Louis Vuitton Case Study

This expansion demonstrates how the luxury industry is now run by massive corporations whose focus is only on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and most importantly, PROFITS! With growth and expansion, has come a decrease in quality and rarity. The luxury garments produced are mostly not handmade but are even outsourced to large factories in places such as China and Turkey. Also, to meet quarterly turnover projections, “designers churn(ed) out increasingly trendy collections of clothes, handbags, and shoes.” (Thomas, Pg. 246) With hundreds of new stores around the globe the surplus of designer labeled merchandise is immense hence, the proliferation of outlet malls.

In the beginning of the 20th century luxury brands were something exclusive, only available for the upper class that was strictly divided from other parts of the society. Brands pertaining in this category are often referred to as prestigious luxury brands and include: Luis Vuitton, Burberry and Channel. During this era fashion was usually created by these selected few and then spread to other parts of the population through the so-called trickle-down effect (Brandchannel.com).

Louis Vuitton “was established in France in 1854 by Louis Vuitton and became known as one of the oldest French luxury fashion houses” in the industry (Pearce & Robinson, 2013, p. 14-2). The firm’s products range from high quality “leather goods, handbags, trunks, shoes, watches, jewelry, and accessories”; manufactured by highly skilled and expensive laborers in France (Forbes.com, 2016). In addition, Louis Vuitton market their products “in 50 countries with more than 460 shops and generates more than €7-billion ($9.5-billion U.S.) in annual sales” (Wendlandt, 2013).

Another challenge for Louis Vuitton is the market and brand dilution as it has already entered and successfully fit in the Japanese market. The products have already maintained the “acceptable” group, and the company has become to feel difficult to increase the revenue. The figure provided in the case showed that nearly half of the Japanese have Louis Vuitton-monogrammed items by the time of 2007. This seemed to make LV prevalent but not luxury any more. To maintain its brand image, it is

From consumer’s perspective, the motivation of their purchasing high-end products is complicated. According to the report of Mintel (Academic.mintel.com, 2013), which showed that the reason why a large number of customs have purchased luxury merchandise in UK. There were 44 percent of female interviewees and 48 percent of male interviewees bought high-end goods due to the good quality. In addition, 31 percent of men and 18 percent of women consider the sophisticated technique

in 2011, and their spending jumped by 13 percent. Compare this to single women, whose spending grew less than 2 percent, and the average Japanese consumer, whose spending dropped.5 Young men, it seems, saw the March 11 disaster as a good reason to live for the moment, and Japan’s luxury goods market appears to be a beneficiary. Finally, when we look at segmentation by income, Japanese who spend more than a million yen (about $12,000) a year on luxury goods are more than three times as likely to say they are switching to high-end brands than to low-end brands (Exhibit 3). Those who spend less than half as much are reporting the opposite.

Teri Agins, a senior writer at the Wall Street Journal, has publications in the Journal and wrote in 1999 The End of Fashion. Agins’ book gives a true overview of the fashion industry from the origin of Haute Couture to prêt-à-porter to mass-market consumption. Her focus is on marketing and uses Armani, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karen, Marshall Fields and Gap to demonstrate “(from) class to mass, (from) elitism to democratization; (from) art to commodity.” This is perfectly showed in a paragraph from Agins

Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, a luxury goods provider is looking to expand their brand dominance in Asia. In order to expand successfully LVMH must evaluate challenges that may arise and get in the way of their successful expansion. In the Asian market, LVMH must deal with political and cultural uncertainties, the threat of counterfeit products, and the increased cost of products in Asia compared to France.

Louis Vuitton Malletier, most commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton, was established in 1854 by Louis Vuitton, who pursued his impetuous passion for the fashion industry by constructing his own luxury fashion retail company. Louis Vuitton, who was only 10 when his mother passed away, decided to leave his home at the age of 13, alone and on foot, bound for Paris. He traveled for more than two years, taking odd jobs to feed himself along the way and staying wherever he could find shelter, as he walked the 292-mile trek from his native Anchay to Paris. He arrived in 1837, at the age of 16. After arriving, Louis noticed the wide spread poverty, but what really peaked his interest was how Paris was being transformed by the industrial revolution. Vuitton met a successful box-maker and packer named Monsieur Marechal, who took Louis on as an apprentice to his craft. In 19th-century Europe, box-making and packing was a highly respectable and urbane craft. A box-maker and packer custom made all boxes to fit the goods they stored and they personally loaded and unloaded the boxes. It took Vuitton only a few years to stake out a reputation amongst Paris’s fashionable class as one of the city’s premier practitioners of his new craft.

These goods are often expensive and exclusive: some examples include Cartier, Rolex, Hermes, Mercedes Benz, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, and Chanel. As there are many definitions of fashion luxury goods, this study focuses on Moore’s definition. An international fashion design retail market is identified as follows (M. Moore, Fernie, & Burt, 2000): They have an international profile in the fashion industry as evidenced in their having a bi-annual fashion show in one of the international fashion capitals (i.e. Paris, Milan, London or New York); They have been established in the fashion design business for at least two years; They retail merchandise either through outlets bearing the designer 's name, (or an associated name), and/or within other outlets within two or more countries; And they market their own label merchandise. At the outset, it is imperative to clarify about the concept of non-deceptive counterfeit products. Nondeceptive counterfeit refers to counterfeit products that consumers know or strongly suspect to be counterfeit at the time of purchase. It has been found that consumers are actively participating in nondeceptive counterfeiting especially in the luxury brand market (M.Grossman & Shapiro, 1988b). 2. Consumer values in purchasing luxury goods Consumer value refers to an acquired value that becomes part of an organized system of values. This value system works as a general plan for

Luxury product sales boost in the emerging marketing like China, which has extraordinary growth and strong potential consumers for the development of luxury goods in the China market. With gradually lower and lower increase of revenue in the European countries, Louis Vuitton (abridged as LV in the following sections) commits itself to set up more stores in China. However, LV is faced with the problems of declining profits in China, which urges it to adjust its entry strategy into the China market. In this case, this report will focus on distinguishing the factors that influence LV’s development in China and

Louis Vuitton has been one of the first movers among luxury brands by making its emphatic entry into the market in 1982.

It is very popular in Japan, Europe and US, supported by many loyal customers. It has some famous persons to help advocating its goods. For example, Jennifer Lopez and Madonna. On the other hand, for the weaknesses of Louis Vuitton, most people cannot afford its luxury products. Only rich people that want to be distinctive from others can afford it. Moreover, it is not like other luxury brands, which can sell their products through different ways. It only sells products through its own stores. Basically, large businesses are more depending on the economic condition. For instance, in 2002, the economic recession or depression has a heavy effect on the demand of luxury goods, which will lead to decline the sell. For the opportunities of Louis Vuitton, movie stars or famous person can advertise their goods by using its products in the movies. LV needs to create their new image and style based on the trend of contemporary, catering to its loyal customers. Also, LV joined the Universal Exhibition at the World’s Fair in Paris and won the bronze medal, which can attract more potential customers. And its brand had been expanded in the world. The development of internet will help its goods to get more customers that maybe never know about this brand before. There are some problems of stakeholders. Such as in the capital markets, they want to increase profits and grow the brand while maintaining the essence of the brand.

Leather goods are the core of Louis Vuitton (11); this is what LVs reputation is based upon for over 162 years. (1) At the high end of the market, brands tended to compete more through product design, the buying experience and brand image rather than through price. (6) In order to achieve this, LV invested heavily in advertising to build their brand, product design and develop unique products. (6) Furthermore, to distinguish LV from its competitors many of its stores had an area reserved for the best customer to shop in privacy. In some cities, LV owned private apartments and yachts, which included amenities such as butler service, where customers would be given design consultations and could be fitted.(9) By providing an added shopping experience to the customers, it would make them feel valued resulting in them coming back to LV. In addition, all stores were designed in France to communicate their tradition and heritage as well as to provide a unique experience of opulence and luxury. This store design allowed for a common brand image across them. As a result it is hard for LV to be substituted or for companies to enter the market. Wealthy individuals expect the best quality for themselves no matter what it cost. New entrants would need to have high capital, strong reputation, the best quality, and a historic heritage which LV and other established companies nursed. LVMH competed in the global personal luxury goods industry which had projected revenues of €212

Louis Vuitton(LV) was est. in 1854 in France and is known as one of the oldest French luxury fashion houses. The brand became famous for its exclusive leather bags and trunks. Over the years the LV line expanded from leather goods to fashion, selective retailing; wines & spirits; perfumes & cosmetics; watches & jewellery making the brand one of the most luxurious brands worldwide.