“Chineseness” in Luxury: Future Challenges and Perspectives

Abstract

Marketing strategies developed by international luxury brands in China are “on the move”; global brands are modifying their strategies and considering integrating traditional Chinese cultural elements with the objective of being in line with the expectations and new attitudes of the Chinese luxury clientele. Generally, customers relate to luxury for multiple reasons, from enhancing group affiliation (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2006), to reaffirming individuality (Aaker, 1997), or displaying the group to which they belong (Chipp et al., 2011). With respect to these categorizations, Chinese luxury customers show a certain complexity in relation to the lack of homogeneity within each segment due to the “transitional” and changing phase of the luxury market in the Chinese context. In particular, the Chinese luxury consumption market is slowing, but also undergoing changes in relation to the increased “luxury savviness” of some customer segments, as well as the emergence of new ones, which are causing customer behaviours to become more diversified and complex. Despite the traditional predisposition towards a collectivist view of Chinese luxury customers, customers are now changing towards an individualistic orientation (Lu, 2008). The dimensions of luxury reveal the social versus personal dimension of the Chinese luxury customer perspective.