Conceptualizing Luxury Buying Behavior T PDF

Journal of Product & Brand Management
Conceptualizing luxury buying behavior: the Indian perspective

Varsha Jain Subhadip Roy Ashok Ranchhod
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Varsha Jain Subhadip Roy Ashok Ranchhod , (2015),"Conceptualizing luxury buying behavior: the Indian perspective",
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Conceptualizing Luxury-Buying Behavior: The Indian Perspective
1. Introduction
The association between human beings and luxury goes through millennia and it was often
reserved for the elite in society. However, with rapid globalization, purchasing luxury items has
come within the grasp of an ordinary person (Hader, 2008; Eng and Bogaert, 2010; Brun and
Castelli, 2013) throughout the world (Wong and Ahuvia, 1998). Global spending on luxury
brands has increased and is expected to reach USD 40 Trillion by 2020 (ASSOCHAM, 2013).
Asian countries such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea have developed luxury
markets with India and China also growing rapidly (Chadha and Husband, 2007; Dasgupta,
2009).
Prior research in luxury buying emphasized the role of culture and demographics in influencing
luxury consumption (Hung et al., 2011; Godey et al., 2013). While the meaning and perceptions
of luxury may vary across countries and cultures (Miller and Mills, 2012) the motivations and
objectives behind its purchase may be similar (Hennigs et al., 2012). Researchers have
investigated the meaning and anatomy of luxury brands, often from the practitioner‟s perspective
(Fionda and Moore, 2009) or conceptually (Miller and Mills, 2012; Ghosh and Varshney, 2013)
and not very often from a consumer perspective. The changing profile of luxury consumers in
Asia makes it all the more urgent to investigate the perception of luxury and its consequences
from the consumers‟ perspective in the Asian context. The present study investigates the luxury
consumption behavior of the Indian consumers and develops a conceptual model of luxury
consumption that incorporates antecedents of luxury buying, the luxury buying process, the
consequences and moderating factors influencing various relations in the model based on a set of
focus group discussions. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The next section provides
a review of literature on luxury branding and luxury consumption followed by the research
objectives. The next two sections elaborate on the research methodology and the results. The
discussions follow this and the paper concludes with the limitations and scope of the research
carried out.
2. Literature Review
Luxury is about showcasing a product as a brand with crafted symbols, signs, images and
creating a world of dreams (Berthon et al., 2009). The following section provides a detailed
literature review on the definitions and overview of luxury branding and facets of consumer
behavior associated with luxury consumption.
2.1 Defining Luxury
The early thoughts on luxury consumption could be attributed to Veblen‟s Theory of the Leisure
Class who first determined that purely conspicuous consumers derive satisfaction from the
display of wealth and not from the functional value of the product (O‟Cassand Frost 2004;
Truong et al. 2008). Berthon et al.‟s (2009) definition of Luxury (“Luxury cannot be reduced to
one sphere”) summarizes the expanse of the meaning of luxury. Researchers in the last few
decades have defined luxury as individualistic, relative and multidimensional, associating it with
lavishness, magnificence, comfort, sumptuousness, opulence and extravagance (Khan, 2006).
According to Heine (2012), “Luxury is anything that is desirable and more than necessary and
ordinary” (p. 40) that implies exclusivity (Phauand Prendergast, 2001). The possession of luxury
goods provide social acceptance along with conveying social image and personal taste (Mason,
1993).
However, with globally changing consumer characteristics, the core meaning of luxury is no
longer an indicator of superiority but is focused on comfort and pleasure (Granot et al., 2013)
and is known as “New Luxury” (Okonkwo, 2007). In the modern era, luxury is related to
experience and feelings of the consumers (Danziger, 2011) with emphasis on self-indulgence and
pampering (Twitchell, 2002). Luxury consumers are influenced by hedonism, lifestyle and other
psychographic characteristics (Husic and Cicic, 2009) and the basic motive behind luxury
consumption is to satisfy functional, financial, personal and social needs (Eng and Bogaert,
2010).
2.2 Overview of Luxury Branding
While the concept of luxury may be a socio-cultural phenomenon, the concept of Luxury Brands
is essentially related to marketing. “Luxury brands are regarded as images in the minds of
consumers that comprise associations about a high level of price, quality, aesthetics, rarity,
extraordinariness and a high degree of non-functional associations” (Heine, 2012; p.60). Luxury
brands are associated with quality, emotion and rarity for the consumers (Pileliene, 2012).
Luxury brands provide functional (physical benefits), symbolic (status, social standing and
recognition) and experiential (emotions, feelings, sensation, etc.) values to consumers (Berthon
et al., 2009). Luxury brands also provide psychological and sensory gratification (Hagtvedt and
Patrick, 2009), financial and individual satisfaction (Wiedmannet al. 2007) with prestige and
status (Mason, 1993).
Phau and Prendergast (2001) found luxury brands evoke exclusivity, a strong identity, brand
awareness and perceived quality, retaining sales and customers‟ loyalty. Nueno and Quelch
(1998) mentioned, “luxury brands are those whose ratio of functionality to price is low, while the
ratio of intangible and situational utility to price is high”. Vigneron and Johnson (2004) found
that luxury brands need to be rated high on five dimensions namely, perceived conspicuousness,
uniqueness, extended-self, hedonism and quality to create a long lasting effect in the market.
2.3 Culture and Luxury Consumption
Luxury perceptions are based on cultural norms and personal beliefs (Eng and Bogaert, 2010).
Cultural norms influence consumers‟ motivation for buying and consuming luxury goods while
cultural differences influence the symbolic traits of the brand (Christodoulides et al., 2009).
Kapferer (1998) found different categories of consumers to develop specific attributes for
particular type of brands. The Western society‟s concept of luxury could differ from the Eastern
society and thus, it may be incorrect to presume that western values are traded along with their
goods (Wong and Ahuvia, 1998). Hence, generalization about a common „global luxury
consumer‟ may not be appropriate thinking.
Prior studies reflect that Western countries are oriented towards privately self-conscious
consumption patterns, while Eastern nations follow a publicly self-conscious consumption
pattern (Wong and Ahuvia, 1998; Phau and Prendergast, 2000). The publicly self-conscious
person focuses on his/her outward appearance and social roles whereas a privately driven
individual emphasizes on the inner thoughts, feelings, preferences, tastes and personal values as
outlined in self-consciousness theory (Vigneron and Johnson, 1999). This implies that the
consumption of luxury brands would be affected by the consumer culture of a country. In this
regard, Dubois et al., (2001) performed a mixed method cross-cultural study in twenty countries
and defined luxury as a combination of six dimensions: price, quality, uniqueness, aesthetics,
personal history and superfluousness. De Barnier et al., (2000) carried a cross-cultural study in
France, UK and Russia and found four facets common to three countries: aesthetics, premium
quality, personal history and expensiveness. However, De Barnier et al., (2000) found some
differences between countries. While product conspicuousness and aspirations were relevant to
France, luxury atmospherics was only relevant to UK and functionality being relevant to both
Russia and UK. Russian consumers appeared to prize uniqueness. De Barnier et al., (2000)
attributed the differences to varying cultural practices, climate, language and habits. Hennigs et
al., (2012) found similar cross country differences on luxury perceptions and consumer attitudes
across four dimensions of luxury value perceptions, namely, Financial, Functional, Individual
and Social.
A study on Asian consumers (represented by Singapore and Hong Kong consumers) found them
to place importance on popularity of the brand and wanted to gain acceptability in their reference
group or social circle through consumption (Phau and Prendergast, 2000). Eng and Bogaert,
(2010) found luxury consumption to be associated with socio-economic status, personal values
and symbolic meaning while Sengupta (2007) found material possession through luxury
consumption was a means of assessing the self and others in India.
2.4 Luxury Consumption Behavior
Researchers have investigated several aspects of luxury branding and consumer behavior, such
as: meaning of luxury (Kapferer, 1998; Nueno and Quelch, 1998; Brun and Castelli, 2013); cross
cultural perceptions of luxury (Dubosis et al., 2001;EngandBogaert, 2010; Wiedmann et al.,
2007; Henigs et al., 2012; Godey et al., 2013); marketing of luxury brands (Vigneron and
Johnson, 2004;Atwal and Williams; 2009; Kapferer and Bastien, 2009; Keller, 2009); luxury
brand counterfeits (NiaandZaichkowsky, 2000; Wilcox et al., 2009) and practitioners perspective
on luxury brands (Fionda and Moore, 2009). Notable papers about the consumer buying process
are customer orientation, (Lee et al., 2008), aesthetic experience of luxury brands, (Venkatesh et
al., 2010), consumer motives and motivations (Truong, 2010; Sierra and Hyman, 2011),
consumers‟ purchase intentions of luxury brands (Kamenidou et al., 2007; Truong et al., 2010;
Amatulli and Guido, 2011). Consumption of luxury also varies with consumer taste and
preferences (Daswani and Jain, 2011) and may be affected by internal (personality, motives,
perception) or external stimuli (marketing, environment, social class, family, reference)
(Jalalkamali and Nikbin, 2010; Shukla, 2011). Peers and reference groups have been found to
affect luxury purchase decisions (Becherer et al., 1982; Childer and Rao, 1992).
2.5 Luxury and Gender
Gender has been found to moderate luxury buying decisions (Meyers-Levy, 1989; Meyer-Levy
and Maheswaran, 1991; Meyers-Levy and Sternthal, 1991). Male consumers focus on functional
traits of the objects whereas female consumers emphasize on the structural relations and
interpretive dimensions (Jausovec and Jausovec, 2009). Female consumers generally involve in
comprehensive processing than males (Meyer-Levy and Maheswaran, 1991; Meyers-Levy and
Sternthal, 1991). While Male consumers use single inference heuristic cues derived from the
nature of the task, female consumers use a holistic approach after processing all the cues
extensively (Meyers-Levy, 1989; Meyers-Levy and Maheswaran, 1991; Meyers-Levy and
Sternthal, 1991). Very few researchers on gender differences in luxury consumption (Atwal and
Khan, 2008) have supported the same thoughts.
2.6 Marketing Stimuli and Luxury Consumption
Marketing stimuli such as a premium price could relate to higher status and thus luxury purchase
may happen for the possession motive rather than the functional benefits (Moore and Birtwistle,
2005). Similar studies (Mandhachitara and Lockshin, 2004) suggest a relation between luxury
brands and high price. Product features such as quality (Dubois et al., 2001) and design have also
been found to be determining factors of luxury consumption in certain product categories

(Prendergastand Wong, 2003). Lastly, luxury perceptions have been also been investigated from
the point of view of perceived contracts with customers and the effects of the same on brand
extensions (Veg-Sala and Roux, 2014).
3. Research Gaps and Objectives
Literature of luxury brands is diverse and does not directly focus on the consumer behavior
within a particular cultural context. Existing consumer values differ with the context and are
formulated by personal and social ethos (Jain et al., 2012). Prior empirical studies support the
role of culture in luxury consumption (Hung et al., 2011; Hennigs et al., 2012). There also exist
studies examining the Western culture with Far-Eastern countries that highlight the differences in
meanings and motives behind luxury consumption across countries (Godey et al., 2013).
However, few studies focus on the actual buying process of luxury brands (Miller and Mills,
2012) including the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic cues that influence the consumers‟ decision
(Truong et al., 2010). The present study tries to fill this gap and explores the perception, motives
and buying behavior of luxury brands in India. The present study employs Keegan et al.‟s (1992)
consumer buying behavior model (Stimuli-Organism-Response) as the theoretical framework.
The model states that a consumer reacts in a particular way to various stimuli after processing
them in their mind. The model also mentions that external dimensions are considered to be
stimulus. Consumers integrate the external stimuli with their personal traits (internal stimulus) in
the decision making process. The model also emphasizes the influence of external parameters or
the marketing exposure of the consumers in determining the actual decision making process
(Monga and Chaudhary, 2011).

India was chosen for the present study as it owns diverse cultural values and plays a significant
role in luxury consumption. Second, Indians possess unique values and principles, and retain
their traditions after integrating local and modern styles of consumption (Dasgupta, 2009). Indian
consumers follow a mix of unique traditional and global trends of consumption (Ghosh and
Varshney, 2013). Third, India invests highly on luxury items and is considered as a promising
market with long-term prospects (Eng and Bogaert, 2010). Fourth, there exist a number of
differences in the socio-economic structure in the metro and the non-metro cities in India, which
should provide interesting insights into luxury buying decisions and consumption (Vij, 2012).
The present exploratory study has four objectives. First, it investigates the meaning of „luxury‟
and luxury brands in a specific product category, namely fashion apparel and accessories. The
product category was selected because it has relatively lower prices and higher frequency of
repeat purchase as compared to other products such as cars. The second objective is to identify
the buying process of luxury brands in a developing nation context such as India. The third
objective is to explore the antecedents and consequences of luxury buying behavior and provide
an improvement over Ghosh and Varshney‟s (2013) model. The fourth and last objective is to
identify the impact of sub-cultures and demographic variables such as gender and geographic
location on luxury buying behavior.
4. Methodology
The study adopted a qualitative approach in order to meet the objectives. Focus group
discussions (FGD) were used to obtain insights on the research questions, as it was felt that this
would enable participants to be open about their thoughts and views. An FGD enables the
researchers to obtain data that comes from cohesive and natural discussions (Malhotra and Das,
2011). Moreover, focus groups enable participants to respond and address issues within the
group (Morgan and Krueger, 1993), helping the moderator to understand the coverage and
diversity of thoughts, perception and opinion of the participants. FGDs also help to facilitate the
evaluation and assessment of the participants in terms of their experiences, feelings and the
reasons for purchase that are associated with their attitudes (Chambers et al., 2008).
4.1 Sampling
A total of eight focus groups were conducted to achieve the study objectives. Four FGDs were
conducted in metro cities, with two each in the national capital Delhi (in northern India) and the
financial capital Mumbai (in western India). These two cities are the most populous cities of
India (List of most populous cities in India, 2012). The other four FGDs were conducted in two
non-metro cities in India namely, Ahmedabad in western India and Udaipur in northern India
(two in each). The non-metro cities were selected to include diversity and ensure authenticity of
the results. Non-metro cities do not have as developed luxury markets as metro cities, but may
have the potential to buy luxury goods.
Each focus group had around eight to ten participants to induce momentum in the discussion
(Malhotra and Das, 2011). A total of 72 participants gave their insights in the FGD. Participants
in the age band 18 to 30 years were selected for the study since:
a) Young individuals aspire more for the luxury brands in India as exclusive brand consciousness
develops at an early age.
b) Luxury consumption with respect to apparel and accessories has youth as the prime target
audience. Even though 21-22 years is the age at which an individual in India starts working,
individuals belonging to the upper sections of the society have purchasing power at a younger
age. Thus, the respondents had a fair mix of young graduate students and working professionals
(Sample demographics is provided in Table 2). The participants were recruited through a
professional research agency in all four cities with clear guidelines on identification and
selection of participants. The screening criteria were different for metro and non-metro cities; for
the metro cities, the selection of respondents was based on the purchase of at least one luxury
brand in apparel and accessories in the last one year and for the non-metro cities, the selection
criteria were either purchase of at least one luxury brand in apparel and accessories in the last
one year or the respondent should belong to Socio Economic Class A (SEC A). Socio Economic
Classes are defined according to education and goods possessed by the Indian Marketing
Research Society. The Indian population is divided into SEC A to SEC E with subcategories in
each segment. The population in SEC A has characteristics, which make them prospects for
luxury brands. Individuals in all the cities were asked to confirm their participation and
information about the venue and time was provided.
4.2 Protocol
The authors developed the protocol on the basis of the review of literature related to the
perception, attitude and purchase behavior of consumers towards the luxury fashion brands. The
discussion was divided into three phases. The first phase was related to a general discussion on
perceptions towards luxury brands. The questions were associated to the expression of luxury,
desires associated with luxury, types of products considered as luxury, personalities associated
with luxury, sacrifices to buy luxury brands and unpleasant experience associated with luxury
brand purchase (if any).
The second phase focused on the core objectives of the research. It was related to the expression
of luxury fashion brands, associated attributes, changing views about luxury fashion brands and
its dimensions, reasons to buy luxury fashion brands, feelings and emotions after using the
brands and bad experiences about luxury fashion brands (if any).
The third phase focused on the future of luxury fashion brands. The questions were associated to
the hurdles and complexities faced by consumers of luxury fashion brands in India.
4.3 The Focus Group Discussions
All the FGDs were conducted in the banquet/conference hall of a hotel in a central location in
each city. The first author (who had previous experience in conducting FGD) moderated all the
FGDs and each ran for about 90 minutes. All FGDs were conducted in English language. This is
because English is a prevalent medium of instruction in schools across India and is very popular
in the metro cities. Thus, the respondents did not have any problems of expression in English.
Moreover, India being a multi-lingual country, English was a common medium of
communication to an otherwise situation where different participants had different mother
tongues. The group was allowed to participate freely in the discussions at all points of time with
the moderator intervening when the discussion was deviating from the objectives. The moderator
also provided the opportunity to the participants to ask questions at the end of the discussion in
order to have a comprehensive discussion. A small cash payment was given to all the participants
in order to offset their travel expenses. All eight discussions were video recorded for better
understanding and analysis. Transcripts were developed from the video recording where the
body language, facial expressions and tone of the participants were noted along with verbal
statements.
4.4 Data Verification
Given the exploratory nature of the study, it was necessary to validate the findings with actual
phenomenon in the industry. Moreover, certain information about the model, such as challenges
and opportunities were not elicited to its full extent from the consumers. Thus, one FGD was
conducted with eight industry professionals (of which five were marketing heads of luxury
brands in apparel and accessory brands and three were CEOs of online fashion outlets). The
objective of the FGD was to identify the challenges and opportunities in general about the Indian
luxury market and to verify the pragmatic value of the study findings from the consumer FGDs.
5. Analysis and Results
The focus group transcripts were subject to content and thematic analysis independently by the
first and second author. This was done to ensure that the coding scheme was relevant to the study
objectives. The authors independently identified the significant themes and the relevant codes by
the respondents. The themes and the codes identified by both the authors were compared and
analyzed further to arrive at consensus (inter coder reliability = 0.89). Disputes still remaining
were resolved after discussion with the third author. The quotes included in the paper are the
major representative quotes related to the formation of the respective themes/constructs
(supporting quotes are provided in the appendix).
The major themes that emerged from the analysis were; meaning of luxury, cultural backdrop,
antecedents of luxury buying, the buying process, luxury consumption and post consumption
behavior. To further support the manual analysis, further analysis was conducted using NVivo 6.
This software helped the authors to carry out the text and paragraphs search that illustrated the
perception, attitude and behavior of the respondents according to the themes and the codes. Table
3 summarizes the codes and the emerging categories and themes from the data. Interestingly,
many differences in all the themes across the metro and non-metro cities were observed. The
following subsections provide snapshots from the detailed findings from each theme (including
the contrasting results). More details have been presented in the appendix.
5.1 Meaning of Luxury
The preliminary questions were related to general idea and meaning of luxury. The product
categories associated with luxury were found to be apparel, accessories, automobiles and
gadgets. When more specific questions were asked about fashion (apparel and accessories), the
products associated with the same were found to be apparel, watches, bags, shoes etc.
Interestingly, in all locations, the respondents mentioned mobile phone as a fashion accessory
and considered it to be a part of their daily attire. Examples of key luxury fashion brands
mentioned by respondents were Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Armani, Diesel, Hugo, Gas,
Timberland, and Movado.
There was a considerable difference about the meaning of luxury between the two metro cities as
well as across metro/non-metro cities. Delhi respondents expressed luxury as elegance, style and
fashion statement, while Mumbai respondents expressed luxury as premium quality, aesthetics
and exclusivity. Respondents from Delhi were more interested in the show-off value of luxury,
as one respondent (Male) opined, “They (read luxury brands) are popular and not everyone can
buy them. So you have an edge over the rest of the people. In that case you are flaunting and you
have a moral or boost kind of support.”
Mumbai respondents were more concerned with identity creation: “Luxury transforms you. It
creates an image and helps you stand out in a crowd” (Female, Mumbai). In general male
respondents expressed luxury in relation to their image in society. They stated that they could not
live without these products and luxury brands, as they have become part of their life. They
involve luxury brands in all the basic activities of their life. However, female respondents
express luxury to be more aesthetic and classy. In general respondents perceived that in the
preceding years‟ consumers focused on price to signal luxury but now they emphasize quality
and exclusivity. In the non-metro cities, the concept of luxury was more related to social
recognition. This was voiced by both male and female respondents in both non-metro cities:
“…the point is all about that people listen to you when you own some luxury brand. I think
people end up having that imagination that ok she has this she has that…….I think people end up
listening to those people who have luxury than to those who really don‟t have” (Female,
Ahmedabad); or “It reduces our insecurity or uncertainty…..If I am wearing Zara, then I might
feel different than I am wearing Reliance Trends (a discount fashion superstore) clothes.” (Male,
Udaipur). Some major differences between gender and across cities have been summarized in
Table 2.
5.2 Cultural Backdrop
There was a perceived change towards the way consumption was viewed by the respondents
compared to their predecessors. One male respondent from Delhi said, “I have seen my father
saving for the future and postponing most of his consumption needs. It‟s not that we were poor
but he had a risk free attitude”, or “My father used to tell me that if you save now, you would
reap the benefits in the future. Now, I would not like to wait till 60 to wear a pair of Gucci
sunglasses” (Female, Mumbai). This shift of consumption patterns was a key factor in driving
luxury consumption. Liberalization coupled with rising middle class income was also one of the
socio-cultural factors affecting luxury consumption. A male respondent from Delhi felt, “When
we were kids, Leo toys were the only pan-Indian toy brand. When toys like He-Man and G.I Joe
entered India, we were awestruck. However, when I take my kid to the store, there are almost all
foreign brands of toys. The same thing has happened with luxury products. Choice is what has
brought the change.” Respondents felt that consumers are financially sound and independent and
it has affected the purchase process: “My parents were convinced that I should complete post-
graduation before looking for a job. However, my niece today is a graduate and is earning
almost the same as me since she is working in an IT company. She still stays with her parents. So
what should she do with all that money? Buy luxury products!” (Female, Delhi). Moreover,
female respondents felt that earlier they used to buy luxury fashion brands on occasions such as
birthday, anniversary, festivals etc. but now they purchased luxury apparels and other accessories
without any occasion. This pattern was emerged as shopping was considered as a stress buster.
This approach also affected the luxury consumption.
The data from the non-metro cities brought a new and unique perspective. Several respondents
had savings outlook to purchase luxury brands, which was contradicting the metro “consume
now save later” concept: “I wanted to buy a pair of Timberland shoes, but I knew I could not
afford it at one go. Thus I saved money from my salary for six months and then purchased it”
(Male, Ahmedabad). Relativity was also found to be a major element of discussion among non-
metro respondents. While the metro consumers directly opted for luxury brands but the non-
metro consumers were found to graduate from moderate priced brands to high priced brands: “At
one point of time Bata shoes was luxury for me but now I have 3 pairs. Now I aspire for
Woodlands. Once I buy Woodlands for a couple of times I would target Timberland” (Male,
Udaipur). General awareness about luxury brands was also found to be a societal force behind
luxury consumption: “…because I was not introduced to a better brand than what I am using
right now, I wouldn‟t have targeted it. Today, lifestyles are being created by digital media which
created the awareness” (Female, Udaipur). Electronic social media such as Facebook was found
to have an influence on consumption culture of luxury brands.
To summarize, regional culture and the presence of sub-cultures within a nation were found to
affect the perceptions of luxury and the way consumers behaved with respect to buying luxury.
Thus, the first proposition of the study is framed as:

P1: Culture of a community serves as a major precursor to luxury buying behavior. More
specifically, regional culture (formed through socio-economic changes) could influence the
motivations, associations and perceptions of luxury.
5.3 Antecedents of Luxury Buying: Motivations
The major motivation behind luxury purchase and consumption in metro cities was self-
expression. Respondents mentioned that they want to buy luxury for status, quality, aesthetics
and exclusivity: “We need to buy these brands because we have to look good and as we have to
download pictures on Facebook we need to be particular about the style as well” (Male, Delhi).
However, there were differences in motivation behind purchase across the cities. In Mumbai,
consumers had hedonic and symbolic association with luxury but in Delhi it was more
conspicuous consumption. Moreover, Delhi respondents purchased luxury for social display:
“We buy these products since we want to receive appreciation and compliments from friends
when we use these brands” (Female, Delhi). Many respondents mentioned that they purchased
luxury brands for themselves and believed in self-gifting concept: “We want to feel the luxury
experience in order to purchase it” (Male, Delhi). However, respondents in Mumbai were
focusing on creativity and innovation offered by the brands and wanted to experiment.
Differences in purchase motives also varied across genders. First, female respondents were found
to buy luxury brands to release stress and shopping was found to be their favorite pass time. “We
feel very relaxed after purchasing luxury fashion brands”(Female, Mumbai). Second, females in
Delhi buy these brands to attract the opposite gender. “We buy these brands so that men could
get attracted towards us” (Female, Delhi). Frequently the purchases were out of impulse and
peer influence during shopping but primarily for self-consumption, “We frequently buy these
brands for ourselves and occasionally for our beloved and friends” (Female, Delhi). However,
male respondents were brand conscious and purchased luxury fashion brands mainly for
occasions such as wedding, formal meeting, weekend parties etc. Moreover, they did not have
any common motive to purchase luxury brands but had different opinions about the various
product categories.
Contrasting motives were observed in case of non-metro cities. In general the major motive
behind luxury consumption was social acceptance and uncertainty reduction: “luxury brands give
some comfort zone and removes some kind of uncertainty or insecurity. So it adds some value to
your life” (Male, Ahmedabad); or “If I wear a Gucci apparel, people would look at me; ask me
questions about the brand. This makes me feel important” (Female, Udaipur). However, impulse
buying was also found to be prevalent across both non-metros contrary to the planned purchase
behavior in the metros.
To summarize, functional and individual value were the major motivating forces behind luxury
consumption in the metro cities while the same in non-metro cities was social value. Thus, the
second proposition of the study is given as:

P2: Consumer motivations (namely, Functional, Individual and Social) act as an antecedent of
luxury buying behavior in affecting the alternative evaluation and final purchase.
5.4 Antecedents of Luxury Buying: Associations
Social associations play an important role in defining the purchase behavior of luxury goods.
“Our friends know our taste and preferences so accordingly they recommend the brands”
(Female, Mumbai). Respondents are very vigilant about the fashion and style trends in the
market. Moreover, when they meet their friends personally they observe their apparels and
accessories very keenly. Peer pressure was found to play an important role in luxury purchases:
“See, we have to hang out with our friends. If one or two are having a flashy phone, and I don‟t
have it, I feel my status has gone down. Thus I also end up purchasing it even if I had not needed
it urgently” (Male, Delhi).
Associations of luxury with specific classes of the society were also observed from the
participants. Females from Mumbai mentioned that there are two types of consumers, emigrants
from the smaller cities and residents of metro cities. “Emigrant consumers buy luxury for show
off. They want to project their high standard of living and high income” (Female, Mumbai).
However, Females from Delhi perceived luxury fashion brands were for 'showing off'
irrespective of the domicile status: “We buy apparels, accessories, sunglasses, foot wears etc. for
displaying our wealth” (Female, Delhi). Similarly, males from Delhi firmly believed in lavish
and ostentatious lifestyle. They wanted to buy luxury fashion brands so that they can flaunt with
them.
In case of non-metro cities, many respondents were found to perceive/use luxury brands or to get
associated with an elite group: “You have this Harley Owners Group or HOG. This has
something to do with uplifting your social status” (Male, Udaipur). Non-metro respondents
discussed an interesting view on the mutual exchange of ideas. Many respondents opined that the
luxury brands also benefitted through the consumption: “It‟s like a mutual exchange. If I wear an
Armani Suit, my peers come to know about Armani, they get to know about its exclusivity. So I
am contributing to Armani‟s brand image” (Male, Ahmedabad).
Celebrity associations with luxury brands were also a driving force in creating positive
associations as per some respondents. The same mentioned that celebrities helped in creating a
buzz and the brand could connect easily with the celebrity. Respondents from Delhi mentioned
that celebrities such as Aamir Khan (actor), Shahrukh Khan (actor), and John Abraham (actor)
are style icons and trendsetters for luxury fashion. However, at the same time some respondents
felt celebrities to be more useful for new brands rather than established products. “Mercedes and
BMW do not need a celebrity but a new brand really have to get associated with them” (Male,
Delhi).
Respondents from Mumbai were not so excited about celebrities as compared to Delhi.
“Celebrities‟ endorse many brands so they are not credible”(Male, Mumbai). Respondents from
Mumbai mentioned that they set their own trends and fashion statements and were not much
influenced by celebrities.
The non-metro respondents were against Indian celebrity endorsers for luxury brands since they
felt endorsers did not have uniqueness: “…Amitabh Bachchan (actor) endorses Reid and Taylor
but also endorses Chavanprash1, so it doesn‟t make sense” (Male, Udaipur). However, some
were more open towards western celebrities with unique brand endorsements: “I am influenced
by Victoria Beckham. She portrays luxury and so I can easily associate her with Victoria‟s
Secret” (Female, Ahmedabad).

1
A traditional Indian health supplement.
To summarize, we found tangible and intangible luxury associations to generate from the self,
peers and exemplars. Thus, the third proposition of the study is presented as:
P3: Tangible and intangible associations formed internally (self) as well as externally (peers and
exemplars) act as antecedents of luxury buying behavior and influence alternative evaluation
and final purchase.

5.5 Antecedents of Luxury Buying: Perceptions
A range of perceptions governed the buying behavior of luxury brands in fashion. Male
respondents from Mumbai felt luxury brands purchase motives had moved from show off to self-
satisfaction. “We have moved from first level of luxury to second level” (Male, Mumbai). This
change was more visible in Mumbai rather than Delhi.
“We buy luxury to indulge in it, for ourselves, which appeals to our senses, to pamper ourselves
and would like to gift it to ourselves” (Male, Mumbai). There were differences in the perception
of Mumbai and Delhi male respondents. Males from Delhi focused on the style and fashion
trends: “We purchase apparels and associated accessories according to the style and fashion
trend” (Male, Delhi). Females also opined about the exclusivity brought about by luxury brands:
“We look for the designer Sari and not a normal Sari which will make us unique” (Female,
Mumbai). Some respondents from Mumbai stated that consumption of luxury was more of a
basic necessity.
Contrastingly, there was a divide between „showing off „and „self-satisfaction‟ among non-metro
respondents. There were respondents who strongly raised their voice against „showing-off‟ as an
association of luxury consumption: “If you wear luxury apparel for an occasion, it‟s not
showing-off at all because everyone is there with a purpose” (Male, Ahmedabad). However,
there was a counter opinion: “…even if you don‟t want to, most of the luxury items by nature you
ultimately lead to show-off, even if you don‟t intend to” (Female, Ahmedabad).
To summarize, the two major perceptions that emerged as the antecedent of luxury buying were
experiential and symbolic value perceptions. Hence, the fourth proposition of the study is given
as:
P4: Experiential and symbolic perceptions would influence alternative evaluations and final
purchase decision of luxury products.
5.6 Moderator: Gender
Many differences were observed between male and female respondents on the ways in which the
motivations and perceptions led to buying behavior of luxury products (refer to Table 4). Many
male respondents mentioned that they shop alone and several respondents had a priori
information about the brand and the specifications. Their shopping time was less as they were
more focused. Male respondents also found limited choices in apparels and accessories
compared to females. Therefore, they selected their brand from the limited offers and thus spent
less time choosing. Male respondents also said that given a choice, they would never go with
their girlfriends as they were very finicky and consumed more time in shopping: “Is it worth
going through all items in the store if you have already made a choice? It happens every time
when I go for shopping with my girlfriend. Something I cannot avoid, but I would love to, given a
choice” (Male, Delhi).

However, female consumers involved themselves in exploratory shopping, as they wanted to
investigate many brands, colors and designs while making a purchase decision. Furthermore,
female consumers did not prefer to go with males as they felt they were more independent and
would like to decide their own brands. “Shopping alone is a sign of independence and I do not
like male interference in shopping” (Female, Mumbai). Females from Mumbai mentioned that
males are very brand conscious and have a similar buying pattern. “It is so boring- as males buy
the same brand every time. They cannot differentiate among the various styles and designs”
(Female, Mumbai). Moreover, females from Delhi feel that males are very impatient and do not
have sense about the fashion and style and therefore it is very difficult to shop with them.
In case of non-metro residents, both male and female respondents were mostly found to practice
shopping in groups or with spouse. The male respondents opined that the choice of shopping
alone or in a group would depend on the product: “If I have to buy a shoe or a wallet, mostly I
would go alone. But if have to choose a suit, then definitely I would take my wife or a friend”
(Male, Udaipur). Female respondents mostly went out in groups but the choice of company
depended on the product.
P5A: Female consumers would be more motivated to explore and thus, spend more time in
alternative evaluation and final choice than male consumers.
P5B: Female consumers would have different associations and perceptions than males and thus,
spend more time in alternative evaluation and final choice than male consumers.
5.7 The Buying Process

The buying process was divided into three sub-categories based on the analysis. The first
category consists of the perceived hurdles faced while buying luxury fashion brands in India.
The second category is related to the evaluation of alternatives during purchase. The last
category is related to the actual purchase.
5.7.1 Hurdles: The major hurdles mentioned by the metro respondents for luxury fashion brands
in India were maintaining premium quality, exclusivity of brands, innovation and customization
of the brands according the consumer‟s needs. Many respondents mentioned that the
mushrooming of conventional and specialty malls in India provided opportunity for luxury
fashion brands to excel: “Earlier I used to go Singapore for shopping but now as everything is
available in India I buy it from here” (Male, Mumbai). Majority of the respondents agreed using
the Internet, particularly Facebook and Twitter to search for information pertaining to the luxury
brands and then discuss the same with their peers. There were differences between male and
female respondents even in this category. Females from Mumbai carried out a trend analysis
before making a purchase while men mainly went to the stores with limited information and
details about the products.
Interestingly, almost all the non-metro respondents opined that they faced financial and non-
financial hurdles while planning the purchase of a luxury brand. The major issue was the trade-
off that they had to make to afford a luxury brand: “I wanted to gift someone a tablet. So I saved
for 3 months. Then I bought it. Likewise, on many occasions I had to sacrifice on my basic needs
to save money for similar purchases” (Male, Udaipur). Inexperience or smartness was also cited
by some respondents which prevented from entering a luxury brand store: “For tier 2 cities like
Udaipur, even if you can afford, there is a mental gap between liking and going to the store. If
you are a first time buyer of a luxury brand it actually takes a lot of effort to make the decision of
going into that store and then behaving like…. „I buy this all the time‟.... because you don‟t want
the salesperson to know that you are a first timer. This makes you even more conscious”
(Female, Ahmedabad). Moreover, respondents pointed out the price differential of similar brands
in western countries and India: “I have found many watch brands are overpriced in India than in
US. The same brands are cheaper in US even after using the exchange rates” (Male
Ahmedabad). Availability of major labels was also a common hurdle discussed by the
respondents in both the cities.
5.7.2 Evaluation of Alternatives: Evaluation of alternatives was related to the in-store behavior of
the consumers and had internal and external factors governing the choice/evaluation. The rigor of
the evaluation was found to vary with the kind of product category under consideration. A
female respondent from Mumbai explained, “For handbag we consider 3-4 brands with style
and aesthetic appeal and for jeans we consider 2-3 brands that are more conformable and
stylish”. Many other respondents raised similar thoughts irrespective of the city where the
research was carried out. The consumers, who went with a priori knowledge however, were
found to have lesser search time: “We have an idea about the luxury brands before we
purchase” (Male, Mumbai). Respondents believed in forums such as Facebook and at the same
time perceived their friends to be reliable and credible source of information.
Respondents mentioned that they would prefer to get help from the sales personnel to identify a
particular color, size or pattern. Respondents firmly believed that sales persons should not be
aggressive and should give their suggestions only when required. Interestingly, in high-end
luxury brands, discounts were viewed as a bonus. Interestingly, consumers also felt that they
would purchase the fashion luxury brands if they needed it, irrespective of a discount: “Discount
does not affect the purchase but it makes us happy” (Male, Mumbai).
In this case, the similarities were more for the non-metro consumers, as they also believed in
planning, held in-store behavior of salesperson to be important and relied heavily on social
media and online sources for knowledge. However, discounts were valued more than metro
consumers: “Sometimes you select something at the store, and the same thing is available online
at a discounted price. You don‟t mind saving that USD 6-8…….” (Female, Ahmedabad).
5.7.3 Final Choice: Price was not an important factor governing the final choice/purchase for the
metro respondents. “We are ready to pay more for the premium quality” (Female, Mumbai).
Moreover, male respondents were also ready to pay more for the high quality of product. “We
pay higher for the premium quality of products as it is an investment” (Male, Mumbai).
However, it was the perceived quality, which influenced the final choice according to a male
respondent from Mumbai, “It is not the actual quality that matters. What matters is whether I
feel good about it. If I feel that this product is right for me, I don‟t mind paying whatever the
price is.” The final choice could drift away from the planned choice. This was more evident for
the female respondents: “The purchase is more through window shopping as we plan for one
and end up buying three brands particularly in apparels and accessories. But we always buy
known brands” (Female, Delhi). Many respondents also mentioned that it was a rare occurrence
for them to return from the store without buying anything: “I may go to the store to buy a
particular perfume of D&G and the salesman tells me that it is out of stock. However, I would
never like to return empty handed. I would search for something at similar level of stature and
price band and buy it” (Female, Mumbai). Interestingly, many non-metro respondents were
willing to (or had previously) purchase fake brands or copy of popular brands: “If I can‟t afford
Armani, I would go for a fake Armani” (Male, Udaipur). Respondents were willing to play on the
information asymmetry of the viewer: “Even if I carry a fake YSL, people would identify the logo
and think it to be original” (Female, Ahmedabad). However, the desire to buy a fake or
counterfeit product was not elicited from any metro-consumers. Thus, the price was being a very
important driver of luxury fashion purchase. Some respondents also felt that proper consumption
is a package of apparel and accessories working together simultaneously: “When you are
wearing a Tommy Hilfiger shirt and you have a pen worth 10 cents then it‟s really bad” (Female,
Udaipur).
To summarize the buying process, there would be three major constructs. The first would be
external and internal hurdles that would influence consumer openness and the evaluation of
alternatives. The second would the evaluation stage where the consumers would use different
choice heuristics to create a choice set. This would finally lead to the purchase decision. Thus,
the next set of propositions is framed as:
P6: Geographic location (including regional demographics) has a moderating role on the
relationship between antecedents of luxury buying and luxury buying behavior. More
specifically, consumers in metro cities would have an easier transference between motivations,
association and perceptions leading to alternative evaluation and purchase decision.
P7: The buying process consists of three phases: perceived hurdles, alternative evaluation and
actual purchase.
P7A: Perceived hurdles would influence alternative evaluations irrespective of gender and
demographics.
5.8 Consumption
The most important code that emerged in the consumption theme for the metro respondents was
a sense of achievement. Many respondents felt a sense of achievement once they made the
purchase. The same feeling exaggerated while consuming the product: “It makes me feel at the
top of the world” (Female, Mumbai). However, the other thoughts and feelings were similar
across all cities. Respondents mentioned that they want to experience luxury brands while
purchasing and even after purchase: “We feel good when we are praised and we always look for
appreciation” (Female, Delhi). The respondents stated integration of feelings during
consumption, which was primarily related to indulgence, self-satisfaction, delight, confidence
and boasting: “We are on cloud 9 after purchasing the brands and our stress level reduces
dramatically” (Female, Mumbai). Moreover, some respondents felt themselves to be unique and
exclusive at the consumption stage: “I feel like a princess after using these brands” (Female,
Delhi).
P8: The purchase of luxury leads to a sense of satisfaction and achievement in the consumers.
5.9 Post Consumption Thoughts/Behavior
Surprisingly, one of the most important post consumption thoughts which were elicited by the
respondents was of low loyalty, in spite of satisfaction in both metro and non-metro locations: “I
feel satisfied after consuming or using a Giordano watch. However, that does not mean I would
end up buying the same brand in the next purchase situation.” (Male, Mumbai). Obsolescence
was also an important dimension mentioned by the respondents. “I may buy a watch which could
be used for maybe five years. But I won‟t wear it for more than a year else I would be considered
backdated” (Female, Mumbai). However, the respondents agreed to have spread good word of
mouth if they were satisfied with the product brand. Stepwise upgrade from high to higher end
brands was found to be a common phenomenon only the non-metro cities: “If you are using the
same thing you did 1 year back, then it‟s no longer luxury. See how phone have been upgrading:
iPhone, iPhone 3, iPhone 4, iPhone 5. Now iPhone 4 is not a luxury, we want version 5” (Male,
Ahmedabad).
P9: Post consumption behavior would include positive word of mouth, but not necessarily
loyalty.
5.10 Practitioner FGD Findings
The summary of the findings from the consumer FGDs, were used as the basis for the
practitioner FGD. The practitioners supported most findings from the consumer FGDs, though
some of the findings were revelations for them. The major focus of the discussion was on the
challenges and opportunities for luxury branding in India. Many respondents mentioned that a
cultural shift in consumption patterns was taking place at the six metro cities in India where
conspicuous consumption was becoming a common feature among affluent youth. However,
they cited economic and infrastructural issues as the hurdle behind the growth of luxury branding
in metro cities. One respondent said, “The INR-USD exchange rate has been flip-flopping for
quite some time. It‟s not possible for us to control prices of the final product for the same
reason” while another explained, “The rate of growth of mall and superstores is much less in
India than in developed nations. This is true even for most metro cities. Thus it‟s natural that
availability would be affected.” Moreover, many participants were unanimous about the low and
seasonal demand for luxury products in smaller cities and thus they were wary about setting up
the stores: “Let‟s take Udaipur. I know that if I set up an Armani store, I would not be able to sell
throughout the year. The demand is not close to that of Delhi or Mumbai. Thus right now I would
refrain.” However, on the brighter side, the rising income of the Indian population was observed
as a welcome note for most participants as one said, “In 1995 how many graduates could earn a
salary above USD 1500 a month? Even considering the inflation, whatever todays educated
youth are earning could not have been imagined ten years back. This has led to conspicuous
consumption. And we are happy.” The IT revolution in India has helped many consumers to visit
abroad, again a dream in the 1990s for majority of India. “This has increased the level of
awareness of the Indian youth about the luxury brands. Thus they are more open to pay for high
end brands now” according to one participant. Participants were also unanimous on the influence
of social media as a stimulus for the growth of luxury brands in India.
5.11 The Buying Behavior Model
An action diagram of the propositions is presented in Figure 1. The diagram serves as a
conceptual model of the buying scheme of Indian consumers derived from the study findings.
The model is built in way that it is amenable to further quantitative analysis. Using Keegan et
al.‟s (1992) S-O-R model, the propositions were segregated into three groups. P1 belongs to
Stimulus, P2 to P5 belongs to Organism and P6 to P9 belongs to Response. The challenges and
opportunities have been included as an influencer to the entire model. However, we have not
constructed propositions for the same, as the unit of analysis may be more macro in nature.
The overarching influencers of luxury buying in India are the major macroeconomic forces such
as rising income and technology enabled awareness that has increased the availability of luxury
products and brands. However, the regional culture acts as the starting point of luxury buying in
India and acts as a stimulus for luxury consumption. At a micro-level, the consumer could be
considered as an organism that passes through various psychosocial processes that include
internal and external motivation factors, luxury associations and perceptions. These factors act as
the antecedents of luxury buying. Added to it, consumer gender and geographical location serve
as moderators to influence the strength of relations between the antecedents and the buying
process. The buying process could be considered as the response of the consumer (organism) and
the same could be divided into five components. The perceived hurdles to luxury buying have an
influence on the alternative evaluation and the final choice even though the antecedents may not
directly cause it. The antecedents (organism) influence the evaluation of possible alternatives and
final choice and the latter in turn influence the consumption affects. The post purchase response
behavior includes behavioral aspects such as consumption and sensory aspects such as feelings
and thoughts. The process culminates in the post consumption thoughts/feelings that may include
word of mouth and loyalty attitude.
6. Discussions
The major contribution of the present study is the creation of a comprehensive framework of
luxury buying behavior within a fast growing developing nation, namely, India. The present
study incorporates consumer perspectives from different parts of the country as well as across
genders. To verify and validate the findings, the authors included practitioners‟ perspective on
the macro level influencers of the buying model that makes the present model more advanced
than Ghosh and Varshney‟s (2003) framework in two ways. The present study adds to the
literature on luxury buying behavior on two grounds. First, it includes more constructs and
provided details about the buying process rather than investigating a part of the buying process
(e.g. Amatulli and Guido, 2011; Brun and Castelli, 2013). Second, being grounded in empirical
data, the findings allowed us to compare the Indian consumers‟ luxury buying behavior and the
western buying behavior models (based on existing literature). We present the discussion in two
parts. The first part presents the general discussion of the luxury buying behavior model and the
second part compares and contrasts the buying behavior of the Indian luxury consumers with the
western counterparts.
The first part of the model was the cultural backdrop as an antecedent to augment the model and
support prior research on similar lines (Hung et al. 2011). The findings suggest a host of external
and internal cultural factors behind the rise of luxury consumption in India. The increasing
heterogeneity among consumers on what constitutes „luxury‟ supports earlier views on luxury
having different meaning for various individuals (Atwal and Khan, 2008). This is ably supported
by the increase in availability of luxury labels in metro and big cities (Kapoor, 2010). The
attitude of non-metro consumers on upgrading to expensive brands supports the ever-evolving
nature of luxury products (Danziger, 2007). The internal factors included a psychological shift
from a savings to a consumption orientation, which is a relatively new phenomenon in India, but
has been prevalent in the West.
The major motivations behind luxury consumption were found to be self-expression and social
display in metro cities. The concept of conspicuous consumption was present in certain
consumer groups (Delhi), while certain groups exhibited the concept of self-expression
(Mumbai). Many respondents from the metro cities exemplified Dumoulin‟s (2007) concept of
contemporary luxury consumption as “a celebration of personal creativity, expressiveness, and
intelligence”. However, the concept of social emulation (Corneo and Jeanne 1997; Trigg 2001;
Dholakia and Talukdar 2004) to elevate to higher status was more prevalent in smaller cities.
Aspirations were found to be a strong antecedent of luxury buying (Dholakia and Talukdar 2004;
Truong, 2010), and could be related to the reason behind the influence of foreign celebrities
instead of national for the non-metro consumers.
The study findings suggested a three step buying process: 1) perceived hurdles, 2) evaluation of
alternatives and 3) the final purchase. The consumers (especially in non-metro cities) were found
to face several hurdles such as availability and communicability while shopping. This is a novel
finding and may be unique to India where a diversity of language and cultures create several
barriers. Consumers in metro cities were found to have a good knowledge of luxury brands
before making the purchase. Nonetheless, the influence of their peers, companion and store
manager was high when the consumer made the actual purchase. This supports the literature on
the role of reference group on purchase decisions (Bearden and Etzel, 1982). It was also found
that planned purchases might not always work for the consumers. This is in agreement with
previous literature that cites that store ambience and engagement with the store manager could
lead to impulse purchase via enriched shopping experience (Jain and Patel, 2013). Interestingly
price was not considered to be an important determinant for final purchase in the metro cities,
while it was considered relevant in the non-metros and discounts were considered to be equally
important. This is in contradiction with traditional luxury branding literature, which suggests that
consumers are willing to pay a higher price to acquire a luxury product (Mandhachitara and
Lockshin, 2004; Moore and Birtwistle, 2005). The phenomenon of selecting fake or counterfeits
in the Indian context could be related to the perception of acquiring prestige without paying a
high amount (Bloch et al., 1993; Albers-Millier, 1999; Harvey and Walls, 2003). It would also be
associated with social conformity (Jiang and Cova, 2012) since the consumers would not like to
be „left behind‟. This phenomenon could be harmful for the actual brand if a significant amount
of consumers behave in similar manner. Lastly, the behavior of a gradual upgrade of brand
choice, moving from less to more expensive brands supports the evolving nature of aspirations
(Chang and Arkin, 2002, Truong et al. 2010).
It was also identified that the Indian luxury consumers were ready for the new experiments as
they explore innovative features and brands and were portraying various elements of postmodern
consumers (Atwal and Khan, 2008; Atwal and Williams, 2008) or Dumoulin‟s (2007)
contemporary luxury consumers. They gave importance to creativity and innovation in luxury
brands (Atwal and Khan, 2008). Moreover, the data analysis was full of words such as “myself,
self-expression, self-consumption, fulfillment, exclusive, unique, ego” which suggested that there
might be a shift of the Indian luxury consumers collectivism to individualism as they focused
more on self-indulgence and self-experimental attributes while buying the luxury brands. This
trend has support in literature (Dasgupta, 2009) that had pointed out the need to further
understand the “self-concept construct behind luxury consumption behavior” in India. Thus our
findings emphasize that the self-concept for the Indian consumers is slowly moving from the
social-self to the individual. Additionally, gender and location were found to be important
moderators of luxury buying process. The study found males to be brand and style conscious,
price sensitive and fast in decision making while females to be more focused on aesthetics,
design and style of the products and slow in shopping (Jain et al., 2012). Geodemographics, or
the location where the consumer belongs was also found to be an important moderator of the
buying process. Many consumers in metro cities perceived that luxury-buying behavior had
shifted from the ostentatious approach to affordable and democratization (Yeoman, 2011) since
it was perceived as a part of life. In non-metro cities, luxury was still associated with the elite
class (Table 1). These (and the others mentioned in the results section) differences contribute to a
novel finding since previous research has not focused on intra-country differences in luxury
buying behavior. The consumers were not found to elicit behavioral loyalty and had switching
tendencies in successive purchase cycles. However, they were found to have attitudinal loyalty
since they were willing to spread positive word of mouth. The inference challenges the well-
established satisfaction-loyalty relationship, as the novelty effect is highly associated with luxury
brands.
Several contrasting patterns from the findings indicate the differences between luxury
consumption in west and India. First, there was a significant intra-country contrast in the
perceptions of luxury contrary to national level common understanding of luxury in western
countries (Godey et al. 2013). While the non-metro residents had similar word associations with
luxury (such as exclusive, prestige, aspirations) as their western counterparts (Godey et al. 2013),
the metro city consumers considered luxury as a style statement but also as a way of life. Thus,
the metro city consumers did not pay a great emphasis on the uniqueness of the products but
rather paid more emphasis on the role of the same in their life. This was in contrast with the
notion of luxury being anything other than „necessary‟ (Heine, 2012). Second, the concept of
financial value (Henigs et al. 2012) was absent from the antecedents that drove consumers luxury
value perceptions. Henigs et al. (2012) found the financial value perceptions significantly high
for countries such as France and Italy. This may not be easily ascertained through a survey. To
add to this, there were intra-country contrasts even on the value perceptions. While the metro
city consumers were majorly concerned about functional and individual value, the same in non-
metro cities was social value. This phenomenon may be attributed to the fact that India was
liberalized in the early 1990‟s and the consumers did not get to experience the generic growth of
brands (basic to premium to luxury) as it has happened in the west. This fuelled by a sharp rise in
the disposable income of the upper sections of the society led to „democratization‟ of luxury in
the metro cities. Thus, the metro city consumers were more close to the democrats of luxury
consumption while the non-metro consumers were more close to the elitists (Dubouis et al.
2001). Third and last, the „perceived hurdles‟ to luxury buying is a new construct and most
likely, would be applicable only to developing nations. While the concept of luxury may not
have any language associations in the western world, in countries such as India, English
language was found to have an association with luxury buying. Thus, the Indian consumers (who
do not English as their mother tongue) faced hurdles while communicating with store
representatives and had a sense of shyness while buying. The reason maybe being able to speak
English in India indicates upward mobility. Secondly, the economic and demographic diversity
of India where majority of wealth was restricted in the major metro cities has fostered
availability of luxury brands only in the metro cities and thus even though purchasing power may
be present in the smaller cities, the brands may not be available. Thus, our findings ask for a
detailed understanding of the national culture and its subgroups rather than country-wide
generalizations (Henigs et al. 2012; Godey et al. 2013) to arrive at luxury consumption
inferences.
To summarize, the study findings allowed us develop a model of antecedents and consequences
of luxury buying from the consumers‟ perspective. Thus, the present study has expanded on the
suggestions of Miller and Mills (2012) to create a framework of luxury buying behavior based on
the consumer attitudes, motivations and perceptions. The major finding of the study was that the
Indian consumers were not unanimous on their definition of luxury. Moreover, there were
differences across gender as well as the nature of the city (metro/non-metro). The present study
supported the notion of luxury being subjective and difficult to define in a single statement (Eng
and Bogaert, 2010; Brun and Castelli, 2013). Based on the findings, we could infer that it would
be better to explore what luxury means for consumer groups rather than having a macro-
perspective (Atwal and Williams, 2009; Fionda and Moore, 2009).
7. Managerial Implications
In essence, the present study acts as a complement to Fionda and Moore‟s (2009) study on
luxury brands from the seller‟s perspective. Since the present study is also supported partly by
data from industry practitioners, the managerial implications become more relevant. To begin
with, the Indian luxury market has a many opportunities for the rising middle class income,
which has enabled the consumers to afford luxury brands (Chadha and Husband, 2007). The
media proliferation and rising use of electronic social media such as Facebook and Twitter has
created awareness among the consumers about the luxury brands and their uniqueness. However,
there are still hurdles such as broader macroeconomic forces outside the control of the marketer
and infrastructural drawbacks. The lack of demand in smaller cities as cited by many
practitioners could pave the way for online marketing that ensures quality, delivers on time and
has buyback facilities.
The major findings from the consumers‟ side suggest that there is no „one size fits all strategy‟
for a luxury brand in India. A marketer has to take into account the cultural backdrop, gender and
location of the consumers before taking a decision on the product and communication. Thus the
same marketer operating in a metro and a non-metro can opt for different communication
strategies to attract customers. The advertisements at the non-metro level can be more oriented
towards raising awareness. Moreover, there was a need to understand the consumer motives,
which could guide the marketer to establish strategies to woo and convert prospects into buyers.
In this regard, the marketers operating at non-metro or smaller cities could respect the local
language and could have a conducive in store atmosphere (includes salesperson) that does not
make the buyer feel uneasy. The differences between male and female consumers suggest that
different strategies has to employed for male and female respondents to get better results even in
the same product category. There were two very important issues that need to be addressed;
counterfeit brands and low loyalty. The problem with counterfeit brand in the present study is
even more challenging for the marketer since the buyer knows that the product is a fake before
buying. The present study included consumers with purchasing power to buy luxury brands
unlike the case of Jiang and Cova (2012) who included only price conscious consumers. Thus,
the challenge for the Indian marketer is to convert those counterfeit buyers into actual brand
buyers. Emphasis on quality issues, style and the possible loss of prestige as a result of owning
fakes could deter individuals from making the wrong choices. Lower loyalty to a particular
brand, could be tackled by developing a deep and wide product mix to retain customers for the
long run. This particular strategy has been suggested by Preiholt and Hogg (2006), who advocate
the development of new products at regular intervals in order to improve retention.
8. Conclusions and Scope
One of the major implications of the study suggests that the term and the concept „luxury brand‟
maybe ambiguous and ubiquitous. It could be applied to many products, services and consumer
experiences as a surrogate descriptor for various qualities. The present study thus calls for more
research into understanding the concept “Luxury”. Developing a clear sense of what the term
means, is an essential step to develop research instruments that can measure perceptions and
behavior related to luxury brands and how it has changed with time.
The study has provided a conceptual framework for researchers to empirically understand
luxury-buying behavior. From a practitioner‟s viewpoint this research has high value since it has
provided insights into how consumers in a developing nation perceive, search and buy luxury
products, which could help in developing different strategies for various segments of consumer.
One of the limitations of the study is the restriction to fashion and accessories product category.
More areas of luxury consumption should be considered for future research. In order to gain
further insights, it is proposed that similar studies are undertaken in more countries that are at a
similar stage of development to India. This would offer deeper understanding of cross-cultural
differences in luxury consumption patterns. This study has built its propositions on a qualitative
approach. Having built the model, it would make sense to triangulate the findings by developing
a large sampling framework and using a detailed questionnaire, to provide further validation.
This paper therefore opens the doors for further research in the area of luxury brand consumption
behavior.
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Author biographies:
Varsha Jain (PhD) is Assistant Professor in Integrated Marketing Communication and Chair,
Dissertation at the MICA (India). She has authored 58 publications in international, national and
trade journals, book chapters and case study collections, including the Journal of Marketing
Communication, Journal of Product and Brand Management, International Journal of Mobile
Marketing, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Young Consumers, Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
Administration, Middle East Media Educator, Marketing Insights and Marketing News and
Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies Collection. She won gold medals as “Young
Outstanding Management Researcher – 2013” and “Outstanding Woman Management

Researcher–2012” by AIMS (The Association of Indian Management Scholars) International.
She was visiting scholar at The Medill School, Northwestern University and a visiting professor
at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore in 2013. Currently, she is also writing a book
on Indian Consumer Behavior in an Interactive Market Place with Prof. Don Schultz
(Northwestern University, USA).

Subhadip Roy is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute of Management
Udaipur, India. Subhadip holds a Ph. D. in the area of Celebrity Endorsements from ICFAI
University Dehradun, India and a Masters in Business Management from the University of
Calcutta. His research interests are in Brand Management, Advertising and Market Research. He
is working in the area of celebrity endorsements and brand management and has published
research papers in international journals of repute.
Ashok Ranchhod is Reader in Marketing Communications at the Winchester School of Art and
was recently appointed Emeritus Professor at Southampton Solent University where he was a
previously Research Professor in marketing. Ashok has published numerous books and articles,
and has received prizes for his papers at the Academy of Marketing and The British Academy of
Management. He has undertaken consultancy for reputed firms and has written case studies on
several companies for the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA) for
providing funding support for the research study. The funding was majorly used for data
collection, coding and analysis.

Figure 1. The Conceptual Model

Challenges (C) and Opportunities (O)
C: Macroeconomic Forces, Infrastructure, Demand
O: Rising income, Awareness, Influence of Media
P5
Gender
P1 P7
R Motivations The Buying Process

E P2
Hurdles
G
I P8
Consumption
O P7A
N
A
Associations Evaluation of Alternatives
L
P9
C P3
U
L Post Consumption
T Thoughts/Behavior
U Final Choice
R Perceptions
E P4
Location
Stimulus Organism Response
P6
Table 1 Research design
Number City City Name Number of Participant Reason for Participation

of FGD Type Participants Details city selection criteria
(Age, selection
Gender
Ratio)
2 Metro Delhi 18 18 to 30, National Have purchased
1:1 Capital at least one
2 Metro Mumbai 18 18 to 30. Financial luxury brand
1:1 Capital (apparel and
accessories) in
the last one year
2 Non- Ahmedabad 20 18 to 30, Fast Either purchased
metro 1:1 growing at least one
non metro luxury brand
2 Non- Udaipur 16 18 to 30, Slow (apparel and
metro 1:1 growing accessories) in
non metro the last one year
or belong to
Socio Economic
Class A
Table 2 Sample Demographics
Demographic Subgroups Mean/Frequency*

variable
Age 18-23 21.6
24-30 27.7
Monthly Income Below USD 1000 986
Between USD 1786
1000-2000
Above USD 2000 2579
Gender Female 36
Male 36
Domicile Metro 36
Non-Metro 36
Socio-economic A1 18
Class A2 28
A3 26
* Mean values are for Age and Income, rest are frequencies
Table 3 Data Analysis: Codes, categories and themes emerging from analysis
Sample Codes
Theme Category
Metro Non-metro
Feel good, exclusive, premium
Elegance, style, fashion
quality at high price, status
Luxury Signifier statement, quality, aesthetics,
symbol, uncommon, beyond
exclusivity, ego
functionality, non-Indian
Meaning of
Fashion Apparel, Wallets, Bags, Fashion Apparel, Cosmetics,
Luxury
Luxury Products Cosmetics, Jewelry, Footwear, Footwear, Wallets, Jewelry,
Mobile Phones Mobile Phones, Watches
Luxury and Part of life, basic activity, portray Aspiration, compromise, internal
consumers image, can’t live without fulfillment, occasional

Relativity, awareness, income
Availability, affordability, buying
External Factors levels, purchase time, social
occasion, choice, liberalization
communications
Cultural
View towards savings, view
Background View towards savings, view
towards consumption, objective
Internal Factors towards consumption, time of
of income, consume now-save
month, individualism
later
Self-expression, social display, Uncertainty reduction, active
Motivations peer appreciation, relaxation, self- engagement, social
consumption, pastime acceptance/approval, impulse
Friends, market, social class, City
Friends, market, social class, elite
of origin, domicile status,
Associations groups, mutual exchange, western
Antecedents celebrity endorsers/users,
celebrities
trendsetting
Show-off, self-satisfaction, self-
giving, experimentation, going Show-off vs. self-satisfaction,
Perceptions
with trends, uniqueness, basic savings projections, uniqueness,
necessity
Quality, exclusivity,
Trade-off, sacrifice, smartness,
Hurdles customization, availability,
availability, price differential
information
In-store behavior, background Planning, collective decision,
Evaluation of research, a priori knowledge, social media, traditional ads, in
Buying
Alternatives online forums, sales personnel, store behavior, familiarity,
Process
discount discounts
Price not important, perceived
quality, difference in planned and Matching apparel with accessories,
Final Choice
final choice, switching, have to price is important, fake brands
buy.
Sense of achievement,
fulfillment, indulgence, self- Peer approval, delight, excitement,
Consumption
satisfaction, delight, boast, pampered
Consequences
confidence, feelings
Post Satisfaction, low loyalty, word of Short span of satisfaction, low
Consumption mouth, repeat buying loyalty, upgrade
Table 4 Differences in Luxury Perceptions across cities and gender
Location
Study
Gender Metro
Variable Non-Metro
Delhi Mumbai
Feel good, aspirations,
Luxury Elegance, style,
Quality, exclusivity uncommon, social
Descriptor expensive
status
Luxury and Part of life, identity
Show off, flaunt Being a somebody
Consumer creation
Male Conspicuous
Uncertainty reduction,
Motivations consumption, Hedonic and symbolic
social acceptance
occasion specific
Buying Alone, preplanned Alone, preplanned Depends on product
Post
Purchase Achievement Achievement Pride
Feelings
Luxury Elegance, style, Exclusive, quality,
Aesthetics, exclusivity
Descriptor fashion statement differentiator
Luxury and Social influence,
Stand out, stress buster Recognition
Consumer show off
Attract opposite Uncertainty reduction,
Motivations Shopping pleasure
gender social acceptance
Female
In group,
In group, unplanned, In groups, but also with
Buying unplanned, time
time consuming spouse
consuming
Post
Joy of pamper,
Purchase Joy of pamper, delight Comfort, confidence
delight
Feelings
Appendix. Additional quotes used to build the constructs and the conceptual model
Construct Supporting Quotes Respondent

Details
“When we were kids, any family member travelling from abroad Female
was requested to bring a Charlie perfume. These days every Mumbai
western brand is available in the malls and some even have
exclusive outlets. Thus it is not about rarity anymore, it’s about
Culture
how you want yourself to be shown.”
“..there is no harm in following brands in Facebook. You don’t Female,
have to pay for it. I can get the impulse once someone has a post Ahmedabad
and others are talking about it”.

“We are more excited to know what kind of apparels and Female,
accessories are used by our friends”. Delhi
“Price is not a big issue for me. Anyway I know I am buying Male, Delhi
something expensive.”
Motivations
“These are the things that can build my image as a ‘somebody’” Male,
Udaipur
“When I buy a Rolex, I know I am buying something worth and Female,
something that would give me looks and attention.” Ahmedabad
“These people do not have sense about the brands and fashion Female,
and they end up in a disaster. They do not make strategic Mumbai
decisions in purchasing the brands. They purchase these brands to
get associated with the high profile people and high class
society”.
Associations “They do not use the brands so they are not reliable and we want Female,
to experience the brands ourselves”. Mumbai
“These goods are associated with high end lifestyle (as we see in Male,
movies). Thus it would get me to that level” Udaipur
“I would always want to use the perfumes, watches, dress, that my Female,
favorite celebrity uses” Udaipur
“We believe in self-gift giving concept so we buy luxury fashion Male,
brands for ourselves”. Mumbai
“I do not buy a luxury brand for showing off. I don’t need to. The Female,
brand gives me self-satisfaction”. Udaipur
“We buy luxury to indulge in it, to appeal to our senses, to Male,
Perceptions
pamper ourselves and to gift ourselves” Mumbai
“I may not say ‘show-off” but attract attention, definitely” Female,
Ahmedabad
“There is no point in showing off among my friends, since all of Female,
them have similar (high end) products” Delhi
“If I have to buy cosmetics or a dress, I would mostly go out with Female,
my gang (women). But if I have to buy jewelry, then my husband Ahmedabad
Moderator:
goes along”.
gender
“If I go for shopping alone, I do not go through many options. Male, Delhi
Generally I compare two to three brands of the same products and
select one out of them”
“What’s the joy in viewing just one product and make the final Female,
choice? What if I have missed something better? Thus I need to Delhi
spend time to make the final choice.”
“I really don’t think much after I have made the purchase. If I Male,
keep thinking, I may feel afterwards that I should got something Mumbai
else and have made a wrong choice.”
“Have you shopped with a young lady? See the amount of time Male,
they waste.” Udaipur;
Reply: “Well, to me it’s not a waste of time. I have my image at Reply (in
stake, why should I haste and rue later?” the same
FGD)
Female
“If your parents are buying it for you, you don’t have to sacrifice Female,
anything. But if you are buying it for yourself then ……..at times Ahmedabad
Purchase: you have to trade off something”.
Hurdles “At times it’s uneasy since I am not familiar with the jargons of Male
fashion. They have their own terminology in luxury and a buyer is Udaipur
expected to know the same”.
“If it is a digital camera or mobile phones then research is Male, Delhi
extensive but not for the apparels and accessories”.
Purchase:
“We want them to behave properly and they should not suggest a Male,
Evaluation
brand as we very well know”. Mumbai
of
“After all a discounted price is not going to affect a Versace by Male,
Alternatives
making it something else. Moreover, how many people who see me Udaipur
in the sunglass get to know that I got it for a discount?”
“We pay higher for the premium quality of products as it is an Male,
investment.” Mumbai
“I generally go to the store with a brand in mind, but it happens Male, Delhi
every now and then that the same stuff may not be there. If I come
back empty handed, I have to return again which is a waste of
time. Thus I search for some time and get something equivalent
Purchase:
and buy it”.
Final Choice
“I have seen many of my friends wear a Titan watch while they Male,
have a Gucci T Shirt or something like that. I would never do that. Ahmedabad
A match has to be there between my dress and accessories to
portray the right image”.
“Even if I carry a fake YSL, people would identify the logo and Female,
think it to be original”. Ahmedabad
“We buy BMW and Audi to make a mark in the community”. Female,
Delhi
“I got this D&G perfume on my birthday and I couldn’t stop Female,
Consumption myself showing it off. Every second person I met that day, I Udaipur
showed it”.
“When I keep a cross pen in my pocket it makes me delighted and Male,
confident”. Mumbai
“I felt like a Maharaja who held the admiration of others”. Male,
Ahmedabad
“I feel like a princess after using these brands”. Female,
Delhi
“Even if I am satisfied, I would not buy the same brand twice Female,
since it becomes boring”, Delhi
Post
“See, I buy a dress today, I wore it on two occasions where I Male,
Consumption
flaunt it like anything. But then everybody gets to see it and its Ahmedabad
value goes down”.

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Journal of Product & Brand Management

Conceptualizing luxury buying behavior: the Indian perspective

*Related content and download information correct at time of download.

behavior associated with luxury consumption.

2.1 Defining Luxury

lavishness, magnificence, comfort, sumptuousness, opulence and extravagance (Khan, 2006).

2.2 Overview of Luxury Branding

status (Mason, 1993).

2.3 Culture and Luxury Consumption

consumer‟ may not be appropriate thinking.

consumption patterns, while Eastern nations follow a publicly self-conscious consumption

consumption was a means of assessing the self and others in India.

2.4 Luxury Consumption Behavior

cultural perceptions of luxury (Dubosis et al., 2001;EngandBogaert, 2010; Wiedmann et al.,

perception) or external stimuli (marketing, environment, social class, family, reference)

2.5 Luxury and Gender

extensively (Meyers-Levy, 1989; Meyers-Levy and Maheswaran, 1991; Meyers-Levy and

Khan, 2008) have supported the same thoughts.

2.6 Marketing Stimuli and Luxury Consumption

been found to be determining factors of luxury consumption in certain product categories

extensions (Veg-Sala and Roux, 2014).

3. Research Gaps and Objectives

consumer buying behavior model (Stimuli-Organism-Response) as the theoretical framework.

(Monga and Chaudhary, 2011).

location on luxury buying behavior.

have the potential to buy luxury goods.

develops at an early age.

information about the venue and time was provided.

brand purchase (if any).

4.3 The Focus Group Discussions

Moreover, India being a multi-lingual country, English was a common medium of

communication to an otherwise situation where different participants had different mother

4.4 Data Verification

5. Analysis and Results

major representative quotes related to the formation of the respective themes/constructs

(supporting quotes are provided in the appendix).

5.1 Meaning of Luxury

Timberland, and Movado.

have a moral or boost kind of support.”

5.2 Cultural Backdrop

This approach also affected the luxury consumption.

to have an influence on consumption culture of luxury brands.

Thus, the first proposition of the study is framed as:

motivations, associations and perceptions of luxury.

5.3 Antecedents of Luxury Buying: Motivations

behavior in the metros.

second proposition of the study is given as:

5.4 Antecedents of Luxury Buying: Associations

it urgently” (Male, Delhi).

am contributing to Armani‟s brand image” (Male, Ahmedabad).

Secret” (Female, Ahmedabad).

and final purchase.

5.5 Antecedents of Luxury Buying: Perceptions

change was more visible in Mumbai rather than Delhi.

purchase decision of luxury products.

5.6 Moderator: Gender

choice” (Male, Delhi).

depended on the product.

alternative evaluation and final choice than male consumers.

5.7 The Buying Process

category is related to the actual purchase.

details about the products.

respondents in both the cities.