• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.95-111
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• 2015

This purpose of this study is to academically define what "luxury products" mean, and to clarify the cognitive structural relationship between product attributes and "luxuriousness" in relation to the determinant of luxuriousness that eventually affects the purchase intention of consumers. This study is also written under the theory that luxuriousness leads to benefits such as functional benefit, experiential benefit, symbolic benefit, and exclusive benefit; which all provide core values to consumers and serve as effect factors that influence the psychological satisfaction of consumers. The commonly discussed measure of the determinant of luxuriousness has often failed to adequately describe the reasons to why the consumers prefer luxury products. This study also aims to suggest a new path in how and what the consumers perceive as luxury products, and to conceptualize what luxuriousness means in the marketing perspectives on the background of a previous theory. The part of product attributes are divided in the following sections: the quality and design of functional cues and brands of symbolic cues, as well as prices. The part of the determinant of luxuriousness is divided in sections of superiority, scarcity, differentiation, and traditionality. Therefore, this study used the theoretical concept used in such common measures as well as 282 examples to empirically analyze the relationship between product attributes and luxuriousness of luxury products, and how such affect the purchase intentions of consumers. The survey used to aid this study targeted luxury product consumers regarding "B" brand of automobiles. Using the analysis through a structural equation model, the study draws a conclusion that in a relationship between product attributes and luxuriousness, quality(which is one of the functional cues) affects the facts of superiority, differentiation in a significant way, and design affects the factors of scarcity in a significant way. And brand(one of the symbolic cues) significantly affects the factors of traditionality within the luxuriousness factors, and price appeared to affect superiority and scarcity. Additionally, the brand of product attributes significantly affects purchase intention, and superiority and scarcity of luxuriousness affects purchase intention in a significant way. The structural concept of luxury and luxuriousness suggested in the study will provide the theoretical basis for building a new case study, and the determinants of luxuriousness in the marketing perspective will be a practical help for checking the consumers' psychological reasons for purchase.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1-14
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• 2018

As interest and consumption of luxury goods have become more popular, luxury goods market is growing rapidly. Consumers can acquire psychological satisfaction with material abundance by purchasing and using luxury goods. Also, from the view of corporations, luxury goods have price inelastic characteristics, so they can enjoy price premium and it is good to produce good performance. That is the reason why they should pay much attention to securing luxuriousness. This study examined the establishment of brands luxuriousness in Korean SMEs. First, it examined the world market of luxury goods industry and the present condition of Korean market. Then it identified the constituents of luxuriousness by examining the prior studies and related literatures, and designed a research model based on the theoretical grounds to suggest the methods of brand luxuriousness building of Korean SMEs. Luxuriousness can be defined as the attribute of product that distinguishes luxury goods from other products by consumers' perceptions, and the factor that provides situational benefits that motivate consumers' purchasing behavior. In this study, I identified the sub-dimensions of luxuriousness according to whether there are product related attributes and consumers' benefit in consideration of the problems of existing studies. Product related luxuriousness are classified into superiority(functional benefit) and scarcity(experiential benefit), while non-product related luxuriousness are classified into differentiation(symbolic benefit) and traditionality(exclusive benefit). The following are the ways to build brand luxuriousness. First, company can use product factors. High quality, excellent design, high recognized brand with strong, favorable and unique images can enhance the luxuriousness of brand. Second, company can use price factors. Consumers tend to perceive luxury goods as high-priced items, so lowering the price of product can undermine the luxuriousness of product. Third, company can use distribution factors. It is effective for making consumers to perceive the differentiation and scarcity of luxuriousness through limited distribution channel. In addition, store atmosphere suitable for luxury brands should be created. Fourth, company can use promotion factors. The more consumers are exposed to advertisements, the more positive attitudes toward luxury brands are made, and consumers recognize luxuriousness higher. Price promotion negatively affects consumers' perception of luxuriousness. Fifth, company can use corporate factors. Consumer evaluations of products are influenced not only by the product attributes but also by the corporate association and corporate image surrounding the product. Considering the existing researches, it is possible to enhance the brand luxuriousness through high corporate competence and good corporate reputation. In order to increase the competence of the enterprise, it is useful to approach multidimensionally in relation with the knowledge creation capability. In corporate reputation, the external stakeholders' reputation is important, but the internal members' reputation is also important. Korean SMEs will be able to build brand luxuriousness by establishing marketing strategies as above and/or mix(integrate) them according to the situation.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.99-116
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• 2013

This study examines whether product promotions are influenced by the market standing of promoted products, using social comparison theory (upward versus downward comparisons). It is hypothesized that people in possession of a product that is inferior to the one on promotion express less discomfort about the promotion and use the information more than do people in possession of a superior product. People in possession of an inferior product may also exhibit more positive attitudes toward the product on promotion, but may show poorer attitudes toward their own possessed product than do people with a superior product. This is because people in an inferior socioeconomic position show a strong motivation to improve themselves through upward social comparison, whereas people in a superior socioeconomic position maintain a strong sense of superiority in downward social comparison, which suggests strong endowment effects. The findings mainly support the hypotheses, and suggest that sales promotions are more effective for people who currently own an inferior product, but not for people with a superior product, who have a strong motivation to maintain their sense of superiority. The findings also imply that, in order to attract consumers in the superior market, managers for inferior products need to turn to methods other than sales promotions, which may include introducing a new brand or sub-brand, or emphasizing luxury and modern features. In contrast, managers for superior products may emphasize product functions and attributes of superior products in their promotions, as people with inferior products may consider such information as benefits of the superior products.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.556-571
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• 2020

This study predicts consumer preference for social clothing at work, excluding uniforms using the self-product congruence theory that also establishes a model to predict the preference for recommended products that match the consumer's own image. A total of 490 Korean male office workers participated in this study. Participants' self-image and the product images of 20 apparel items were measured using nine adjective semantic scales (namely elegant, stable, sincere, refined, intense, luxury, bold, conspicuous, and polite). A model was then constructed to predict the consumer preferences using a neural network with Python and TensorFlow. The resulting Predict Preference Model using Product Image (PPMPI) was trained using product image and the preference of each product. Current research confirms that product preference can be predicted by the self-image instead of by entering the product image. The prediction accuracy rate of the PPMPI was over 80%. We used 490 items of test data consisting of self-images to predict the consumer preferences for using the PPMPI. The test of the PPMPI showed that the prediction rate differed depending on product attributes. The prediction rate of work apparel with normative images was over 70% and higher than for other forms of apparel.