Review of Literature on the Historical Evolution of Luxury to Identify the Factors Associated with Consumer Attitude Towards Luxury Car Brands in an Emerging Country Setting

Abstract

Luxury is concept that has been viewed by different scholars and industry experts in the brand marketing evolutionary process. Many studies have found that a number of factors affect the purchase of luxury goods and many researchers have shown their interest in luxury consumption. Because of globalization, global luxury products have gained their presence in emerging nations such as Sri Lanka. Luxury consumption involves reflection of the social class, lifestyle and consumer's personality backed by the prestige consumption mindset rooted in their financial power, individual values, social values and attitudes. The perceived luxuriousness is often identified and argued under different dimensions such as quality, hedonism, prestige, exclusiveness, uniqueness, conspicuous consumption and tradition by many scholars. However, these dimensions have not been tested, discussed and analyzed from consumer behavior standpoint in an emerging country like Sri Lanka which consists of a new consumer segment that wishes to enjoy a luxurious living.Abstract-Luxury is concept that has been viewed by different scholars and industry experts in the brand marketing evolutionary process. Many studies have found that a number of factors affect the purchase of luxury goods and many researchers have shown their interest in luxury consumption. Because of globalization, global luxury products have gained their presence in emerging nations such as Sri Lanka. Luxury consumption involves reflection of the social class, lifestyle and consumer's personality backed by the prestige consumption mindset rooted in their financial power, individual values, social values and attitudes. The perceived luxuriousness is often identified and argued under different dimensions such as quality, hedonism, prestige, exclusiveness, uniqueness, conspicuous consumption and tradition by many scholars. However, these dimensions have not been tested, discussed and analyzed from consumer behavior standpoint in an emerging country like Sri Lanka which consists of a new consumer segment that wishes to enjoy a luxurious living. This westernized, rich and famous lifestyle is exhibited by owning luxurious car brands such as Mercedes Benz, BMW, Bentley, Porsche, and Ranger Rover, thanks to globalization. This paper discusses the historical evolution of marketing research in a global luxury consumption perspective to develop a conceptual model to evaluate the consumer attitude towards global luxury car brands.