Contemporary & international marketing Case Study

Contemporary & international marketing - Case Study Example Further, aspects like target segments, differentiation were also adequately addressed. The Company Tatbury Crystal Glass Ltd is a family-owned manufacturer of quality cut glass made from full lead crystal. Known as Tutbury Crystal (TC) since 1984, manufacturing on the site in the Staffordshire village went back as far as the 15th century. In the 1920-60s, the crystal had the name Thomas, Webb & Corbett, a prestigious name renowned for high-quality product. The manufactured crystals were to be seen as traditional, English, aspirational, handcrafted, exclusive and full of heritage. Luxury brands have characteristically been correlated with the essential proficiencies of originality and ingenuity, individuality, craftsmanship, accuracy and meticulousness, high quality, innovation and premium pricing. These product features provide consumers the satisfaction of not only having possession of expensive items but the added psychological benefits like esteem, prestige and a sense of "high status" that reminds them that they belong to an exclusive group of a select few who can afford these costly items. Generally, the luxury sector aims its products and services at consumers on the top-end of society's economic spectrum. These self-selected elite are more or less price-insensitive and choose to spend their time and money on objects that are plainly considered as 'opulence' rather than necessities. For these reasons, luxury and prestige brands have, for hundreds of years, commanded a stanch and often illogical customer loyalty. At present, the luxury market is taking on a new direction with exceptional demand coming from Asian countries, and hence research has centered on the cross-cultural comparison of attitudes toward the luxury concept (Dubois & Laurent, 1996; Dubois & Paternault, 1997) and the comparison of motivations between Asian and Western societies (Wong & Ahuvia, 1998). Nonetheless, these investigations have focused on only some facets of prestige-seeking consumer behavior. Although researchers concur that the inquiry of prestige goods is interesting and significant, there is currently little agreement about how best to define, and tehrefore understand, the psychology of prestige-related consumer behavior. "Status brand strategies are intuitively recognised by marketing professionals and practitioners. However, there is little literature on the topic reported in scientific journals" (Andrus, Silver & Johnson 1986). As a consequence of the remarkable growth of luxury markets over the years, the marketing arena has recently seen ample and significant interest in the study of prestige brands. Research in the UK projected important social changes by the year 2000 (Powderly & MacNulty, 1990). Their study recognised that people's needs for appearances and materialism were increasing. That is, they reported a rising demand for conspicuous and status products. In Australia, contemporary market reports seem to support this analysis. "Australians have embarked on a shopping spree for imported luxury goods, with sales of diamonds, furs, caviar and champagne jumping this year" (Rees 1997, p. 8). The United States' economic recovery and the fast growing demand in Asia, before the slowdown that started in 1997, have also boosted the growth of the