Luxury Brands – are they still attractive to millennials?
by LAURIE STONE
Editor-at-large
As with any brand today, the customer experience when communicating with, and buying from that brand, needs to meet or exceed the expectation set by all the clever marketing and advertising methods we have today. That expectation bar, let’s face it, can be very high. The risk to not meeting that expectation lies in loss of brand authenticity and transparency, and a level of distrust in the brand.
This risk is increased it seems when it comes to millennials and Gen-Z (born after 1995 generally). They are a generation that favour spending their hard earned money on experience rather than product alone. They demand a great buying experience, in-store and online, they value it and then talk about it to colleagues and friends and to the world on social media. If the expected experience is not present they are more affected by it than other generations and may lose interest in that brand and feel disillusioned.
Millennials are more focused on experiences that reflect what they value – transparency and realness, a personality. The brand story behind the brand is important to them also, so they feel they know something about the culture of the company. If you’re not sharing your brand story in your marketing and via your people, you could quite possibly be losing millennial market share to your competitors.
With luxury sunglasses brand Maui Jim, a customer often becomes a customer for life due to the consistent and exceptional level of customer service and experience that makes an individual feel like they are truly valued. They are not sold to again at every opportunity – instead they are connected with and engaged with the brand. Apple offer a similar experience with their Genius Bar and the personal service. Whereas some mid-level luxury car brands leave a lot to be desired in these areas and the only time they appear interested is when (and if) you are in the market for a new car. They fail to understand that millennial consumers will just go elsewhere next time if they have not been looked after by the brand and made to feel valued and important to them. Previous generations are more likely to stay brand loyal than change. Things are about to change with millennials set to represent more than 45% of the luxury market consumers by 2025. Some businesses and luxury brands, are not ready for this, yet they need to be.