury and non-luxury is highly dependent on the cultural context being analyzed (cf. Godey et al, 2013;Kemp, 1998;Veblen, 1899).…”

The Impact of Country of Brand Image on Symbolic Value of Luxury Brands

“…Then, brand or product factors arerelated mainlyto product meanings (Wong & Ahuvia, 1998), product scarcity (Heribert & Verena, 2010), COB image (Piron, 2000) and brand prominence (Han, Nunes, Drè ze, 2010). Next, some researches explored cultural influence on the symbolic value from national culture (Eng & Bogaert, 2010), traditional values (Wong & Ahuvia, 1998) and materialism (Richins, 1994). Finally, the effect of purchase contexts (public vs. private) (Bearden & Etzel, 1982) and social ecological factors (e.g.…”