 The success of luxury brands in Japan and their uncertain futureRonald Degen () No 52, Working Papers from globADVANTAGE, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria Abstract: The Japanese are the world?s largest individual consumers of luxury brands and form the second largest market for luxury goods after the US. The Japanese were the driving force behind the exponential growth of the European luxury industry and the resulting ?democratization of luxury?. This concept of giving everyone access to luxury branded goods is a paradox because it abandons the exclusivity that was the original basis of the European luxury industry in the hands of skilled designers and craftsmen. By making luxury branded goods widely accessible to most consumers they run a major risk of becoming simply too ?common?. The 2007-8 economic crisis adversely affected the luxury market, producing a general backlash against ?conspicuous consumption?. In Japan, as in most countries in the world, the crisis reduced consumers? discretionary spending, but in addition it also accelerated the fundamental shift in the attitude and behavior of Japanese luxury consumers. Keywords: Japanese consumers of luxury brands; Japan the largest luxury market in the world; conspicuous consumption; democratization of luxury; luxury brands as status symbols; luxury brands as badges of economic success; parasite singles (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pil:wpaper:52 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Working Papers from globADVANTAGE, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.