What is luxury marketing?

Travailler dans le marketing du luxe
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Definition: what is luxury marketing?

Luxury marketing is a set of methods and techniques that aim to build business strategies to sell luxury items.

Luxury marketing is designed on the same basis as traditional marketing. It therefore uses the same codes and methods, but focuses on the promotion of high-end goods. Its goal is to highlight the values of the domain (rarity, refinement, superior quality,…) with the intention of maximizing sales and spreading the word as widely as possible.

France is a leader in this field with a major impact on world markets. It is also called “French luxury”. Luxury marketing encompasses several areas of influence:

  • gastronomy
  • mode
  • hotel
  • cosmetics

Today, its scope of action goes beyond the promotion of yesteryear, via television spots or press inserts. Its resonance now goes through social networks, the acquisition of web traffic on e-commerce sites or the use of Google Ads and Google Shopping.

Why do luxury marketing?

Luxury is a constantly expanding field. Its permanent mutation, influenced by the evolution of technological means and especially by the advent of digital technology, has allowed the field to be enriched by a large number of fields. Like many future-oriented sectors, the unemployment rate is relatively low.

Those who appreciate exchange and transmission will see in luxury marketing an interesting way to express their talents as communicators. In order to develop successful strategies, this sector of activity requires a precise, almost sociological approach to human behavior. In addition, teamwork is an essential component of the jobs in this sector.

Finally, the marketing field is the perfect sector if you want to be creative and innovative. It is a field that is open to proposals and innovative ideas. In luxury marketing, audacity will be your best ally.

In short, why do luxury marketing?

  • to have the guarantee of a job with a future
  • take on exciting challenges in your daily work
  • to work in a creative and daring sector

What are the values associated with luxury?

In the collective unconscious, the word luxury is synonymous with several values. It is above all a sensory experience that brands offer to stand out from inferior ranges.

The scarcity

What is rare is expensive. What is expensive is quality. This is a brand’s first argument to justify a high cost. Thus, despite the notion of the product’s inaccessibility, the brand offers you the privilege of accessing it. By appealing to the values of uniqueness and singularity, the brands offer you an exhilarating and qualitative experience, on the edge of a dream, far from the standards of mass consumption.

Timelessness

Yes, luxury is always trying to adapt to trends. However, the sector likes to anchor itself in timeless values, borrowing from myths and history, traditions and authenticity. Like a refuge or a place of memory, luxury is a temple. It ensures that its image endures, maintaining an indestructible link, deeply rooted in the consumer’s heart, and historically attached to a period that makes sense.

Social distinction

Luxury has a definite sociological dimension. For many people, having a great name is a sign of social distinction. A way of defining oneself, in opposition to the mass. As a consumer, it is a selective and elitist act. This way of categorizing oneself, integrates the consumer into a group of belonging, a tribe, with well-defined codes, which allow them to free themselves and assert themselves.

Is E-commerce the future of luxury?

Long time The major luxury groups have shunned digitalization, which has been sidelined by the sector. Considered incompatible with the notions of rarity that are attached to it, brands have only recently taken the digital turn. The closure of stores during the Covid crisis as well as confinements hastened the transition of luxury into the digital age.

Thus, during the year 2020, the turnover of the luxury sector has increased by 23%. This is proof that the sector has been able to reinvent itself in the midst of a crisis. This increase heralds an unprecedented growth in e-commerce in the years to come.

Since the pandemic, the shock to major brands has been considerable. Companies have realized that the online experience is a must to survive. Numerous avenues have therefore been developed, such as try-on. This new technique allows you to try on clothes and jewelry through an augmented reality.

It is therefore the partnership and fusion of technologies that will allow us to reinvent brands and concepts in 2022. Like Gucci, which chose to launch its global shoe campaign through a snapchat fitting tool, or Pinterest, which offers to test a range of lipsticks in Try-on in order to encourage transactions on its platform. Virtualization projects ensure a more secure future for luxury goods.

How to enter the luxury field?

More than in any other field, luxury requires great skills and solid qualifications. Where some sectors leave room for improvisation or gradual adaptation, the sector is demanding, which can put off the least enduring profiles.

  • As an employee of a brand, the employee is also an ambassador for the brand. It is therefore essential to guarantee an image that is in perfect adequacy with the spirit that the brand wishes to spread.
  • Passion being one of the key values in the world of luxury, the employee must be able to transmit his enthusiasm and culture to sell a product. It is important to have a good commercial sense and a coherent argument to generate desire.
  • Because of its international aspect, the luxury sector requires a sharp command of languages. Thus, in addition to being fluent in English, the use of other influential languages in the industry is seen as a real asset. Mastery of Russian or Chinese, for example, is highly valued for working in the luxury industry.
  • The field having undertaken a fast and consequent digital mutation, the control of the data-processing tools also became essential to be able to answer effectively the technological stakes of the time.

What are the best ways to study for a job in luxury marketing?

Luxury marketing is accessible through different types of courses. It all depends on the project you have in mind, the orientation and the specialization you wish to pursue. Thus, according to the trajectory, the curriculum will be equal to :

  • 2 years for a BTS
  • 3 years for a Licence
  • 5 to 6 years for a Master’s degree

A wide variety of options are available depending on your sensibility and your desires. It is important to take the time to learn about the multitude of offers available. A careful study of the different study paths will lead you to the right path to take.

Once you have completed your baccalaureate, it is possible to start your studies at a specialized business school or through a university. The offers are multiple and varied:

Through the many courses of study, the candidate will learn the notions inherent in marketing, languages, business and digital. It is an ideal environment to acquire the culture of luxury and all the codes that go with it. All these training courses are professional and confront the candidate with the reality of the field. This experience acquired in real-life conditions is highly valued by recruiters.

Of course, the more years of study you have, the higher your skill level will be.

What are the professions in luxury marketing?

Just like sales or development, marketing jobs are an integral part of the luxury sector. Essentially revolving around brand image and promotion, the aim of the luxury marketing professions is to encourage consumption and build customer loyalty. Although specialized, there are a large number of jobs in this sector:

Chef de produit luxe

The luxury product manager has many missions. Thus, he is in charge of carrying out market studies in order to target current trends and buyers’ desires. It will then develop products in direct response to consumer needs. He is also responsible for developing promotional strategies to disseminate the product, according to a precise budget and specifications.

Luxury brand manager

The mission of the luxury brand manager is to promote a product in order to highlight the values and spirit of a brand. Its role is to define a national and international implementation strategy, as well as to carry out various communication missions, in partnership with agencies. Throughout the process, he follows the development and growth of the various products in the range. It is a job that requires a lot of skills in various fields such as communication, innovation and business. Fluency in several foreign languages is essential.

Chargé d’études dans le luxe

The research manager finds his function upstream of the development of a product. All of his functions are centered around marketing and case studies. He initiates the launch of a product and studies the strategies of the competition. Thus, by interpreting the results of similar models, he adapts the behavior of his company in order to perpetuate the existence of a product on the market. By collecting statistics and various data, it launches a promotional campaign adapted to the reality of the moment. This job requires a great deal of technical know-how and very good commercial relations.

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Updated 24 April 2023