The Roles of Consumers Need for Uniqueness and Status Consumption in Haute Couture Luxury Brands

Abstract

A vast body of knowledge exists regarding the attitudes involvedin the consumption of luxury brands. The purchase ofproducts for their symbolic and social value rather than fortheir inherent utility is now widely recognised as a significantdeterminant of consumer behaviour (Mason, 1992). Withchanges in industry trends, gaps in knowledge are created. Thus, it is important to examine luxury brands in relation touniqueness. Moreover, whether consumers need for uniquenessis in fact a need for status in this younger emerging market(Clark, Zboja, and Goldsmith, 2007). The Australian Generation Y market is a dynamic and extremelycompetitive environment (Phau and Leng 2008). It encompasses26% of the adult population (Khoo and Conisbee2008) with the benefit of offering a market segment open togeneralisations. Thanks to a decrease in the affordability of thehousing market the average disposable income has increasedand as a result Generation Y has enormous spending potential. In 2015 Generation Y will have the largest share of the consumermarket and is set to dominate retail trade (Khoo andConisbee, 2008). However, limited research has been conductedusing the Australian Generation Y market in regards to theirattitudes towards uniqueness and luxury brands. According toPhau and Cheong (2009) consumers between the ages of 30-50years have been the prime market for luxury goods. The importanceof adult consumers has been explored in depth, butthere has been less attention given to the emergence of symbolicconsumption in young people. This study examines the causal relationships among consumers’need for uniqueness, brand perceptions (brand judgementsand emotional value), and purchase intentions of an haute coutureluxury apparel brand and it’s ready to wear range amongAustralian Generation Y status and non-status consumers. Thisresearch will allow further examination of how AustralianGeneration Y consumers’ need for uniqueness influences productacquisition behaviour concluding with how marketers andpractitioners could use this to effectively target this young con-sumer market. Haute Couture is the prestigious front for French creativefashion (recently a number of fashion houses outside Parishave been afforded membership) and original design and refersto “wildly expensive garments made to measure for an elitecadre of the world’s ultra rich…where designers unleash theircreativity, using the finest materials and techniques” (BarchfieldJuly 15, 2009, 3)Haute couture creates the illusion through brand associationthat accessories, (bags, scarf's, sunglasses etc.) are as exclusiveas the couture products at the premium end of the range. Couture generates high levels of publicity, which funnel downinto sales in the ready to wear and mass production stages(Catry, 2003). A self-administered pen and paper questionnaire was developedfor the study, which utilised a non-probability conveniencesample of Australian Generation Y consumers. Thesurvey instrument took approximately 10 minutes to completeand used existing scales with strong reliabilities to measure thefive main constructs on a seven-point scale ranging from“strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. Data was collectedfrom students studying in a large Metropolitan University inWestern Australia. A total of 259 usable questionnaires wereanalysed. Data analysis was conducted using factor analysisand multiple and step-wise regression analysis. It was foundthat consumers’ need for uniqueness has three dimensions, creativechoice counter-conformity, unpopular choice counter-conformityand avoidance of similarity, in the concept of a hatuecouture brand. The effect of consumers’ need for uniqueness,status consumption and brand perceptions was tested in relationto purchase intentions. It was found that brand judgements hadthe strongest most significant effect on purchase intentions. The three dimensions of consumers’ need for uniqueness, creativechoice counter-conformity, unpopular choice counter-conformityand avoidance of similarity were found to have differingrelationships with purchase intentions. Only creative choicecounter-conformity was found to have a significant relationshipwith purchase intentions through brand perceptions. The paper adds knowledge to the field of consumers’ needfor uniqueness and status consumption and provides an insightinto Australian Generation Y consumers’ purchasing intentionstoward an haute couture luxury apparel brand and offers anumber of significant contributions. Theoretically, it introducestheoretical underpinnings from branding, psychology and consumerbehaviour to develop a framework in which to examineinsights from existing fashion literature in a new light. Thisstudy focuses on Australian Generation Y consumers’ purchase intentions of a luxury apparel brand and it is subsequentlyfound that deviations exist between Australian Generation Yconsumers and Generation Y consumers previously studied(Northern Asia and the United States) (O'Cass and Choy,2008; Park, Rabolt, and Jeon, 2008; Knight and Kim, 2007). Furthermore, only creative choice counter-conformity is foundto be a significant predictor of purchase intentions of luxuryapparel. This proposes a new way of thought in regards touniqueness seeking consumers’ attitudes towards products withan exclusive and customisation approach, illustrating that consumers’place a level of sameness with a well-recognised luxurybrand regardless of the exclusive, one-of-a-kind designs thepremium end of the brand portrays. Managerially, the studysupports the belief that exposure to a recognised luxury apparelbrand can prompt brand judgements and emotional responsesin status seeking consumers. This can be seen throughouthypothesis 2 in the significant difference in the results ofstatus seeking consumers’ as compared to that of uniquenessseeking consumers. Although the findings of this research are market specific,they have important implications for general fashion consumptionresearch. This research demonstrated the value of theconsumers’ need for uniqueness and the status consumptionscales in explaining fashion adoption behavior especially pertainingto luxury apparel.