Research Note

Luxury Goods Consumption:

A Gonceptual Framework
Based on Literature Review
Angshuman Ghosh* and Sanjeev Varshney**

Luxury goods consumption has received limited attention in marketing literature in spite of the
presence of a significaruiy big luxury marketing industry. Studies focused on the definition of luxury,
commented on the characteristics of luxury buyers; researched thé buying motivations of luxury
consumers; but no study integrated them all to present an integrated framework of luxury goods
consumption. Based on review of extant literature on the subject, this^ paper is an attempt to bridge
this gap. The paper primarily.serves two distinct but related purposes.- Firstly, a comprehensive
review of literature on luxury marketing is presented with an attempt to analyze luxury goods
consumption from three different perspectives which are product or brand perspective, consumer
characteristics perspective and buyingrrwtivations perspective. And, secondly an integrated conceptua
framework is presented which brings together the three different perspectives of luxury goods
consumption.' • ' • • . . . •' • . • ' •

INTRODUCTION
The concept of 'luxury' exists since a long time and has been aspired by many for ages.
At the same time luxury was detested by many others for reasons of its own. In the
popular sense of the word, 'luxury' is something related to indulging in self-pleasure
and something which is not a necessity. The hedonistic philosophy of Epicurus approves
the pleasures of life and hence the enjoyment of luxury. But the Aristotelian philosophy
of following the mean course between the extremes condemns the excessive man: 'On
small objects of expenditure he spends much and displays a tasteless showiness... And
all such things he will do, not for honor's sake but to show off his wealth, and because
he thinks he is admired for these things' (Dubois et al, 2001). This history of controversy
regarding luxury consumption has been researched and reported by Berry (1994) and
has also been studied by Twitchell (2003). Twitchell (2003, p. 43) defines luxury as:
"things you have that I think you shouldn't have". But in spite of all the allegations

• FPM Student, XLRI Jamshedpur, Circuit House Area (East), Jamshedpur 831001, Jharkhand, India.
E-mail; ghosh.angshuman.fpm@gmail.coin
** Associate Professor, XLRI Jamshedpur, Circuit House Area (East), Jamshedpur 831001, Jharkhand, India.
E-mail: sanjeewarshney@x!ri.ac.in
 LUXURY GOODS CONSUMPTION:
A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK BASED ON LITERATURE REVIEW

against luxury, it has survived through all these years and is still going strong. The size of
luxury goods market was estimated to be around $86 bn in the year 1990 by McKinsey
& Co. During the last two decades luxury industry grew at a very fast pace ar>d it
achieved sales of $170 bn in 2008 as per Bain & Company.
Luxury as a concept is quite complex and context specific; even one single person
might have conflicting opinions about luxury (Dubois et al, 2001). Culture, country
ánd even individual variables have a significant impact on the perception of luxury.
Traditionally luxury was meaht for the 'happy-few'. But with the growth of luxury
industry, currently it is not only restricted to the élite class df the society and the
concept of mass-luxury is getting popular (Nueno and Quelch, 1998; and Silverstein
and Fiske, 2003). As per Perez (2008), "Luxury has always been a r^ektiye concept, but
there is no doubt that luxury has gone more mass market in recent years". While French
designers historically had a majority hold in the luxury market, US designers like Calvin
Klein and Ralph Lauren grew in 1970s by promoting leisure-oriented casual elegance as
the American style; recently with the right kind of buzz to spread the iitxe culture, Italy
has become one of the latest fashion centers. In their book called The Cult of the Luxury
Brand - Inside Asia's Love Affair With Luxury Chadha and Husband (2Ó06) discusses how
luxury is becoming popular in the Asian countries: "94% of Tokyo women in their 20s
own a Louis Vuitton piece... 92% own Gucci, 57% Prada, 51% Chanel, and so the list
goes on". Luxury product sales are also growing in China. Chinese consumers already
account for more than 10% of global luxury brand sales. Other Asian countries like
Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are also showing increasing appetite for
luxury brands. Counterfeited luxury goods and mass marketing of famous luxury brands
are tw'o most important aspects in this regard. To the mass consumers of luxury; brand
names and logo are very important and hence in the process of 'Luxurification' of
publicly consumed luxury goods, brand name, logo and label have gone fiom the inside
of the collar to the outside in all possible ways.

The traditional concept of luxury as something exclusive does not go with this
phenomenon of mass-luxury. To explain this apparent paradox, a recent Euro moriitor
report has divided the liaxury industry into four segments as follows: (1) true luxury;
(2) traditional luxury; (3) modem luxury living; and (4) life's little luxuries. According
to Perez (2008), 'true luxury' is for the ultra rich. Exarnples of this category of luxury
are: fast cars, jets, haute couture, etc. 'True luxury' products indicate that when rrtoney
is not a constraint, exclusivity becomes more important than other factors. 'Traditional
luxury' includes products like fiagrances, fashion and jewellery, premium spirits and
champagne. 'Modern luxury living' are thé latest trends offering status and appeal such
as travel, luxury technology, online luxury, luxury experiences and services. 'Life's little
luxuries' are luxury ranges that have been developed for the mass market and include
affordable luxury dresses, shoes and body care products. This mass-luxury segment is
gaining prominence in recent years. In spite of this growing popularity of mass-luxury

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/
concept, most studies on luxury marketing in .the last, two decades focused on 'true'
and 'traditional luxury* products. .
Keeping this growth and increased interest in' Luxury, in recent times in mind we
intend to present an in-depth literature review of articles on luxury marketing with an
aim to understand the luxury goods consumption process and to present the state of
theory development in the area. We have primarily focused on articles which were
published in the last two decades. Based on the literature review we have built an
integrated conceptual model to capture different important dimensions of luxury goods
marketing. We have also suggested some propositions to be tested empirically in future
researches. . . • .

LITERATURE REVIEW
For the purpose of secondary research, keywords like 'luxury consumption', 'luxury
goods', 'luxury marketing* and 'luxury brands* were searched in databases like EBSCO,
Emerald, JSTOR, ProQuest and Google Scholar. Relevant papers were reviewed and
cross referred to carry out a comprehensive review of literature. In total 35 papers and
books have been reviewed.
Luxury is a relative and ambivalent subject which is evident in extant literature on
the topic. Bagwell and Bemheim (1996) consider closely related terms like 'luxury' and
'prestige* to be synonyms. But research has shown that consumers perceive these terms
in a distinctly different way (Dubois and Gzellar, 2002). Dubois and Patemault (1995)
have used the terms like 'dream value* in the context of luxury. Because there is scope
for relative interpretations about the concept of luxury, empirical study can be a good
way to find generalizable facts about the concept. Recently many empirical studies on
luxury were conducted in the Asian countries (Park et al, 2007 and 2008; and Phau
and Leng, 2008). But these studies primarily used students as their samples and hence
the findings from these studies might not be generalized to other segments of the
population.
Detailed literature review on luxury marketing highlights that different researchers
have conceptualized their studies from different perspectives. One group of studies has
mainly concentrated pn defining luxury. This group has tried to find answer to the
question as to how luxury companies and. consumers, perceive, what is a luxury brand
or product. We club this, group of studies under 'product/brand perspective'. Second
group of studies concentrate on identifying who are the typical consumers of luxury
goods and what are their characteristics - we will.call this cansurr]er characteristics perspective
There is a third group of studies that talk about why consumers, buy luxury goods. This
is linked with the earlier two groups but primarily focus on motivations of consumers
behind purchasing a luxury brand or product. We will name this third perspective as
'buying motivations perspective'. In the rest of the article we.will use these three .distinct
but related perspectives to explain luxury goods c o n s u m p t i o n - . . . . .

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PRODUCT/BRAND PERSPECTIVE . .
"Why do I need to know how the watch market is doing? I'm in the business of luxury."
This comment by Patrick Heiniger, CEO of Rolex indicates that luxury itself is perceived
as an industry irrespective of the individual product being considered. In the study of
luxury goods, the terms 'luxury product' and 'luxury brand' cannot always be
distinguished clearly. This is especially so because, for certain products like luxury villa
or an island, the product matters and not the brand; \yhereas for certain brands like
Louis Vuitton which is present in numerous product categories, the brand itself is
considered as a luxury brand without considering a particular product category. So, in
the following discussion we will not differentiate betweeri luxury product and brand
and both will be used iii the same sense.
As per economics, a 'luxury good' is a good for which demand increases more than
proportionally as income rises, in contrast to a necessity good, for which demand increases
less than proportionally as income rises. In marketing literature Phau and Prendergast
(2000, pp. 123-124) defined luxury brand as: 'evoke exclusivity, [have] a well known
brand identity, [enjoy high] brand awareness and perceived quality, and retain sales
levels and customer loyalty'. Based on interview of one LVMH CEO, Wetlaufer (2001,
p. 121) describes luxury brands as: timeless, modern, fast-growing and highly profitable.
As per the research into the company perspectives for luxury wine brands, Beverland
(2004) defines luxury with the following dimensions: value-driyen emergence, culture,
history, product integrity, marketing and endorsement. Mathieson and Blair (2008)
reports an interesting case study of a British whiskey manufacturer whose business focus
shifted as it became part of LVMH's luxury brand portfolio. While the company's
distribution focus changed from retailers, to prernium bars, clubs, and hotels, focus of
products changed to uncompromising quality and visual perfection from efficiency and
effectiveness. A study of Scotch whisky in Thai retail stores by Mandhachitara and
Lockshin (2004) also suggests the relation of luxury brands with high price. Prendergast
and Wong (2003) in their study of parental influence on the purchase of luxury brands
of infant apparel found the quality and the design as the key features of luxury brands.
Dubois et al. (2001) summarizes key dimensions of luxury as: excellent quality, very
high price, scarcity and uniqueness, aesthetics and poly-sensuality, ancestral heritage
and personal history, and superfluousness.

Overall, there has been considerable unanimity among researchers about four dimensions
of luxury: (1) premium quality; (2) aesthetics; (3) expensiveness; and (4) history. While the
first three are corisidered to be the inherent characteristics of a luxury brand—the experiences
of the luxury companies suggest that it takes time to build a luxury brand.Règarding quality,
it might be difficult to judge the exact quality of certain luxury products and hence, we
propose to use perceived premium quality to stress that what is more important is the
consumer's perception about the quality rather, than the actual quality.

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Pia: Perceived premium quality of a luxury product/brand is positively related to luxury

goods consumption.
. Plb: Aesthetics of a luxury product/brand is positively related to luxury goods
consumption. . .
Pic: Expensiveness:of.a luxury product/brand is positively related to luxury goods '
consumption. • . . .
Pld: History of a luxury product/brand is related to luxury goods consumption.

There exists a lack of consensus about the 'functionality' dimension of luxury;

while some consumers found it to be important others, did not. But in any case they
consider luxury products to have high non-functional or intangible utility. Moore and
Birtwistle (2005) notes that desirability of luxury brands goes beyond their functional
value and luxury brands can charge a premium price for the perceived high status
that their possession provides. Thus we propose that 'perceived utility* dimension can
be the fifth dimension to define luxury. It includes auxiliary benefits that the luxury
brand provides other than the defined functionality of the product.
Pie; Perceived utility .of a luxury product/brand is positively related to luxury goods
consumptioTi.

Finally, luxury is considered something exclusive by most studies. The case studies
of Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, and Saab (Strach and Everett, 2006) indicates that though
combining the luxury and mass market brands within one company portfolio gives
benefits of scale and scope economies but causes brand equity corrosion by diluting
the brand value. The main reason of this is identified as diminishing rarity value
which is related to the price of luxury brands. Once the luxury brands become more
affordable, they lose their uniqueness and hence, the niche image which is an important
part of their luxury value is lost. Research indicates that restricting the availability by
means of exclusive and selective distribution adds to the scarcity value of the luxury
brands (Quelch, 1987; Vigneron and Johnson, 1999; and Dubois and Czellar, 2002).
But the paradox of luxury brands is while to increase revenue, companies want to
increase sales, increasing sales means less exclusivity and thus curtails the luxury
image. As suggested by Preiholt and Hogg (2006) an intelligent approach to meet
both the ends is to come up with new products at regular intervals. With that approach,
the sales of individual product is not much, which keeps the luxury image and the
exclusive status unaltered, and also the total sales of overall product portfolio can be
large. An alternative solution to this can be as suggested by Beverland (2004) : exclusivity
is something that is perceived by the consumers, so luxury companies can expand
their production and sales without changing their luxury positioning if they can maintain
the perceived exclusivity in the eyes of the consumers. Based on these evidences we
propose perceived uniqueness or exclusivity as our sixth dimension to define luxury.
 LUXURY GOODS CONSUMPTION:
A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK BASED ON LITERATURE REVIEW

Plf: Perceived uniqueness or exclusivity of a luxury product/brand is positively related

to luxury goods consumption.

So overall, based on the literature review and subsequent analysis we propose the
following six key dimensions to define a luxury product or brand: perceived premium
quality, aesthetics, expensiveness, history, perceived utility and perceived uniqueness or
exclusivity. •
CONSUMER CHARACTERISTICS ,
Consumption of luxury goods cannot be understood without considering the consumers
of luxury and their characteristics. There are many aspects of consumer characteristics
which impact their consumption choices but here we will concentrate only on four key
characteristics of luxury consumers which we found to be most important in extant
literature on luxury marketing. These are: income, culture, cohort perception and self-
consciousness of the consumers.
The strong positive association of income with luxury goods consumption is widely
accepted phenomenon in literature. In recent times, Dubois and Duquesne (1993) have
empirically proved that the income of a consumer has significant impact on the
consumption of luxury goods. Expensiveness is considered as an importait facet of
luxury goods. So only when a consumer has more money, he can afford.to buy such
expensive goods. Based on this we propose: .
P2a: Income of a consumer is positively related to his/her luxury goods consumption.
Culture of a person has impact on every aspect of human existence. Some philosophers
have gone to the extent of proposing that even reality is socially constructed. Whether
that is true or not is arguable but social norms and influence manifested in the form of
culture do play an important, role in the consumption habits of people. Consumption
of luxury is supported, in some cultural philosophies and detested in others. The exact
impact of culture on luxury goods consumption is quite complex to understand.
However, cross-cultural empirical studies in recent times (Dubois
et al, 2001) have found significant relationship between luxury consumption and culture.
P2b: Culture of a consumer impactshis/her luxury goods consumption.
Research has found that age plays an important role in consumption. People bom during
the same time period and facing similar external events during late adolescence and early
adulthood years are considered to form a cohort group (Meredith and Schewe, 1994; and
Ryder, 1965). Also, styles followed/practiced in the late teen and early twenties have a life-
long impact on people's psyche (Holbrook and Schindler, 1989). Cohort perception of a
person can capture these differences among different generations of people. The study by
Hauck and Stanforth (2007) finds out that there is a difference in perception of luxury
goods among different cohort groups. It has been also found that a luxury for one generation
can become a necessity for the next (Berry, 1994). Thus we propose that:
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P2c: Cohort Perception of a consumer is related to his/her luxury goods consumption.

As per Vigneron and Johnson (1999), type of self-consciousness of people plays an

important role in luxury goods consumption. Privately self-conscious people are more
concerned about themselves and publicly self-conscious people are more influenced
by others and specially their reference groups. Thus, their buying motivation, and
consequent purchase of luxury products might be different.
P2c: Self-consciousness of a consumer is related to his/her luxury goods consumption.
Overall, it can be proposed that income, culture, cohort perception and self-
consciousness of the consumers will .have an association with their definition of luxury
product/brand, their buying motivations as well as their consequent luxury goods
consumption.
BUYING MOTIVATIONS
Literature further identifies the motives behind purchase of luxury goods. In the end
of the 18'*" Century Veblen (1899) pointed out that people tend to emulate the leisure
class or the upper-strata of society. This type of consumption that is related to the
flaunting of One's status symbols is also called conspicuous consumption. In modem
times too, researchers have emphasized impact of conspicuous consumption motivation
in the context of luxury consumption (Mason, 1981; and Bearden and Etzel, 1982).
Taking it further Vigneron and Johnson (1999) used the term 'Veblenian' to explain
this type of buying motivation. In this study conspicuous consumption will be used to
define this motivation.
P3a: Conspicuous consumption motivation of a consumer is related to his/her luxury
goods consumption..
The opposite of conspicuous consumers are the people who focus on product quality
and primarily concerned about the pleasure that they get fiom the consumption
experience. Both hedonist and perfectionist motivation defined by Vigneron and
Johnson (1999 and 2004) defines this group and we will use the label 'hedonist' to
define this type of motivation.
P3b: Hedonist motivation of a consumer is related to his/her luxury goods consumption.
Leibenstein (1950) came up with the concept of'bandwagon' and 'snob* effects. In
case of the former, the demand of a product increases when other consumers also buy
it and for the later, demand of the product goes down if others also buy the product.
While a 'snob' consumer tries to avoid an unwanted reference group membership,
'bandwagon' consumer wants to enhance hisAier self-concept by following the aspired
reference group. In case of both 'snob' as well as 'bandwagon' effects people try to
express themselves using their consumption of luxury goods. The only difference here,
is their way of expression. While a 'snob' consumer tries to avoid an unwanted reference
group membership, a 'bandwagon' consumer wants to enhance hisAier self-concept.by

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trying to become a member of the aspired reference group. For both these effects
related to self-concept we will use the label 'self-expression' to define this dimension.
This 'self-expression' motivation will also include symbolic consumption where
consumers buy ai particular luxury good for its syrribolic value and thus try to express
himself or his values.
P3c: Self-expression motivation of a consumer is related to his/her luxury goods
consumption. • ;
Overall, it can be said that buying motivations of consumers will be related to their
luxury goods consumption, but different consumers might have different motivations
for consuming luxury goods or same consumers might consume different luxury goods
for different motivations. Based on our literature review we found out three key buying
motivations which are related to luxury goods consumption: conspicuous consumption
motivation, hedonist- motivation and self-expression motivation.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
OVERALLMODEL •
Combining all these factors described above, the current study proposes a conceptual
framework that integrates different perspectives of luxury marketing. This framework
explains different dimensions of luxury consumption along with interaction effect among
various dimensions. A diagram showing this overall conceptual framework is shown in
Figure 1. In this framework the plain lines indicate the primary causal relations and
the dashed lines indicate the interaction effects. '
PRIMARY CAUSALRELATIONS • • ' •
The three main dimensions shown in this framework are: luxury product/brand, luxury
consumer characteristics and buying mgtivatiori for luxury goods. Within each of these
dimensions corresponding sub-dimensions are shown. The causal link from luxury product/
brand to luxury goods consumption is described-by propositions Pia, Plb, PJc, PI d, PJe
and PI/. The causal link from consurner characteristics to luxury goods consumption is
described by propositions P2a, P2b and P2c. The causal link from luxury buying motivation
to luxury goods consumption is described by propositions P3a, P3b and P3c.
INTERACTION EFFECTS ,. . . . . .
The study by Hauck and Stanforth (2007) finds that the motivations for purchase of
luxury are different for different cohort groups. While improving the quality of life
and pleasiire was common motivation between the youngest and oldest cohoi"ts,- thé
other important motivation for youngest groups was entertainment and for the oldest
groups was relaxatiori. The study also found that while oldest people are likely to buy
luxury to 'beautify their homes'; youngest people are more likely to buy on impulse to
s'elf-gift or for status symbol. Based otifinidingsfrom above study we can proposé the
following.' - • • •' • . ^^

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P4a: Conspicuous motivation for luxury goods consumption will be more important
" for younger cohort groups than older cohort groups.

Figure 1: Integrated Conceptual.Framework of Luxury Goods Consumption

• • .

Luxury Product/Brand
• Perceived Premium Quality

• • Aesthetics
p • Expensiveness « ;

.•History .

•Perceived Utility

• Perceived Uniqueness : ,
)

Consumer Characteristics
• Income
• •
•Culture " •• Luxury Goods Consumption

•Cohort Perception

• Self-consciousness
Buying Motivations
•Hedonist

•Conspicuous "
» • Self-Expression « •

• Bandwagon

• Snoh * • •

• Symbolic

Conspicuous consumption motivation in the context is luxury goods consumption

is related to two aspects of luxury products. First one.is. related to 'exclusivity*.
Traditionally, luxury goods are not owned by many and hence are considered exclusive.
The other aspect that is linked to conspicuousness is. that the hrand or product should
be "seen or identified by others" (Bourne, 1957). So, the conspicuous motive should
be prominent for public luxury products. Vigneron and Johnson (1999) highlighted
that 'conspicuous* motivation may be more visible for publicly self-conscious people

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where people, use luxury goods as a status symbol to show-off their wealth. This type
of consumers also put a greater importance on high prices.
P4b: Conspicuous motivation for luxury goods consUrnptión will be more important
for publicly self-conscious people than privately self-conscious people.

P4c: Conspicuous motivation for luxury goods consumption will be more important
for public luxury products than private luxury products.

P4d: For conspicuous consumers expensiveness and perceived exclusivity will be more
important than other dimensions for a luxury brand/product.

Hedonist consumers are more concerned about pleasure. So, hedonist motivation
will be prominent for privately self-conscious people. As this is primarily linked with
personal pleasure that a person gets fiom the consumption, this kind of motivation
might be more prominent for privately consumed goods. If pleasure is the primary
consumption motive then sensory aspects like quality and aesthetics will be important
than economic calculations of price or evaluations of other people.
P4e: Hedonist motivationfor luxury goods ccnsumption wül be more important for privately
self-conscious people than publicly self-conscious people.

P4f: Hedonist motivation for luxury goods consumption wúl be more important for private
luxury products than public luxury products.

P4g: For privately self-conscious people perceived premium quality and aesthetics wiü be
more important than expensiveness for a luxury brand/product.

Snob and bandwagon consumers are publicly self-conscious. Reference group influence
plays a major role for these type of consumers. For both of these groups, what they
consume in public and how their reference groups evaluate their public consumption
are very important. So, Proposition P4b and P4c will be also applicable for snob and
bandwagon consumers. While conspicuous consumers want to project their luxury
good possession as a status label, snob consumers want to be different fiom the reference
group they don't want to associate with. So, Proposition P4d should also be true for
sr¿ob consumers. But for bandwagon consumers they follow their aspired reference
group and hence. Proposition P4d should not be true for bandwagon consumers.
P4h: Snobmotivationforluxury goods consumption will be more important for publicly
self-consdous people than privately self-cor^sdous people.

P4i: Srwb motivation for luxury goods consumption will be more important for public
luxury products than private luxury products.

P4i: For srwb consumers expensiveness and perceived exclusivity will be more important
than other dimensions for a luxury brand/product. For barúwagon consumers these
two dimensions will not be verji important.

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For symbolic motivation the important factors are the look and feel of the product
and what it stands for symbolically. History of the brand, the design of the product as
well as specific utility might lead to symbolic value of a luxury product/brand.
P4k: For 'symbolic' consuniption - aesthetics, history and perceived utility will be more
important than other dimer)sions for a luxury brand/product.

In this section of conceptual framework we have presented and described an integrated

framework of luxury goods consumption which tries to relate the different perspectives
and propositions related to luxury goods consumption. We have presented a conceptual
diagram showing primary causal links and also interaction effects among related constructs
and described the same in the form of propositions.

CONCLUSION
Based on extant literature this paper presents a comprehensive conceptual framework
that provides á holistic view of luxury good consumption from different perspectives.
We have explained that luxury goods consumption by an individual is influenced by
three broad groups of factors which are: characteristics of luxury product/brand,
characteristics of luxury buyers, and buying motivations of luxury buyers. Basic
dimensions based on which people decide whether a brand is luxury or not are the
characteristics of luxury product/brand and we have proposed six such key characteristics
which are as follows: perceived premium quality, aesthetics, expensiveness, history,
perceived utility and perceived uniqueness. We have also found out and collated primary
characteristics of luxury consumers which influence their luxury goods, consumption
and these factors are: income, culture, cohort perception and self-consciousness. We
proposed three key buying motivations behind the consumption of luxury products/
brands and they are: hedonist, conspicuous and self-expression. Théi-e are three sub
groups of motivation under the self-expression dimension which ate: bandwagon, snob
and symbolic. We have summarized all these findings in the form of an integrative
framework and also presented a set of propositions relating the different relevant factors.

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH.

Just like any other research, our research is not the end but providing the next step to
future research irl the field of luxury goods consumption and marketing. This paper is
based on literature review and .consequent analysis. During literature review only English
language articles which were found in digital databases were retrieved and reviewed.
However, luxury marketing being a very popular subject in many European nations,
there is sigriificant literature on the subject of luxury which is written in non-English
languages like French, German, etc., which we did not review. Future researchers
especially those with good knowledge in the languages can review- those luxury
marketing articles. Also, there can be some articles on the topic of luxury consumption
which were not present in the online databases where we searched for articles.
 LUXURY GOODS CONSUMPTION:
A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK BASED ON LITERATURE REVIEW

In this research we have not conducted a primary research and hence the conceptual
model and propositions that we have presented in this paper have not been verified
empirically. Future research can provide empirical support for different dimensions
and relations conceived in the framework. We have provided some key propositions
which might help in that regard. For the purpose of future empirical research in the
field, the various propositions need to be converted to appropriate hypothesis and
tested empirically. , ; .• :
Also, in our literature review and subsequent analysis we have primarily focused
on 'true' and 'traditional luxury' category. Future research might try to identify how
different categories of luxury are different fiom each other and see which aspects of
our conceptual framework is applicable and which parts needs to be modified to explain
specificities of different luxury categories. Though some of the findings might be
applicable to other categories not all the findings cah be generalized to other categories
of luxury goods.

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