Luxury Fashion Branding - Trends, Tactics, Techniques, is the groundbreaking pioneer text that addresses the business of luxury from a strategic viewpoint. It critically analyses the essential aspects of the luxury fashion sector through tracing its origins, analysing its current state, assessing its consumer behaviour, retailing tactics, branding and marketing strategies, e-business techniques, new luxury definitions and their implications, environmental analysis, customisation methods, business modelling and case study analysis.

For the first time, the luxury industry is provided with advanced strategies, tools and techniques required for modern business management, through sound research and ongoing practice. These are sources of new approaches towards the business of smartly bringing objects of desire into the marketplace.

'Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends'. These words spoken by GabrieUe Coco Chanel in the early twentieth century remain as true as ever today. Luxury fashion has see ped into every sphere of our consumer society; it has become the norm to aspire towards owning products from exclusive brands like Vuitton, Gucci and Dior. This desire is further heightened by affordable, available fashion from brands like H&M and Zara which offer luxury-style goods at lower prices. Also, globalization and technological and communications advancement have made fashion even more accessible.Consumers can now shop at will on the Internet, access a wide variety of goods and exchange instant brand experiences. Consequently, the average fashion consumer has become extremely knowledgeable, demanding and restless. To put it mildly, the luxury consumer and the luxury landscape have changed!

What does all of this imply for luxury fashion brands? The answer is a changing sector currently undergoing an important market evolution,internal management shifts and rapid expansion, and one in dire need of strategic business direction.

Luxury Fashion Branding is a groundbreaking book that addresses the business of luxury fashion from a strategic viewpoint. It critically analyses the essential aspects of the luxury fashion sector through tracing the origins of luxury fashion, assessing its consumers, and retailing tactics,as well as branding and marketing strategy, business modelling and eretailing.

Presented in a dear language, Luxury Fashion Branding will make engaging reading for anyone who wishes to [earn about the captivating business of turning functional products into symbolic objects of desire.

List of tables and figures

Foreword by James Ogilvy

Author's note

Acknowledgements

Introduction: who said fashion is not serious business?

1 A question of luxury

2 What's in a name? The history of luxury fashion

 branding

 Branding evolution

 Origins of luxury fashion

 Early civilization fashion (3200 BC to 80 BC)

 From Egypt to Crete and Greece (700 BC to 1150 BC)

 The Etruscan and Roman fashion influence (800 BC to AD 476)

 From Rome to the Byzantine Empire and the Middle-Age(AD -450 to -1500)

 The Renaissance, Italy and fashion (15th and 16th centuries)

 Seventeenth-century baroque fashion

 The eighteenth century, France and luxury fashion

 The nineteenth century and modern luxury fashion

 The rise of the yankees

 The twentieth-century fashion explosion

 The sixties

 The seventies

 The eighties

 The nineties

 The noughties

 2007 and beyond

 The dolce vita style blast

 America, fashion and commerce

 The luxury brand index

 Charles Frederick Worth: Le Pere de la haute couture

 Modern business principles

 Great moments in the history of fashion

3 A passion for fashion: the luxury fashion consumer

 The consumer is king

 The consumer purchase-decision process

 Who is the luxury fashion consumer?

 The twenty-first century fashion consumption environment

 Luxury consumer market indicators

 The future luxury fashion consumer

 Strategic implications for luxury brands

4 Luxury retail design and atmosphere

 Luxury retail location

 Store concept

 Retail extension

 Product merchandizing design

 New selling techniques

 The case of designer outlet shopping villages

5 The art of creating and managing luxury fashion brands

 What is branding, really?

 Branding benefits

 Luxury fashion branding strategy development

 The brand concept

 The brand identity

 Brand awareness

 Brand positioning

 Brand loyalty

 Brand equity

 Brand value

 The luxury fashion marketing strategy

 The product

 Pricing

 The place of distribution

 Promotion

 The celebrity connection

 People

 Positioning

 The confusion and clarification of fashion co-branding

 The menace of fake luxury goods

 The luxury branding death-wish list

6 Digital luxury

 The case for e-retail

 E-retail indicators

 E-retail attributes

 The internet as a retail location

 Online luxury fashion consumer behaviour

 Luxury fashion e-retail strategy

 Are luxury fashion products suitable for e-retailing?

 E-retail strategy options

 Luxury fashion e-marketing and e-branding strategy

 E-marketing strategy

 The 10 Cs of luxury fashion e-marketing

 E-branding strategy

 Website and e-store design

 E-merchandizing

 Final notes

 The luxury e-retail death wish list

7 Le new luxe

 A different fashion landscape

 The effects of the changing environment

 The rise of the masses

 From fast fashion to throwaway fashion

 Trend watching, trend tracking and luxury services

 The new luxury brands

 Accessible luxury

 Intangible luxury

 A borderline identity

 So who are the true luxury brands?

 How the future looks

8 Customize me!

 What is customization?

 Who wants to be customized?

 What are the benefits of customization?

 How can luxury brands customize goods and services?

 Customizing standardized products

 Point of delivery customization

 Customizing the retail shopping experience

 Producing bespoke goods

 Customizing the online experience

 Allowing the consumer to customize the process

 What are the challenges of customization?

9 The luxury fashion business strategy model

 What is a business strategy model?

 The business strategy modelling process

 End notes

10 Case illustrations

 The Armani brand extension success story

 The boom and bust of boo.com

 The effect of licensing on Pierre Cardin's brand equity

 Is Ande Ross the first twenty-first century luxury brand?

 What does 'Britishness' mean in luxury fashion?

References

Index