Исследование факторов, способствующих повышению интереса к предметам и услугам роскоши среди миллениалов

The industry of luxury goods has significantly changed in recent years, experiencing a dramatic surge after e-shopping, mobile shopping and digital fashion media were introduced to the industry. The availability of premium brands has never been so prominent as well as the popularity of online bloggers and fashion communities. The sharp growth in demand, economic chances and along with the simplicity and digitalization of communication have aided in the transformation of consumer preferences.
2018 Deloitte report (Deloitte, 2018), has pinpointed the major increase in luxury fashion market, specifically the case of Kering luxury group. Gucci, Kering’s subsidiary, demonstrated an 86 per cent rise in e-commerce, 50 per cent of which were attributed to the purchases by millennials. The main reasons for augmentations of millennials’ desire to purchase Gucci are believed to be the integration of its services into the digital markets and modification of the in- store shopping experience. Current attempts of experience improvement include the addition of an art gallery or a cafe to the physical store, personal assistants and augmented reality technologies for digital commerce. In 2017, Gucci has launched a mobile application, where users can access the look book for past and current seasons, supported by commissioned image and video content. In contrast to other fashion brand mobile applications, Gucci offers specially created wallpapers for mobile phones, the ability to try on accessories with an augmented reality feature through the frontal camera, Instagram filters and the curated list of traveling destinations.
Boston Consulting Group (BCG, 2012) claim millennials have developed strong brand and marketing preferences, and demonstrate noticeable influence on decision-making and brand choices of their social circles. While millennial consumers are now situated at the peak of the spending times; dining out, traveling, and fashion. The research has revealed that millennial females purchase fashion items twice more often than previous generations by 11 per cent. The same statistic for male consumer increased by 28 per cent.
The lustre for high-end fashion for millennial market puts emphasis on emotional and personal context, a phenomenon not so present in previous generations, where the primary reason has been conspicuous consumption. In addition to the quality brand apparel, millennial consumers expect brand to follow and support personal lifestyle and values. Recently, sustainability is credited to have significant influence over the purchase intention as growing number of apparel manufacturers introduce renewable materials and discontinue the usage of leather and fur in their product, concerning the environmental impact (Deloitte, 2018).
In 2019 report, McKinsey (2019) outlined digital disruption of the industry as a whole. In addition to aforementioned online influencers, the traditional idea-item connection is disrupted in
6
the decision-making process by the overwhelming number of external inspirations. One of the newly unravelled factors to affect purchases is the time lag, or the speed of order and delivery — elements influenced by both the development of e-commerce and technological leaders like Uber and Amazon. In addition, all consumers rated transparency of the brand to be the second most influential factor before the purchase is made.
Considering the current expansion of influencer market, digital commerce, everchanging preferences and global trends towards minimum waiting times and maximum sustainability, desire for luxury for surging millennial market are crucial factors for consideration amongst luxury fashion apparel retailers and manufacturers. The environment of the luxury industry is swiftly changing; according to latest McKinsey report (2020), the brands are already struggling to engage consumers with the engagement via influencers dropping from 4 to 2.4 percent, Facebook and Twitter channels being at 0.05 percent, and new strategies would have to include media productions. Deeper understanding of luxury aspiration has a potential to improve the customer experiences, help luxury brands tailor products and services towards the new values and preferences of millennial customers, maintain the brand engagement, and aid marketers in personalization of the experience.
While the market of luxury fashion goods is experiencing a sharp growth and disruption from digitalization, there is little research focusing on the peculiarities of consumer behaviour in the millennial market. Previous studies (see Chapter 2) have researched luxury brand perception, fashion goods purchase intention, luxury products purchase intention. A number of studies have focused on luxury fashion brand loyalty. The more recent studies investigate high-end buying through the means of conspicuous consumption, brand loyalty and brand awareness, but rarely investigate the potential effects of perceived quality, service, delivery, sustainability, and differentiation between physical and digital interaction. The following research aims to understand not only traditional behavioural peculiarities in relation to engagement concerning fashion and luxury, but take into account idiosyncrasies of millennials and digital disruption.
The majority of existing research into purchase intention and decision-making process behind luxury goods and fashion apparel have been focused on the development of social psychology models. Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), an augmented version of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), has been widely used in consumer behaviour research concerning luxury fashion goods. Kim & Jang (2014) have studied motivational drivers for conspicuous consumption in millennials without particular focus on fashion through EFA and ANOVA analyses, however such analysis is ineffective in the disclosure of complex variable relationships and potential revelation of hidden factors. Kapferer & Valette-Florence (2018) revealed a study of brand penetration having mediating effect on the relationship between prestige, excellence and dream of
7

luxury, omitting an important dimension of consumer engagement, particularly in the digital media. Other previous research focused on updating the model for luxury fashion consumption without a focus on particular consumer sector or aimed at specific categories of luxury fashion products.
The aim of this study is to updated existing links of the current research and confirm factors influencing dream of luxury in millennial consumers. Additionally, the aim is to propose more developed model incorporating newly assumed factors.
Research Questions
1. What are the determinants of dream of luxury goods in millennial markets?
2. What are the specifics of millennial consumer behaviour towards luxury?
3. How dream of luxury and purchase intention correlate?