Year
2021
Authors
SOM Ashok, BLANCKAERT Christian
Abstract
The thoroughly revised 2nd Edition of the book The Road to Luxury: The New Frontiers in Luxury Brand Management delivers a comprehensive overview of the foundations of, and new developments in, luxury brands. The book discusses digitalization, rise of platforms, singularity, new wave of mergers and acquisitions, the winners such as LV, Chanel, Hermes, Dior, Cartier, the rise of Gucci, the growth of Balenciaga, the stealth strategy of Botega Veneta, a variety of new collaborations between different companies, especially in fashion and street wear, a growing support for sustainability, China as the growth engine, hyper-localization and the COVID-19 pandemic. This book serves as a comprehensive research driven manuscript at what the luxury industry had been, is and will be during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to analyse the luxury phenomenon through several academic frameworks as applied to numerous new updated practical examples from 2015-2020 and provide a well-researched tool kit interspersed with the new era of the luxury industry. Thematically, we introduce the luxury concept as perceived by the countries such as France and Italy, leaders in the luxury business, and then dive into different traditional personal luxury goods sectors and their extensions into the luxury business to understand their backgrounds and where they stand as of today in terms of business attractiveness and appropriateness. The counter-intuitive nature of the luxury industry, its clients and their values are followed by a who’s who of the luxury industry. With new insights gathered from the last five years, the historical transition from craft-based and small sized organizations to “Houses of Brands”, the mega mergers, the re-alignment is examined in terms of style of the top management, changes in the structure of organization. The next topics are the essential qualities of the staff, service attributes, customer experience that the entire luxury experience should vouch for. The operations aspect such as supply chain, sustainability, synergy for the long-term luxury strategy makes for an interesting discussion and this is logically followed by an in-depth and exhaustive coverage of the distribution terms, strategies and challenges. The discussion on China and its importance as a growth market in the luxury industry, leads the way in terms of sheer size of market growth over the next two decades. With the pandemic it is seen how fragile the world is. The text then moves with special emphasis on to the future and concludes with a tool kit on how to go about creating a New Luxury Brand. The numerous frameworks analyse the luxury phenomenon, its players and the gradual yet disruptive evolution of their strategies over the years making this book indispensable the clientele interested in the luxury business as it stands in 2021 and its future. The 2nd edition of this comprehensive yet precise book will be an ideal source of knowledge and practical reference for ever-growing population interested in the luxury business. The rigorous academic analyses are fortified with numerous latest facts and figures around the world to ground the reader into a hot and happening context. It will help the new age luxury managers and aspiring luxury entrepreneurs to reconstruct a customized interpretation to apply to his/her own new age business needs, especially in the Asian luxury market, currently the largest in the world and is an excellent ‘start-to-finish’ book for the academically inclined.
SOM, A. et BLANCKAERT, C. (2021). The Road to Luxury The New Frontiers in Luxury Brand Management. 2 ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Keywords
crisis, pandemic, COVID-19, political crisis, vaccine, disruption, strategic response, rebound, China, Japan, USA, Europe, Africa, crisis management, cost-cutting, quality, service, livestreaming, upscaling, store closure, philanthropy, Definition, evolution, family, trends, time, exception, exclusivity, modernity, authenticity, HENRYs, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, Millennials, consolidation, synergy, Actors, merger and acquisitions (M&A), LVMH, Kering, Richemont, Swatch, L’Oreal, Hermes, Burberry, Chanel, Estee Lauder, Marketing, nomadism, saturation, co-branding, brand expansion, story-telling, digital, social media, e-commerce, 8P, product, place, price, promotion, people, process, productivity, evidence, 9P, provenance, paucity, persona, personage, positioning, publicity, pricing, phygital, performance, Brand identity, brand prism, ethos, clients, demand, supply, elasticity, Family houses, conglomerates, French fashion, Italian brands, Gucci, Prada, Ferragamo, Armani, Dolce and Gabbana, Zegna, Tods, Versace, Jimmy Choo, Tom Ford, Cucinelli, succession planning, Alexander Mcqueen, Stella Macartney, Chaumet, Style, store manager, luxury manager, path dependency, familial autonomy, homoluxus, ambidexterity, Tapestry, Capri holding, Myhoola, Hermes, Dumas, LVMH, Arnault, Richemont, Rupert, Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf, Armani, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Alessandro Michele, Prada, Patrizio Bertelli, Miuccia Prada, Coach, Coco Chanel, Craftsmen, sales team, entrepreneur, designer, high potential, talent, recruitment, induction, re-training, appraisal, compensation, benefits, rightsizing, turnover, culture, saddle trunk, travel bag, COVID-19, Supply-chain, customer service management (CRM), technology, e-retailer, customization, convenience, computing, after-sales, Point of sale, service dimension, customer delight, customer journey, customer experience, Digitalization, digital transformation, retail, distribution, landlord, travel retail, flagship, licensing, franchise, wholesale, pop-up store, outlet, duty free, off-line, online, e-commerce, omni-channel, phygital, Farfetch, YNAP, Alibaba T-Mall, WeChat, Tencet, JD.com, 24S, Secoo, SSENSE, mobile commerce, Sustainability, social, environmental, economical, circularity, singularity, re-selling, renting, up-cycling, pre-owned, Emerging markets, emerging brands, frontier markets, brand perception, China, India, S. Korea, Middle-East, Africa, Mission, future, sustainable, tourist, China, Africa, Asia, Latin America, Iran, Middle-East. Europe, country-of-origin, Huda, Fenty, Francis Kurkdjian, Baume, Shang Xia, Ganjam, Krug, provenance, heritage, positioning, historical association, persona, brand DNA, personage, physical face, paucity, rarity, exclusivity, phygital, publicity, pricing, performance, opportunity