Youth, Luxury and the Willingness to Pay

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue III, March 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

Youth, Luxury and the Willingness to Pay

Suleiman Ocheni

Abstract: – The concept of luxury has existed for as long as the emergence of hierarchies in society, and has been in a constant state of flux ever since. At its inception it was characterised by exclusivity, superior quality and price. However, as it has evolved over time it has come to mean different things to different people, meaning that the motivation for consuming luxury products change from place to place and even between groups within the same society. A comprehensive review of the literature available on this topic revealed a gap; the motivation of undergraduate students for consuming luxury products still remains unclear. The aim of this study is to study undergraduate students in the United Kingdom and determine whether or not they are willing to pay premium prices for luxury products. This paper goes a step further and also examines their motivation for this behaviour. A qualitative inquiry was carried outon six respondents with the help of semi-structured interviews. This study concluded that students are in fact willing to pay premium prices for luxury, but only if they are satisfied that they were able to get the best deal. This research also reveals that undergraduate students in the United Kingdom are more interested in luxury items if they offer a previously absent convenience, therefore, are willing to pay a higher price for this expediency.A conceptual framework has also been proposed to aid luxury marketers in targeting undergraduate students.

Keywords: Luxury, Premium Prices, Willingness to Pay, Exclusivity, Quality.

I. INTRODUCTION

When studying luxury it is important to look closely at its consumers and research what draws them to such products. Shukla, et al., (2015) suggest that people who purchase luxury do so to astonish their peers with their consumption choices, and more importantly to stand out in society. Consumers of luxury are a special breed of customer. They are extremely sensitive to how they are perceived by the people around them and consume brands that they think will make them appear superior to their peers (Yim, et al., 2014). Luxury consumers tend to compare material purchases as opposed to experiential ones because material possessions are publically visible and can easily be cast off should they become mainstream (Yang & Mattila, 2014). As a result of the superficiality of luxury consumers, products that can be easily compared are preferred, because to them, the purpose of consumption is to outwardly differentiate themselves from others.

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