You may or may not agree but for many Indian consumers, luxury is like having the world at your fingertips. For the Blackberry tapping and Notebook pounding Generation Y, luxury is the ultimate mantra. And they can go to any lengths to achieve this, even if that means emptying their pockets in order to do so. Here are some statistics that validate this. There are more consumers for luxury goods in India than the adult population of many countries put together. According to a survey conducted by Nielsen, there are 2.6 million households in 35 Indian metros that can be categorised as affluent. And if you thought that a major chunk of them were English-speaking you-th working in corporate houses, then think again. Even amongst the affluent only 14 per cent speak English. Besides corporate honchos, a large number of them are business men.
And as they say when you acquire wealth far beyond your needs, you feel a sense of power. This group of people too, want to relish a feeling of exclusivity. For them, the priorities are travelling abroad, living in super class condominiums, driving high-end automobiles and of course owning lifestyle products that their ordinary middle class counterparts do not dare even dream of.
This then creates a golden opportunity for the marketeer who wishes to earn greater margins. As Saumya Chattopadhyay, Head, Strat-egic Planning, Rediffusion Y&R, explains, “This is the opportune moment for the marketeer to add customised value to his products. These value additions make the consumer feel important as he thinks he has something more than the ordinary range of luxury goods available.” One way of doing this, as Chattopadhyay points out, is to go in for celebrity endorsements. This segment of consumers should be made to feel powerful and exclusive. Take for instance, digital TV Tata Sky. When it roped in Aamir Khan to promote its product, the movers and shakers definitely felt that it was a trophy to be acquired. The same feeling was aroused when Hrithik Roshan promoted Reliance phones. Celebrities, after all, definitely set the brand imagery that the affluent segment associates with.
Brands like Rolex, Alfa Romeo, Armani, Gucci etc, all promote a halo of extreme exclusivity. Probably the best indicators of affluence are cars. That is why the automobile segment has to work twice as hard to appeal to high net worth individuals (HNIs). Volvo India targets customers through exclusive lifestyle magazines, highlighting its “premium” factor.
It may also be mentioned here that although HNIs have very high disposable incomes, when it comes to spending on items, they sometimes become very conservative. “Perhaps it is only when it comes to buying cars and exclusive watches, that they get emotional,” says Chattopadhyay. This is something that car companies like Honda and BMW are cashing on. Chattopadhyay also says that when it comes to placing a premium product in the media it is not how many people you are reaching out to, but who you are targeting. And of course, creating that exclusive brand ima-gery should be the main focus.
What is interesting is that each brand has a different approach. For instance, when Audi launched in India, it announced its arrival by detailing showroom locations. That created a curiosity amongst consumers who started looking up the Internet for details on the product before buying it. There are also companies, particularly those that manufacture women’s products, that have tied up with magazines like Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Elle in order to launch products catering to wealthy women.
Now what about network service? How can it promote the image of exclusivity in a country like India where it is considered a mass product? Says a senior official from Reliance Communications, “We definitely do not always focus on the niche customer except in certain cases.” For instance, when the company launched its wireless broadband service — NetConnect, the launch was made through database driven, direct mail and digital media. The question that arises is how does a luxury brand promote this exclusivity? The two key factors are how the brand exhibits itself and how it is displayed in the store window, believes Meera Mahadevia, a jewellery designer, who caters to the upper crust. The way the jewellery is placed on the mannequin, the position, the lighting, and the ambience all contribute to this exclusivity.
All said and done, the Indian luxury market is growing at a tremendous pace. This definitely offers a promising oppo-rtunity for retailers who may develop shopping malls dedicated to luxury brands or the Indian manufacturer who wants to create new top-of-the-line products for the higher strata or the real estate developer who wishes to promote exclusive condominiums for the super rich.
The author is a well-known industry watcher