Emotional drivers of luxury brand purchasing: Swarovski consumer motivations

Emotional Drivers Swarovski

The motives behind consumer decisions to purchase luxury brands like Swarovski have been studied in a number of researches. The general findings of these studies have been that these motives are largely emotional, and that they are evolving as the composition of the luxury market segment changes. De Mooij (2005) defines emotion as an "interaction between cognition and physiology." The characteristics of emotion that or of greater concern to luxury brand managers are that emotions are learned and that they vary from culture to culture.

The mode of expression of emotion also varies by culture. In capitalistic societies, consumption has evolved into a unique mode of expression of self-satisfaction, self-esteem and self-pleasures. These buying motives shape the perceptions of various brands among consumers, along with brand loyalty and brand image. De Mooij (2005, p. 116) explains luxury brand buying motives in terms of collectivism/individualism and masculinity/feminism. Conformance may be the dominant buying motive in collectivistic societies such as the emerging Asian markets of China, Russia and India. Hence, the buying motive here may be the expression of status or social class.

This is an important point for Swarovski if it wants to enter the large markets for luxury goods in these countries. On the other hand, in individualistic societies, uniqueness is valued and so self-expression or self-pleasure may be an important buying motive for luxury brand consumers.

Kapferer (2008, p. 107) has also attempted to identify the buying motives for luxury brands on an individual level by segmenting the luxury consumer market into four categories. According to the degree of separation and the increasing magnitude of the distance with the general market that does not purchase luxury goods, these consumers are motivated primarily by the beauty and the high quality of the luxury product. Thus, for a Swarovski consumer falling into the first category, the buying motive is likely to be the superior quality and the elegance of the Swarovski crystal chandelier.

In the second category, Kapferer (2008, p. 107) places consumers who seek creativity and novelty. They are primarily motivated by the aesthetic and creative attributes of the Swarovski product. They may purchase a radically new design and may be the pioneers among the consumers. The third category of consumers is motivated by the timelessness and the reputation that the brand has earned over the years. These consumers are often termed as old money in common terms. The fourth category of consumers is perhaps motivated least by the functional aspects of the brand and is primarily interested in the scarcity or rarity of the brand. They may be wealthy collectors for whom the product may be a work of art or a valuable specimen.

Chevalier & Mazzalovo (2008, p. 172) help to further elaborate on the buying motives of individual luxury consumers. The buying motives are based on the characteristics of the recently wealthy classes such as the corporate executives and owners of Internet companies. They are motivated by a desire to seek self-improvement and self-elevation. They also seek to develop a distinct identity and stand out from the crowd. They are creative and are attracted towards novelty and a fusion of diverse ideas and styles. They are inspired by aesthetic beauty and seek to improve their appearance and their social status. The purchase of respected luxury brands is one way of signifying to the society and to their reference groups their rise in social status.

Luxury brands like Swarovski are seen to attract the attention of this segment because the brand has been able to successfully reach out to the desire of this segment to assert its individuality by providing designs that are trendy yet elegant. Chevalier & Mazzalovo (2008, p. 173) also make note of the prevalence of older buying motives such as the high price of the product or its rarity. However, these are not perceived to be as dominant as they once used to be and the luxury brands have adapted to this change successfully.

Kapferer (2012, p. 67) also identifies some of the distinctions between fashion, premium and luxury brands. He states that consumer demand for fashion brands is motivated by a desire to imitate and conform. In addition, fashion brands are transient and changes frequently. On the other hand, luxury brands are timeless and go beyond simply high quality and technological sophistication. Demand for them is motivated by a desire to elevate oneself in the social group and to reflect personal taste.

Along with the cultural and individual level buying motives identified above, Patrick & Hagtvedt (2009, p. 270) also distinguish between the buying motives of old money and new money. They recognize the social and economic factors as those that motivate the established wealthy classes to purchase luxury brands such as Swarovski. On the other hand, those who have come into money recently, also known as the nouveau riche, are primarily motivated by personal factors such as hedonism, the influence from others in the in-group, the desire to seek approval from the reference group, and so on (Patrick & Hagtvedt 2009, p. 271).

These motivations shape the perceptions and attitudes of these consumers towards the brand. These include perceptions of and attitudes towards the brand image, brand uniqueness, perceived extended self, and perceived aspirational value. These perceptions combine to shape the perception of overall brand quality and the subsequent decision to purchase the product. The consumers of the luxury brand Swarovski are likely to be motivated by a combination of these motives, with the implication that the Swarovski brand may need to develop emotional branding and an integrated marketing communication strategy to arouse the buying motives of these consumers.

The Role of Emotional Brand Engagement

The role of emotions in branding and purchase decisions by the consumer is highlighted in a study by Williamson (2002). He was among the more notable researchers who, in the beginning of the twenty-first century emphasized the importance of emotions in marketing research. This was an important development because during the 1990s, the emphasis in advertising and marketing was on sensory appeal, which Williamson (2002, p. 198) identifies as a lower-order state than emotion. He asserts that emotions also play an important role in purchasing decisions along with rational thinking.

He describes behaviours that may not be necessarily rational, e.g. instinctive, reflexive and repetitive behaviors. He also emphasizes that emotions may be distinguished on the basis of how they are experienced. Hence, he divides emotions into first, second and third order emotions on the basis of their primal, subconscious and conscious nature (pp. 196-198). His study also helps to distinguish emotions as a more complex and higher state compared with feelings. Emotions are described as having driving force and the power to affect individuals' moods and hence their decisions.

Okonkwo (2007, p. 87) substantiates the distinction between feelings and emotion made by Williamson (2002) when he discusses the ways in which a brand appeals to the emotion in trying to engage the consumer with the brand. Okonkwo states that the luxury brands make emotional appeals in addition to the sensory appeals to taste, smell and touch. He states that luxury brands stress the "aura and appeal" of the brand in trying to reach out to the consumer and engage their imagination. The Swarovski brand is also presented by the company as embodying "precision craftsmanship" (Swarovski 2010, p. 5) and "the highest level of quality" (Swarovski 2010, p. 13). Along with these functional aspects, the brand also embodies imaginative and subjective ideas such as "mysterious" and "captivating" (Swarovski 2010, p. 5). Okonkwo (2007, p. 87) states that such factors present a compelling and engaging message of the brand image and create a sense of "longing" in the minds of the consumer. This is because consumers believe that the brands they use reflect their personalities and so desire to achieve the sense of fulfillment of expression of the self. The aura and appeal are stored in the "memory bank" (Okonkwo 2007, p. 87) of the consumer and they seek the brand on their next visit to the retailer.

The crucial role played by emotion in consumer decision making has also been explored by other researchers. Heath (2009) has taken important steps in explaining how emotion and cognition interact when making purchase decisions. This can help to shed some light on how consumers make decisions over the Swarovski brand. The luxury market is driven by prestige value over the functional value. Therefore, rational cognitive thinking appears to be less important than subjective valuation of the brand.

Heath (2009) describes this as engagement as opposed to attention (p. 62). He states that when making consumer purchase decisions, the emotive content of the brand communication has a stronger effect on the purchase decision than the cognitive content. In fact, he goes further to propose that the purchase decision is made on the basis of the sub-conscious emotive content and the cognitive content or rational processing of information is simply a means of reinforcing the decision or counter arguing against it (p. 67). This is also supported by the findings of Williamson (2002) discussed earlier where the ability of emotion originating in the subconscious to influence people's moods and decisions has been highlighted.

The purchase decisions of Swarovski consumers may be motivated by a combination of "extrinsic" as well as "intrinsic aspirations" (Truong 2010, p. 664). These have been identified by Truong (2010) as growth, relatedness and community feeling on the one hand and wealth, image and popularity on the other. According to the research, consumers make purchase decisions of luxury brands on the basis of whether it increases their image in the public and denotes a desired social class, the level of excellence of the product and the amount of personal satisfaction derived from the product. Truong (2010) finds equal importance of both intrinsic (growth, belonging, etc.) as well as (wealth, status-consciousness, etc.) in the purchase decisions for luxury goods.

However, extrinsic aspirations are found to be more closely related to conspicuous consumption because such behavior conveys the status of the consumer in public. On the other hand, intrinsic aspirations affect quality search and self-pleasure to a greater extent because the consumer is not motivated by others' perception about his or her purchase decision. Since the luxury purchases are also based on affordability, people may be motivated by both extrinsic as well as intrinsic aspirations to make expensive purchases. Therefore, consumers may prefer Swarovski because of its high quality or for its value as a status symbol, depending on their aspirations.

Jackson (2009) explains that the strength of brand loyalty is determined by the ability of the brand to position itself as a set of emotional experiences rather than as a set of utility providing functional attributes. In addition, he is of the opinion that brands do not need to have a distinct identity in the shape of a brand name and a logo alone, but they also need to have a unique and distinct brand personality. This is where the relationship between the brand and the self-concept of the consumer proposed by Malar et al. (2011) reflects the statement by Jackson (2009). In the light of these two explanations, it can be said that the motivation behind the purchase decisions of Swarovski consumers is that the brand has a personality shaped by its emotional attributes that appeal to the actual as well as ideal self-concept of the consumers. In effect, what Jackson says is that the brand to be successful needs to focus on the experience that can be enjoyed by the consumer in addition to its basic attributes of product, place and form utility. This experience reinforces the self-concept of the consumer and enables him or her to develop increased brand loyalty. In the case of Swarovski, the brand personality likely evokes reinforcement of high quality, elegance or prestige and high status to the consumers.

In addition to an identifiable brand personality, consumer purchase decisions are also affected by brand cues and brand image. Shukla (2011) investigates the effect of brand cues and interpersonal informational exchanges on the purchase decisions of consumers from diverse cultural backgrounds such as the United Kingdom and India. He reveals that the motivations and dynamics of the purchase decision vary from culture to culture.

This has important implications for Swarovski because it may decide to enter culturally diverse markets such as India or China then it would need to adapt its brand cues according to the national cultural variables and extrinsic and intrinsic aspirations of the emerging markets. According to Shukla, the brand cues have a greater effect on the purchase decisions of consumers in the United Kingdom whereas consumers in India also consider interpersonal exchange of information about the brand before making a decision. This may be explained by stating that conspicuous consumption is an important aspiration for many Indian consumers, keeping in mind the recent economic prosperity experienced by the nation, whereas consumers in the United Kingdom may be motivated by quality search and self-pleasure in addition to conspicuous consumption because of a mature economy.

On the basis of the earlier studies on emotion, further research on the subject shows that individuals purchase particular brands because they feel that it helps them to express their actual self (Malar et al. 2011). While the role of the ideal self in emotion-motivated purchase may also be discussed, research by Malar et al. (2011) shows that the effect of the actual self-concept (a realistic understanding of the cognitive and affective aspects of an individual's personality) is stronger than the ideal self-concept. Their study shows that the expression of the self-concept is moderated by the level of involvement with the product, the level of self-esteem and "public self-consciousness" (Malar et al. 2011, p. 2).

On this basis, it may be explained that the consumers of luxury brands like Swarovski are motivated by emotional forces that drive them to express their actual self-concept through the brand personality of Swarovski, which conveys elegance, art and sophistication. It may be said that the consumers are motivated by high self-esteem and may want to express their economic and social status through purchases of luxury brands like Swarovski. They may be experiencing what Malar et al. (2011) identify as "emotional brand attachment" (p. 2).

The high emotive content of the brand personality and brand image of the Swarovski brand is evident in the way the company describes its brand in the official publications. The Swarovski Sustainability report 2010 (Swarovski, 2010) presents the view of the management about the reasons for the popularity and success of the brand. The best functional quality of the Swarovski brand is claimed to be its "precision craftsmanship" (p. 5) and "highest level of quality" (p. 13). In the rest of the report, the description is biased in favor of the emotive content of the brand personality.

The Swarovski brand is described in terms such as "mysterious, original and captivating" (p. 5), as one that "sparks one's fantasy" (p. 9), and one that brings "joys to the senses" and is "inspirational" (p. 15). The most important promise of the brand is to "bring dazzle and excitement to the owner" (p. 15). These descriptions show that the brand is positioned as a luxury brand because it focuses on the emotive aspects of the brand rather than its functional aspects. These serve to attract the imagination of the consumer so that they may associate the brand image with their self-concept and aspirations. The brand seems to match their lifestyle and sense of fashion.

Emotional brand engagement is extremely necessary in the luxury product segment because consumers constantly need reassurance of their aspirations and the ability of the brand to satisfy those aspirations. As stated by Rosenbaum-Elliott (2011, p. 35), brands may be classified into functional and symbolic categories. Functional brands offer functionality as the primary value while symbolic brands focus more on subjective appeals than functional appeals.

Swarovski also falls into the category of symbolic brands because it is perceived as a status symbol. The success of the Swarovski brand is evidence of the strong emotional brand engagement consumers have with the brand. According to Rosenbaum-Elliott (2011, p. 35), consumers develop trust or "emotional involvement" with a brand after they are convinced that it offers a certain standard that can be predicted and that it will deliver the promised and expected benefits with no risk of failure. In the case of Swarovski, consumers expect the brand to deliver a set of functional and symbolic benefits, which determine the satisfaction of their extrinsic and intrinsic aspirations (Truong 2010, p. 664). Therefore, emotional brand engagement becomes a necessary means of attracting brand loyalty towards the Swarovski brand.

The Role of Integrated Marketing Communications

Integrated marketing communications are necessary to carry the brand story successfully. It is not sufficient for the brand story to be credible and engaging unless it creates synergy in combination with other components of the marketing program. Along with the content of the brand story, the media is equally important. The branding strategy of the brand should be aligned with the overall marketing and communication strategy of the company.

Lu (2011) explains the strategy that luxury brands should adopt when branding their products for the Chinese consumers. Lu (2011) states that it is important to identify the real aspirations of the target consumers. The segment of the population that is attracted towards luxury brands is the lower-middle class and has high "extrinsic aspirations." He also explains that the luxury brand story should embody the qualities of a product that is expensive, scarce, of excellent quality, carries sufficient aesthetic and emotional content and is essentially, not a necessity. In addition, the brand story needs to be integrated with the medium of narration. For instance, mass media or even high-end fashion magazines may not be as effective as communicating a brand story as sponsoring a cultural event and allowing visitors to experience the brand story in person.

Hoffmann & Coste-Maniere (2011) also emphasize on the important role played by an integrated marketing communications strategy in driving the motivations behind consumers of luxury brands. They identify a number of motives that can be addressed successfully via a comprehensive integrated marketing campaign.

Some of these motives are similar to those discussed in previous studies. They identify that consumers are experiencing new motives to purchase luxury brands such as Swarovski. Some of these motives include the desire to impress others (extrinsic aspirations), self-pleasure and self-gift giving (pointing to an important social trend that emphasizes self-gratification and is typical of the Generation Y or Millennial generation) along with the desire to experience high quality products.

An integrated marketing campaign that delights the senses and provides satisfaction of the above mentioned emotional desires achieves the realization of the brand strategy. Such an integrated marketing campaign includes advertising activities, a public relations campaign, and event sponsorships; developing wider product ranges and creating new market segments for the brand. Hoffmann & Coste-Maniere (2011) believe that such an integrated marketing communications strategy is crucial for the success of luxury brands in emerging economies.

The components of an integrated marketing communications program for luxury fashion brands have also been discussed by Fionda & Moore (2008). They emphasize that a "consistent and coherent approach" (p. 360) is necessary to realize the luxury brand proposition. This is the reason why consumers prefer the Swarovski brand and have a high level of brand loyalty towards it.

Developing a unified and integrated communications approach is also necessary because the luxury segment has grown rapidly since the late 1990s all over the world. The information economy developed with the rise of the dot-com industry has created young billionaires overnight who believe in consumption more than saving. Luxury brands that are successful with this segment are expanding their geographic reach and are aligning their marketing strategy, product and design philosophy, pricing strategy, communication strategy and distribution strategies (p. 355). They are also pursuing direct marketing, sponsorships, fashion shows, celebrity endorsements, advertising and public relations to connect with the consumers on a more personal level than ordinary consumer brands. This is the reason behind the success of the Swarovski brand. It does not reflect the old world aloofness and impersonality while maintaining exclusivity and aspirational value.

The most important source of competitive advantage that a company or a product can have is its brand value. It is the key competitive advantage (Keller 2008, p. 290) for a product because it is intangible and inimitable. Keller (2008) recommends that an integrated marketing communication program for a luxury brand should align the brand elements into the marketing program so that a unified message is communicated to the consumers and that the marketing message can be shaded appropriately by the brand image.

In this way, the corporate and the product level branding can be achieved through a unified strategy. The integrated marketing campaign for a luxury brand like Swarovski must reflect the values of the brand and should emphasize the brand characteristics most desired by the consumers. These include an aspirational, premium image, premium pricing, aspirational marketing through valued secondary associations with a celebrity or high-profile individual, and a distribution strategy that makes use of selective channels to balance availability and accessibility with exclusivity (Keller 2008, p. 291). Swarovski combines all these elements effectively in its marketing campaign. It avoids mass media advertising but its marketing message reaches the consumers through specialty business and travel publications and event sponsorships.

The literature review presented above shows that luxury brand buying motives such as those held by Swarovski consumers are primarily emotional. These motives have evolved down the generations as the number of millionaire and billionaires around the world continues to increase as their average age continues to decline. This has resulted in the need for luxury brand managers to address the buying motives of the established wealthy classes as well as those who are rapidly moving up the social and economic ladder.

The Swarovski brand is well-established in the minds of the consumers as a prestigious brand that combines artistic creativity with scientific progress and precision. The brand also has a long heritage that goes back to more than a hundred years. These attributes have found resonance with the buying motives of consumers. The research also shows that emotional branding, branded storytelling and integrated marketing communications can play a strong role in enabling the luxury Swarovski brand to grow by creating new segments and expanding its consumer base.