Why do we buy luxury products?

There is a weird but viable answer.

This article would give you a clear insight on what luxury clients are looking for.

Understanding this argument would, in my opinion, guide luxury retail professionals on how to present their products.

Think about it... why do people buy luxury products when inexpensive items can logically do the exact same job?!!

Why spend thousands on a Rolex watch when you can buy a cheap plastic one which does exactly the same job... tells the time?!

Why drink wine from an expensive crystal glass when wine tastes exactly the same in a plastic cup?!

Why and why and why... the list goes on forever...

People do spend their hard earned cash on items that would never add logical value to their lives!! But do they not?

The answer is simply No... luxury products and services do add tremendous value to our lives. They simply get us closer to our "imaginary self" and this is an essential step towards happiness and self-satisfaction.

Each one of us has an image in mind of how we would like to look, act and be like. We all want the world to see us in this particular image.

I, for example, always want the world to see me as a well-dressed gentleman who always treats people well, can be a sharp critic of idiocy, knows about the finer things in life and lives life to the full. I think that reading Churchill’s biography at an early age and listening to my parent’s praise about him played a big role in me building this particular image of what I would like the society to see me as.Others base their imaginary self on a pop star, a sports person, a hedonist, a scientist or indeed a large myriad of personalities and popular figures in life.

People spend a significant time and effort every single day to get closer to their imaginary self, including altering the way they speak, dress, move and even think.

One of the main ways to achieving this image is to own the tools that help this aspiration. These tools are the personal products we buy and the social mannerisms we adopt.

The interesting thing here is that we imagine the person we want to be not as metaphorical vague entity but as a painstakingly detailed and clear human being that physically looks like us but dresses, acts, moves and speaks like what we would like to be.

When we think of our imaginary self, we don’t only see the face of that person but also the accessories and products this person possesses. We want these products and accessories otherwise we are not closer; and if we are not closer then we are simply not happy or satisfied; therefore, our brains link happiness or satisfaction to the products and accessories we need to own.

Not everyone has a luxurious image in their mind, actually some people would like to be seen as ones who hate materialistic things so they try to acquire items that put them in this light like second hand vintage fashion or a plastic Casio watch, etc.

But even these people are still “buying” stuff to get closer to their “imaginary selves”. More than that, I actually believe that our imaginary selves play a great part in making us active in the fields of animal welfare, human rights, liberalism or other ideologies. You will agree with me if you think of the reason that makes most members of a same ideological group similar in terms of what they wear, how they behave, speak and hang around with.

Now back to our topic: Why do people buy illogical luxury products and services? Simply because if they don’t they are not satisfied with what they have achieved in life, not confident about themselves and simply, they are not happy.

So how should we sell luxury products and services?

The answer is so simple taking into consideration the above formula.

- Try to identify your customer’s imaginary self by asking questions about how this image looks.

- Make your customer open up to you and give you details about this imaginary self. What are they wearing? How are they wearing it? Where are they wearing it? Etc.

- Listen to the clues that your customer is giving you when describing the item they are after. They are actually giving you a voice commentary about what their imaginary self looks like right now

- Then try to present your product in a way to convince your customer that owning it brings them closer to their imaginary self. Try to highlight the features in your product that are most compatible with their imaginary self and hide the ones that contradicts it.

You make a sale only if:

1- You sway your customer enough to imagine their imaginary self actually wearing or using your product and happy with it

2- And your customer can afford the price you are asking for (Not the price they are prepared to pay because they are prepared to pay anything they can to get closer to their imaginary self).

I hope you enjoyed reading this article which is based on years of experience in selling and marketing luxury products to clients from all over the world. I would love to hear your opinions by leaving a remark below.

Thank you.

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