Louvis

Luxury Brand Strategy of Louis Vuitton
Shin'ya NAGASAWA*

* Graduate School of Commerce, Waseda University Tokyo, Japan, nagasawa@waseda.jp

Abstract: By systematically breaking down th e strategy of the single Louis Vuitton luxury brand into the four Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion), our aim in this paper is to extract the rules or principles of its brand marketing that differ fromthat of general consumer goods. In other words, the object is to distill the rules and principles of success strategies for l uxury brands as well as to derive a busi ness m odel for success. Showing that the current rise of Louis V uitton is not a coincidence but rath er so mething ach ieved th rough strat egy will su rely b e of in terest to firm s struggling with lack of brand power or thoselooking to boost brand power. Key words: luxury brand, brand management, Louis Vuitton.

1. Introduction
Consumers like brand items, while researchers like brand theory. Although scholars also use the word “brand” to refer to the likes of Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, there is a vast gulf between these brands and the luxury brands we e xplored i n t he p revious b ook. I n researchers’ brand management theories, one r arely fi nds m ention o f representative luxury brands like Louis Vuitton or Dior, or of LVMH. Based on this awareness, we carefully scrutinized the ecology of the unique LVMH firm, considering the nature of the brand as distinct from commodity markets, although small in scale [1]. This time let us fo cus on th e grand champion of the LVMH empire: the Louis Vuitton brand. Bysyst ematically breaking down the strategy of the single Louis Vuitton luxury brand into the four Ps (Product, Price, Place, an d Promotion), our aim of this study is to extract the rules or principles of its brand marketing that differ from that of general consumer goods. In other words, the object is to distill the rules and principles of success strategies for luxury brands as well as to derivea business model for success. Showing that the current rise of Louis Vuitton is not a co incidence bu t rath er something achiev ed throug h strategy will su rely b e of in terest to firms struggling with lack of brand power or those looking to boost brand power [2].

2. Set of Principles for PRODUCT
Let us first turn our attention to the first of the four Ps of marketing: Product. Generalmarketing seeks “adequate product quality.” Qu ality con trol en tails so -called “f itness fo r use” and “co nformance to requ irement,” and excess quality can be “undesirable” because it raises costs. For a handbag, this means that things fit in it and it is easy to carry. A 500 yen or 1,000 yen tote bag is su itable for these functions in ter ms of cost performance (Yen Value). However, a Lou isVuitton handbag offers a “produ ct of d istinguished quality” and “attention to detail,”

NPTP

as well as “o ne wi th a st ory be hind i t.” Furthermore, while general m arketing p laces im portance on “relativ e quality,” fo r Louis Vuitton t he co ncept seem s to b e “ab solute quality,” wh ich prompts con sumers to in sist on “Louis Vuitton or nothing,” rendering comparisons of LouisVuitton bags with competing products meaningless. Many of the principles for products originated with the particular preferences and policies of the House of Louis Vuitton, as well as th e creativ ities of Mark Jaco bs, th e artistic d irector of Lo uis Vuitton si nce 1997, and have been shared and carried on by the business corporation. Louis Vuitton observes the following 18 Principles for Products:PRODUCT 1: Principle to Eliminate Counterfeiting - Part 1: Enlightenment Campaigns Excellent goods are being counterfeited. LV does not neglect the care and upkeep needed to protect its brand! The history has also been a history of fighting counterfeit goods as well. LV is carrying on with the fight against the increasi ngly sophisticated co unterfeit g oods, n amely i mitations, in Jap an, which...