Luxury Network

We are all somewhat familiar with the term Luxury, but what exactly is it? Let’s start with some fundamental definitions. Simply said, a luxury is a material object, service, that creates lavish living, and it’s usually a delicacy, elegance, or refinement of living rather than a necessity. From an economic perspective, a luxury is a good for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises, in contrast to a "necessity good", for which demand increases less than proportionally as income rises. In simple economic terms, as people become wealthier, they will buy more and more of a luxury good.

A luxury brand is one for which a majority of its products are luxury goods. It may also include certain brands whose names are associated with luxury, high price, or high quality, though few, if any, of their goods are currently considered luxury goods. Another market characteristic of luxury goods is that they are highly sensitive to economic upturns and downturns, high profit margins as well as prices, and very tightly controlled brands.

Specific manufactured products get the status of "luxury goods" because of their design, quality, durability or performance that are extraordinarily superior to the comparable substitutes. A luxury good really distinguishes itself from its competition. Luxury goods play an important socioeconomic role, as a luxury is a status symbol that implies wealth and power. Luxury goods are often associated with celebrities and famous, rich people, signifying the ultimate status. Luxury goods are widely marketed through such people and portrayed in the media, television and movies. Such common appearances of luxury goods in mainstream culture creates even more hype and buzz.

There is an array of products and services that are considered luxury. The list starts with small objects such as designer clothing, jewelry, handbags, watches to larger objects such as automobiles, boats, yachts, jets, and ultimately mansions. Of course some common luxury goods also include food and beverage such as caviar and fine wine. This is the start, and the list of luxury goods goes on.

When it comes to shopping, some prominent luxury department stores include Barneys New York, Bergdorf and Goodman, Bloomingdale's, Brooks Brothers, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Lord & Taylor. These upscale retailers boast a collection of luxury apparel, clothes, shoes, handbags, accessories, beauty products, accessories, gifts, and more. These luxury department stores set themselves aside from competition such as Macy’s, Sears, JC Penney, which are known as mid-range department stores. Essentially, similar items are found in all of these stores, but those labeled as luxury department stores offer some more exclusive items from more fashion designers, and of course with a much higher price tag. In fact, stores such as Bergdorf & Goodman, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue are all based along midtown Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, known as of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world.

Luxury goods are also produced from individual fashion designers, who sell their products to the international market. Some world famous fashion lines include Armani, Bvlgari, Chanel, Gucci, Hermès, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Versace, and many more. Typically, goods from such high brand luxury lines are sold either at upscale department stores as mentioned above, or in the company’s own stores and boutiques. In fact, Midtown Manhattan’s Madison Avenue hosts some of the world’s most upscale boutiques that offer a variety of luxury goods. Madison Avenue is just a block away from Fifth Avenue, and together they combine to create one of the world’s most luxurious shopping districts.

When talk is about watches, nothing embodies luxury more than the world famous Swiss made Rolex brand. Rolex is by far the largest single luxury watch brand , putting out about 2,000 watches a day, with estimated revenues of around US$ 3 billion. BusinessWeek magazine ranked Rolex #71 on its 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands, highest among all watchmakers. Rolex is a luxury watch well known for its dazzling elegance as well as sporty character. In fact, Rolex designs superb watches for deep sea diving, aviation, boating, and other rough outdoor activities. Some prominent Rolex models suitable for such activities include Milgauss, Submariner, Sea Dweller DeepSea, Yacht Master. Rolex sets itself aside from competitions because it specializes in producing wrist watches of the finest quality, and sells its own products in worldwide stores. Other notable brands of luxury wrist watches include Bvlgari, Bulova, and Cartier, but these companies also produce other products, with the exception of Bulova. Such watches can be bought in the company’s own boutiques, or other department stores.