What characterises luxury products? A study across three product categories

Purpose – This study aims to test whether the attributes developed via qualitative or conceptual approaches link to the concept of luxury when measured using a quantitative approach. Given the critical role price has in the definition and identification of luxury products, this research measures whether the use of different attributes is exclusively associated with the highest price points in each category or whether there is some level of sharing with lower price points. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 431 respondents sociodemographically representative of the Australian population were screened for familiarity with the category and then randomly assigned to one of three product categories (wine, spirits and perfume). Best–worst scaling was used to measure the associations between different attributes and the concept of luxury, while the pick-any method was used to measure the association of different attributes to different price points. Findings – The findings are consistent across the three categories investigated, i.e. “premium quality”, “authentic/trustworthy brand” and “good brand reputation/status”, are much more associated with luxury than with regular brands. “Luxury”, “premium”, “antique/old vintage”, “limited production/edition” and “premium price” consistently cluster around the highest price point in each category, while the other attributes tested did not. Originality/value – Despite the plethora of research about attributes associated with the luxury concept, this is the first study attempting to measure the size of the association. The consistency of the results across the three product categories is encouraging in terms of the generalisability of the results for future research.