Bespala, Y., Dmitrieva, M., Jackson, S. and Reutoi, N.

LVMH

Word Count – 3,154 words.

Index
Topic Page No.
Introduction 3
Marketing in a Contemporary Context 4
Understanding Consumer Behaviour 6
Market Research 8
Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning 10
The Marketing Mix 12
Conclusion 14
References 15
Appendix (Including Additional Readings) 18

Introduction

“There are four main elements to our business model – product, distribution, communication and price. Our job is to do such a fantastic job on the first three that people forget all about the fourth.” (Bernard Arnault, CEO of Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton. Taken from Anonymous, 2009)
Merging …show more content…

For urban Chinese consumers, luxury brands symbolise the financial prowess that many either enjoy, or aspire to, while also serving as a statement relating to the financial hardship of previous generations that many have since left behind (Chevalier & Xiao Lu, 2008). Whether such self-concept is realistic or perhaps more romantic in substance - mere symbolic reinforcement of an idealised self-image (Brady, 2010), conspicuous purchases such as that of LV luxury products allow for self-concept satisfaction within an individual.
Kotler et al apply a cultural perspective to consumer behaviour, outlining marketing as a ‘value transmitter’ that simultaneously shapes culture and is shaped by it. The Chinese fascination with Western culture seems indicative of this. If the demand for LV products in China is indeed a method of bridging the cultural gap through comparable expression via luxury consumption, then the adage holds true that:
“People express themselves through their brand choices” (Kotler et al, p.426).
All businesses, even those who produce a tangible product, are service businesses (Brady, 2010). Thus, the goal of value creation can only be achieved by those who adopt a similar service-dominant (S-D) logic, defined by Lusch et al as:
“(…)the application of specialised competences (knowledge and skills) for the benefit of another entity, rather than the production of units of output.”
The era of measuring business performance relative to the efficiency