Segmenting Luxury Market Based on the Type of the Luxury Consumed. Empirical Study on Young Female Luxury Consumers

Due to frequent changes in the luxury sector but mostly to its specificity, the answers to two of the most important questions are still controversial: “who is the luxury consumer?”and “how he/she consumes? “. Conducting a study among young female luxury consumers, the main purpose of the paper was to identify the existence of significant differences in luxury products and services consumption. The TwoStep cluster analysis indicated a five cluster solution based on the categories of luxury consumed and the differences were significant as the segments vary from segments of consumers who have only luxury cosmetics/perfumes to segments of consumers who engage in consumption of almost all types of luxury. Unexpected luxury consumers were discovered, with family precarious financial situation that doesn’t stop them to desire and consume luxury – they may engage in trading-up or down actions, consume accessible luxury or even take part to the “sugar daddy” phenomenon. The study is unique by approach and brings significant contribution both to luxury literature and for the luxury business domain.