Buying luxury goods is not uncommon for the upper-middle class and the rich. Perhaps it’s as common as buying a shirt from bigbazaar. While the aesthetics of luxury goods is unmatchable – the leather is smooth, logo is minimal yet attractive, it’s price can be a setback. Unless you’re a white class working Professional with a high salary, or have some impressive saving habits, buying luxury goods can be a liability.
Some consumers act emotionally rather rationally :
Consumers don’t behave rationally all the time because it’s natural for a human being to get emotional and overwhelmed. A logically sound person would always act in relation to logics. In other words, a perfectly logical person would always decide on what is best for them.
Nevertheless, several modern behavioural psychology studies have revealed that humans don’t always put rationality before emotions. Note that many consumers who buy luxury goods are not super-rich. This is common in first world countries such as the USA.
While a premium quality, a long-lasting handbag can be purchased for around Rs. 1000, some people go to the extent of spending a few extra thousands of rupees on a premium brand handbag that performs more or less the same as the 1000 rupees handbag.
Are luxury goods really of the best quality?
One possible reason for this could be the human instinct to overemphasize the positive aspects of a product and ignore its demerits. For instance, customers of Apple Inc wait overnight for the latest releases of their iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers. This is despite the fact that Apple products are not technologically superior.
In fact, Samsung’s products are rich in features and Microsoft and Xiaomi make cheaper phones that are in no way inferior. Despite this, apple manages to receive a high degree of brand loyalty and seems to break sales records every year.
This is mainly because many of us consider non-luxury goods as either inferior and second-class. They also assume that high priced products are of superior quality always.
Conclusion :
In some cases, low self-esteem could be the factor that influences whether or not a person should purchase luxury goods. This is just like a teenager who wants to show off his video game to his fellow peers. A luxury product can go a long way in increasing a person’s self-esteem. It is important to always do our own research before buying a product since money is precious and we ought to use it wisely.
