What is luxury? What are the cultural connotations and characteristics of luxury goods?

/brand/ This is the ranking order of the top luxury brands in the world in 2005. Forbes ranks in the top 20. Top 20 brands in the World Brand Lab1Absolute Vodka (wine) Bentley (car) 2 Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson (motorcycle) Burj Burj Burj (hotel) 3 Tiffany Tiffany (jewelry) Rolex Rolex (watch) 4 The Ritz-Carlton Chanel Hotel (women's wear, cosmetics) 5 BMW (car, motorcycle) Estee Lauder. 6 Chanel Chanel Chanel (women's wear, cosmetics) Tiffany Tiffany (jewelry) 7 Rolex Rolex (watch) Mercedes-Benz (car) 8 Gucci Gucci (women's wear) Gianni Versace (fashion) 9 Mercedes-Benz (car) Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton (luggage, ready-to-wear) 10 Bacardi (wine) Hennessy Hennessy (wine) American Express (credit card) 12 Louis Vuitton (luggage and clothing Four Seasons Hotel 17 Estee Lauder (cosmetics) Ferrari 18 Lancome (cosmetics) Dr Bose 19 Four Seasons Hotel BMW 20 Bose (audio) Armani (table Also present with these celebrities are the luxury brands they wear, match, drink and use. The seats on the guest list change every year, but these brands have become frequent visitors in the next session. Many fashion magazines and websites have made the "Top Ten" list of luxury brands of a certain category, but the most influential ones are the "Top Luxury Brands List" judged by Forbes magazine in 2004 and the "Top Luxury Brands List of the World 100 in 2005" published by WBL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of World Manager Information Co., Ltd. Forbes' list focuses on marketing ability, and the scores of 32 world-class luxury brands are published according to "the ability to control sales channels, the influence of brands on shopping choices, marketing efficiency and media exposure"; The World Brand Lab pays more attention to the competitiveness of the brand itself, and puts forward four indicators: "value quality, cultural history, high-end popularity and purchasing desire". Because of different standards, the ranking of the two lists is different, but most brands overlap (see table 1), but among the 32 brands proposed by Forbes, 365,438+0 overlap with WBL, with a coincidence rate of 97%. So we might as well study the origin of luxury brands from these two rosters and unlock the "genetic map" of luxury families. Illustration of the kinship of luxury brands The author sorts out the countries, product types and production years of the top 50 luxury brands in WBL list by statistical methods, and sorts out the kinship of luxury brands from three latitudes, and obtains some interesting findings. First of all, from the perspective of national distribution, there are 34 brands from Europe, accounting for 68% (France 1 1), and the United States has 14 brands. Other countries including Sweden, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Japanese brands such as Lexus and Issey Miyake have entered the list, but all of them are above 50. (Figure 1) It can be seen that the emergence of luxury goods is closely related to the social, political and economic background. Europe, which completed the industrial revolution at the earliest, is the birthplace of luxury goods. The United States, with the strongest contemporary economic strength, is the country with the largest number of luxury brands. In terms of product categories, the brands of automobile, fashion and luggage account for the top two, namely 12(24%) and 10(20%). Cosmetics (counted by core products when a brand includes clothing and cosmetics), alcohol and tobacco, watches/jewelry and hotels are also important categories, accounting for 65,438+. (Figure 2) It can be seen that the luxury goods industry is relatively concentrated. The understanding of "luxury goods" is the brand connotation rather than the value of luxury goods. Therefore, although the unit price of cosmetics is not high, it has entered the list, while fixed assets such as luxury houses and yachts have not entered the ranking because of the lack of brand influence. The curve of the founding age once again confirms the relationship between luxury goods and social environment. 10 There are10 brands born before 850, all in Europe. 185 1 ~ 1900 was a low point, and only five brands remained. 190 1 ~ 1950. Although the two world wars destroyed a lot of wealth, the prosperity of industrial society provided sufficient capital support for the manufacture and sales of luxury goods, and almost all luxury car brands were born in this era. Among the 12 brands that originated after 1950, there are seven brands in the United States, which shows its economic vitality. (Figure 3) It is worth mentioning that these two Asian brands were born after 90, and they are very young. From the cross indicators, Italy, the United States and France are the base camps of luggage and fashion luxury brands; Britain, Germany, Italy and France have taken over luxury car brands; Cosmetic brands mainly come from France and the United States, while wine, whisky and vodka belong to France, Britain and Sweden. Switzerland is undoubtedly the kingdom of watches, and the four watch brands on the list are all from Switzerland. The only exception is the hotel. Arab countries have the most luxurious super-star hotels, which is consistent with their positioning of relying on raw material export and tourism as pillar industries. (Figure 4) From the perspective of brand growth time, cigarettes/wine, watches/jewelry have the longest history, and these brands were all produced before 1950. The structure of cosmetics and automobiles is relatively stable, and most of them were established before 1950, leaving few opportunities for young brands. Fashion and hotels give young brands plenty of opportunities. Nearly half of the brands were born after 1950, especially the two Arab hotels were established less than 10 years ago. (Figure 5) Under the pressure of multinational group mergers and acquisitions, there are fewer and fewer family businesses that can insist on independent operation, all of which have been incorporated by world-class luxury goods groups, and the countries and capitals to which brands belong are becoming more and more chaotic. Take the watch industry with the tradition of independent operation as an example. Swatch Group was formed by the merger of the former Swiss Watch Industry Company (ASUAG) and Swiss Watch Company (SSIH) in 1983, and changed its name to its present name in 1998. It is the largest watch industry group in the world today, with brands such as blanchard, Omega, Radar and Longines. The second largest Rolex group in the watch industry adheres to the principle of simplification and only owns Rolex and Tiffany. Richemont Group owns Cartier, Dunhill, Montblanc and Lan Se. Since 1988, its subsidiary Vendome Group has successively purchased three famous watches, namely Celebrity, Ors and Vacheron Constantin, becoming the third famous watch group. The French LVMH Group, with a huge appetite, immediately became the fourth largest watch manufacturer in the world after acquiring three Swiss watch brands: Yubao, TAG Heuer and Znitt. The group's strong financial support, advanced management concepts and intensive procurement costs have injected vitality into the development of the brand, but maintaining the existing traditions and styles has become a more important task for the brand. What kind of genes can guarantee the purity of luxury pedigree? What are the core elements of building a luxury brand? What is the prevailing law in the intertwined Vanity Fair? This paper combs the eight characteristics of luxury brands to crack the genetic code for this noble family. Decode 1: excellent quality "only sell expensive ones, not buy the right ones". Ironically, the choice of nouveau riche, the ideal consumer of luxury goods will fully consider the exquisite quality of products and the high technology involved. Exquisite design and durability are important features of Louis Vuitton handmade bags. After more than 50 years of development and research on Monogram canvas materials, generations of LV descendants have obtained a solid, wear-resistant, waterproof and beautiful texture and texture, ensuring that even a small key bag will not be deformed after years of use, but the edge is a little worn. A classic suitcase gives you not only convenience and solid commitment, but also the painstaking efforts of a senior craftsman. IWC, known as the "mechanical watch expert", has to go through 28 independent tests for each watch, absolute vodka has to go through a unique "continuous distillation" technology, Ferrari sports cars have reached the limit speed of 300 miles per hour, and there is also the magical ocean essence from la mer cream ... Luxury brands have their own laboratories, engineers, designers and patents, which are comparable to professional scientific research institutes in terms of technological innovation and social impact. Their extreme development of technology and quality is a kind of.