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4. The ample changes in the luxury segment and the rise of a multitude
of brands that claim to be “luxury” without necessarily having luxury
offerings, will lead consumers to be fatigued with luxury, so to speak.
This will give rise to several trends, chief of which will be a higher
demand for made-to-measure or bespoke products. Personal and discreet
luxury will become the order of the day and “bling” and “it” items will
be discarded, even in emerging markets. Consumers will also increas-
ingly demand the opportunity to personalize standard products and their
expectation for this will also be transferred to the Internet channel.
5. The youth generation empowered by a digital culture and the social
web will re-define the way that luxury brands relate with clients. The
independent, transparent, open, communal and collaborative nature of the
social web will lead to a new global youth culture that thrives on asser-
tion and expressiveness. The chunk of this generation belonging to the
youth segment will transfer their virtual experiences to their real-life
expectations from luxury brands and will influence older segments in
this movement. They will become more in control in the relationship
with luxury brands.
6. The luxury client will continue in the evolution towards social con-
sciousness and the recognition of virtue and value in ethics, environmental
protection and daily sustainable practices as true luxury. They will
increasingly judge and adopt luxury brands on the basis of their trans-
parency in issues such as fair trade, environmental protection, charitable
contributions and overall corporate social responsibility. The responsi-
ble luxury client will emerge as an entire segment and such trivial issues
as courting and worshipping celebrities will be “out” while individual
value will become “in”. Although this movement will be powered by the
established luxury markets and will evolve in varying degrees in different
markets, the emerging markets will catch up in no time, thanks to infor-
mation access and exposure garnered from the Internet.
7. The new luxury client will also place “service” and “experience” at the
top of their requirements for luxury to fulfill its promise to them. Service
experiences could easily become king over the products as a source
of long-term relationship with the brand. Luxury clients have always
invested in their relationships with brands and they have been taken more
or less for granted, until now. They now require brands to take them seri-
ously and to go out of their way to offer great experiences that will keep
them happy. The brands that fail to meet this criterion will be crossed
off the list. A case in point is the recently opened Georg Jensen New
York flagship store on Madison Avenue, offering a store concept of the
Danish lifestyle in the context of a home with Danish furnishings and
other elements including fireplaces, leather sofas, food items, chinaware
and sound systems by Bang & Olufsen. Despite coming along in the
middle of the recession, the store has become an important destination
