Do consumers perceive three levels of luxury? A comparison of accessible, intermediate and inaccessible luxury brands

The aim of this article is to study the concept of luxury levels and to assess whether they are significant for consumers. Perceptions of five brands were measured: Chanel and Mont Blanc for accessible luxury level, Rolex for intermediary luxury level and Ferrari and Van Cleef & Arpels for inaccessible luxury level. Also three luxury perception scales were compared: Kapferer (1998), Vigneron and Johnson (1999) and Dubois et al (2001). Various statistical analyses are carried out in order to validate the structure of the scales and to show their discriminant validity with regard to the five luxury brands encompassed in this study. This research shows some convergences between the three scales as well as the utility of these scales for differentiating luxury brands. Finally, the predictive validity of these scales is unlighted, validating the distinction of brands among the three aforementioned luxury levels. Results also show that there is a luxury continuum at a theoretical level, reinforcing the notions of accessible, intermediate and prototypical inaccessible luxury.