Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster - Dana Thomas (Penguin Books, 2008)

A history and criticism of the transformation of luxury goods from its traditional role of social demarcation based on quality and design to another mass market niche driven by advertising, cost control, and mass market appeal. [338.47]

Luxury goods are, in general, no longer the province of ateliers and small, family-run factories.  The old houses of Chanel, Dior, and particularly Vuitton, represented the tradition of well-made goods in the Parisian market.  Globalization, however, has created a market beyond the capacity of the old production system and with a potential for great profit from sales to rising elites worldwide.  Only corporations can procure the financing and capacity needed to meet this demand, but corporations have a different focus than the traditional family atelier.  The great fashion houses and designers have been democratized through the development of corporate marketing that stresses brand awareness and packaging.

As conglomerates have taken over old houses, cost control has become critical.  This has moved many workshops to China and other emerging markets and placed their goods on assembly lines next to pedestrian goods.  It has led to the development of the outlet mall where goods are sold that were made specifically for the outlet shop.  It has led to the creation of cheap goods, such as tee shirts and key rings, bearing only the trademark or logo of some fashion house.  The intent was to widen the market to households who could not justify the expense of traditional designer goods; now, they too can buy into the dream.  And, of course, the growth of a mass market for luxury brands has encouraged counterfeiting. 

Now one may ask oneself if the appeal of the product lies in its exclusiveness, its quality, or its solely its brand marketing.  The clearest sign of decline must be that for many goods, the distinctiveness of the product is not necessarily to be found in the quality of materials and workmanship or execution of design, but in the label which has moved from inside the item to the outside for all to see.

I found this book irresistible and as I read on, it radically affected my views on luxury goods. 

It is strongly recommended.

The Paradox of Choice: why more is less - Barry Schwartz (Harper Perennial, 2005)

We live in an economy capable of generating countless variations of a product to meet individual tastes.  The problem arises when we find that we are not capable of managing mentally so many choices.  [153.83]

This book poses an interesting paradox: we live in a world that offers us ever more choice in even our most mundane goods, yet they ability to choose from such a variety makes us less happy with our choices.  Every decision disappoints.  This is particularly true for persons who seek to optimize based on their actions rather than to satisfy some need.

The author invokes a broad range of research in highlighting how too broad a range of choice can lead us to regret decisions because we had unrealistic expectations of the outcome or to constantly compare them with choices not made.  The impact of this paradox is greater stress in our personal lives. 

It also has implications for marketing where product line extension has become the norm (contrary to the warnings of Ries and Trout in the book Positioning of thirty years ago.)  What is a Coke today?  Is it Classic Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Coke...  Schwartz hints that we may become paralyzed by our inability to choose.  Thus, by offering more selection, we get consumers who take no decision or are ultimately dissatisfied with the product they have chosen.

This book is recommended to anyone interested in our consumer society.