Louis Vuitton

For years, Louis Vuitton enjoyed high profit margins from the luxury market in Japan until other competitors such as Prada and Gucci entered the market. Counterfeiting also became a threat to the firm’s brand by satisfying consumer demand at lower prices. Other external global environmental problems included highly priced products, limited availability in stores only, and a heavy dependency on the Japanese market (Pearce & Robinson, 2013, p. 14-18). Moreover, “the after-shocks of the global recession were a threat to Louis Vuitton’s luxury business in Japan”, and Japanese women became less interested in the brand’s products (Pearce & Robinson, 2013, p. 14-18). Alternatively, Louis Vuitton could “reinvent itself and regain what used to be its well-attested

Meanwhile, some consumers were also attracted by the counterfeit products, which have the same design and considerable quality. The situation of LV in Japan seems to be fierce, however, with effective solutions, LV can also seize the opportunity to sustain profitability in Japanese market rather than just survive. As it is stated in the case that Japanese consumers had been holding the desire for inexpensive luxury products from Louis Vuitton. Therefore, to solve this problem and attract more customers, LV should strive to make “inexpensive” products by increasing the value of products, lowering the costs and prices, and finally creating high value for the consumers. As the scandal of counterfeit sold on the websites in 2008 led to a decline in the sales of Louis Vuitton products, it can be viewed as a valued opportunity for Louis Vuitton to establish its own business online since it can both add selling channels and empower the company to fight with counterfeiting.

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

Here are some of the most striking insights from McKinsey’s 2012 Luxury Consumer Survey: ƒ Japan is a market of markets That is, some niches and segments are more promising than others. In terms of products, for

The company also offers a variety of products that are aimed at making the consumers feel that their needs are met. Despite the fact that there are competitors in Japan, Nordstrom has the right strategies and measures of turning competition into a strength that will enable it to have a competitive advantage (Standard and Poor's Corporation, 1981). The economy of Japan is well performing which gives an assurance to Nordstrom that it will be successful once it ventures into this market. There is assurance that the company will have maximum returns for the capital invested and this is a major reason why the investment should be undertaken. The highest population of Japan's population is the working-class group and people interested in fashion trends. Therefore, the company should undertake the investment and utilize its resources in making the investment a

The author who inspired the topic of this thesis is Dana Thomas. As a fashion writer, Dana Thomas, has analyzed the changes in luxury fashion business. Thomas has been writing about fashion for the past twenty-five years in various journals such as Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, New Yorker, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Financial Times, and more. Dana Thomas’ two books, Deluxe and Gods and Kings, are the inspiration for this thesis. Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre goes into great detail the secrets of the leading luxury industry brands, namely Prada, Gucci and Burberry, to showcase the “New Luxury” of today and how “luxury lost its luster” by featuring the manufacturing and logistical processes. Thomas exposes that many luxury brands use the same Asian factories that mass-market retailers employ, which raises questions concerning quality and craftsmanship for luxury brands.

Louis Vuitton started off as a trunk maker in the 1800s for traveling as at this point in history traveling was considered a luxury that the rich had. Vuitton founded his brand in 1854 but it was after he died in 1894 that his son Georges took over and really expanded the brand and made it what it is today. In fact, Georges was the one who created the classic Louis Vuitton monogram with the LVs in order to prevent counterfeiting. This brand was really popular during this time era as it was one of the first luxury brands to be founded that would later lead up to other famous designers later in the 1900s. Another very famous brand from this time era is Hermès that was founded by Thierry Hermès. This brand was originally for horse riding gear but then became a handbag luxury brand. ¨Thierry Hermes started handcrafting horse harnesses for caliches and carriages in 1837¨(Said 1). This brand nowadays is known for its ridiculously high prices and it is infamous for its Birkin & Kelly bags that can cost anywhere from $10,000 to a ridiculous $200,000. These are two examples of two luxury brands founded in the Victorian Era that we know of

Fashion has been around ever since ancient times, since the time of the Romans, it survived the world wars and is yet today a business with rapid changes. Fashion started off as an art form, a way for the riches to show their social status with unique and innovative designs that only they could afford. It was a way to separate the social classes of the society. In this paper I will include the creator of haute couture, and how the following designers developed couture, as well as having leading names in today’s ready-to-wear industry. The list is long, but I chose to focus on the three most important designers of the modern fashion industry.

In my opinion LVMH is so successful in China first of all because their prices and glamorous prestige is reflected onto its customers and the Chinese luxury customers value being recognized as wealthy elites having a high social status. Secondly, ever since their opening LVMH had an exclusively unique heritage and craftsmanship, that made the brand so attractive for the customers. Another reason why the Chinese people love Louis Vuitton is the fact that having an overcrowded and communist society they feel the need to be noticed, to be perceived as different. That is the point that Louis Vuitton knew how to exploit in order to make them feel unique and

This behavior brings competitive advantages to the European luxury brands. Moreover, customers in different countries have different purchase behaviors. For instance, some countries’ customers are willing to move away from common recognized brand, because they want to purchase more exclusive products. Furthermore, because of the increasing speed of globalization, people are more likely willing to travel between different countries. These travelers will buy luxury good during their trips. In fact, Chinese tourists contributed over one third of sales in Europe. The luxury goods industry should notice to adjust the actual demand between local people and tourists in Europe

In Japan, the costs of LVMH handbags cost approximately 40% more than in France. This started a growing market to distribute bags from France to Japan for resale at a cheaper price. Arnault believes that the producers of LVMH’s goods need to be unrestrained by financial matters in order to produce extremely high quality products. To keep the brand management of highly priced and high quality goods, LVMH needs to expand to the younger new money of the Asian market. The high quality is also a result of the mentality that “Made in France” is perceived as high western quality. LVMH does not want to lower the labor costs because there would be a similar direction of the quality.

The very first item made was a trunk for Napoleon III, which led to the rise of the higher class of customers buying the products and to keep that stature they relied on the word of mouth of these higher class customers to spread it around in their social groups. After that Louis Vuitton cheap handbags became the must have around Europe and the whole world going from kings in Italy to Asian upperclassmen to Hitler.

LVMH’s brand portfolio is a catalogue of the finest things money can buy. Arnault said, “A Star brand is timeless, modern, fast growing and highly profitable.”[iii] LVMH has positioned its brands strongly in the luxury segment offering more than 50 different brands under their five core competencies. LVMH has been successful through all of their various brands in their portfolio giving them each their independence and creativity. “LVMH is well known for leaving much operational and marketing freedom to the various brands it owns.”[iv] “LVMH has done an excellent job of brand positioning, says Ben Cavender, senior analyst at China Market Research Group. It has succeeded in securing the particularly enviable position of gaining a following among the top percentage of China’s wealthy. As the financial crisis stretches on, LVMH customers in China still have money to spend.[v] “LVMH’s brand imaging, which relies heavily on pushing its European heritage, is so successful that it has benefited other brands by proxy, says Paul French, one of the founders of Access Asia, a group dedicated to tracking regional consumer and marketing trends. “Everyone hangs on the coattails of Louis Vuitton’s brand imaging in China.”[vi]

In terms of social culture, for one thing, the China consumers are attracted by middle- and high-end products and somehow more attracted by French luxury goods, and they believe that the higher the price, the better the quality (Yuval, Vinay and Cathy, 2011, para7) (Exhibit 1). For another thing, the traditional virtue of thrift is rooted in the mindset of the Chinese, with which some of the rich in China indicate that they would not spend a large sum of money to get a product.

UNIQLO, established in 1963. At first, it was only a small clothing store sales, which have become internationally well-known clothing brands currently.