Louis Vuitton hasn't had a sale in 156 years. "Louis Vuitton is a unique organisation: the products never go on sale, nor are they sold at duty-free shops. We create what people desire. And I love that commitment to quality." Marc Jacob - artistic director, said.
A luxury brand often wants to impose a minimum resale price for its high-end clothes in order to prevent online resellers and competing boutiques from “underselling” or discounting the goods, making it available to a wider segment of the market, and in turn, eroding the luxury brand image. Louis Vuitton does not only manufacture and sell its products to a well defined target market, but also sells a lifestyle. Therefore, the pricing and promotion strategy it is not only to protect the brand from counterfeiting but also to be loyal to its customers. Louis Vuitton doesn't have outlets, nor sample sales.
The brand emphasizes the personal selling, values the “fullness of information” exchanged between a customer and a Louis Vuitton salesperson; LV trains salespeople to tell the stories behind the products and inform customers regarding the rich details of latest pieces, how to care for the bags, and updates on key fashion designers. Yearly, Louis Vuitton supplements stores with catalogs that consumers can buy. The catalogues contain an immense amount of information about the products; the catalogues always sell out.
Louis Vuitton commonly uses print ads in magazines and billboards in cosmopolitan cities. It previously relied on selected press for its advertising campaigns (frequently involving prestigious stars like Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, Gisele Bündchen and Catherine Deneuve) shot by Annie Leibovitz. However, Antoine Arnault,
director of the communication department, has recently decided to enter
the world of television and cinema: The commercial (90 seconds) is
exploring the theme "Where will life take you?" and is translated into
13 different languages. This is the first Vuitton commercial ad ever and
was directed by renowned French ad director Bruno Aveillan.
LVMH devotes over ten percent of annual sales to promotion and
advertising. The company advertises its brands primarily in fashion and
lifestyle publications. Some of the leading brands sponsor major
international events with luxury cachet, as Louis Vuitton does by
sponsoring the America’s Cup. Since image is an essential part of
marketing luxury goods, LVMH is careful to evaluate every advertising
and promotional opportunity for consistency with the image of its
brands. As a result, the company manages a portfolio of luxury brands
unparalleled in both size and sales.
Louis Vuitton’s chief executive Yves Carcelles once said: “Our brand is about reliability, quality, style, innovation and
authenticity.” But that may not complete, according to Richard Wachman of London’s The Observer: “Louis Vuitton is also selling a certain idea
of France… a brand that represents a mythical France, one of which
neither the French nor the outside world can get enough.” In short, the essence of a luxury good is its exclusivity, i.e. not everyone can afford it, only a small group of people can enjoy it, and Louis Vuitton pushes exclusivity to the extreme.
The $8 million, specially built locomotive Marc Jacobs sent barreling down the Fall 2012 Louis Vuitton runway it's back, and this time, it serves as the backdrop of the house's Fall 2012 ad campaign. "We wanted to continue the journey we
started with the fashion show — the glamour of travel and the romance of
going somewhere," Jacobs explained. To do so, the train was deconstructed and shipped to a New York studio where it was rebuilt, filled with models, and photographed by Steven Meisel. "We wanted to maintain the comfortingly luxurious and
old-fashioned journey that the collection represented. Opulence, the
brocades, the beautiful cuts of the suits, and I guess, the distant
romantic glamour of travel," Jacobs said.
Louis Vuitton populated its Fall 2011 runway with supermodels like Kate Moss, Amber Valletta, Carolyn Murphy, and Naomi Campbell, but you wouldn't guess it based on the collection's campaign. Instead of its usual top model or actress seasonal face, the brand went with very young, in some cases: 16-year-old Zuzanna Bijoch, 15-year-old Daphne Groeneveld, 20-year-old Gertrud Hegelund, 16-year-old Nyasha Matonhodze, 20-year-old Anais Pouliot, and Fei Fei Sun, who was born in 1989.
In 2007, Louis Vuitton asked Ogilvy PR's Digital Influence team in Paris
to generate positive word of mouth about the brand among online
“influencers.” The campaign needed to be focused and efficient, because
it would not be supported by global marketing nor a traditional public
relations launch.
Ogilvy PR decided to use the launch of the new French Louis Vuitton web
site (featuring André Agassi and Stefi Graff) to start a conversation
among relevant online influencers. Ogilvy PR had three major goals in doing
so: to drive users to Louis Vuitton's site via organic search; to lead
them to associate the brand with high quality and emotional values; and
to gather verbal testimonials and "buzz" for the website, which would in
turn generate further interest in Louis Vuitton among key audiences —
including the media and affluent consumers.
Louis Vuitton store 1 East 57th Street (corner with Fifth Avenue) New York, NY 10022 USA
I recently visited the Louis Vuitton store on 5th Av, the largest in U.S. The building itself it's breathtaking, the exterior was renovated in 2007 by the architect Jun Aoki, he had the freedom to transform the stolid art decor exterior into a destination with multifaceted 21st Century appeal. Aoki conceived of the glass façade as a playfully sleek meditation on crystalline transparency and clouded translucency. Passersby experience a teasing optical illusion by day and a diffused streetlamp-through-fog appearance by night. At 20,000 square feet, the store's interior, designed by Peter Marino (New York) with LV Paris, was one of the largest retail spaces the LVMH store planning department ever worked on. More steel had to be added to the existing structure to support the new façade. Then, there was the Warner Bro's movie theater that had to be converted back to a level floor and structurally re-corrected for use as office space. Plus there were tons of wacky cartoon character detritus and candy machines left behind, such as the Superman who had formerly "supported" the old glass elevator and gargantuan Ninja Turtles.
The Damier checker pattern on the exterior is also the dominant interior motif: Grids and double-square rectangles are wittily integrated throughout the floors, in the checkerboard rugs, the double-square mill work for the product displays and the (quite literally) flashy LED "Feature Wall." The wall climbs from the ground floor up three stories to the top of the retail volume and is visible from outside the store. It can shift into 60 different spectrum colors, ranging from jewel-tone intense to misty pastel. It also functions as a screen for still images and films. Other interior highlights include: a wall of vintage trunks hovering above the periphery of the ground floor dotted with red hat cases evoking the 1943 Piet Mondrian painting, "Broadway Boogie Woogie," and the cantilevered bronze-clad monotube staircase.
The luxury store offers a truly unique shopping experience with its leather goods,classic men's and women's ready-to-wear, modern timepieces and jewelry, and uptown-chic footwear. Past the towering wooden grids that showcase the famed handbags lie the relaxed suits and ultra-feminine knee-length skirts that typify Vuitton's polished look, punctuated by bright colors and soft accents for a swank mix of tradition and modernity; this familiar style is echoed throughout Vuitton's designs, from the monogrammed canvas belts to the red ostrich-leather wrist watches. The displays are elegantly furnished, every item seems to scream buy me. The customers service is also excellent, the sales associates wear black suits with the tag of their name and they're not pushy, but well informed about the products and very professional. The atmosphere is without any doubt welcoming and is really hard to get out without buying anything.
Louis Vuitton uses e-tailing as well, its website is very elegant, informative and easy to navigate, the background music makes the shopping online even more pleasant. The website offers all services that you can find in the store, there are different ways you can contact a professional if you need any help, such as chat option, phone or call back option. The website offers personalized service as well.
Louis Vuitton's use of personalized e-commerce shows marketers how luxury brands can preserve their exclusive shopping experience and inspirational brand image online. Louis Vuitton is able to offer its traditional personalized service to its community of Facebook users via its Mon Monogram app. Users discuss purchase to a much greater extent than for other post topics, suggesting the app can act as a call to action while maintaining Louis Vuitton’s luxurious brand image. Alongside its posts about culture and travel, Louis Vuitton's Facebook page features the Mon Monogram app. which allows members to fully customize their bag with hand-painted personal initials and stripes on the color and direction of their choice. They are then prompted to visit the Louis Vuitton store to purchase their customized bag. Users of the app can also send “virtual” gifts to each other, adding a social dimension to the experience.
Sources: vmsd.com/content/louis-vuitton, Louis Vuitton.com, LVMH.com
What drives the consumer to purchase a Louis Vuitton product? As the president of the parent group LVMH said “a truly unique concept that allies shopping, luxury, leisure, art, and culture”. Louis Vuitton is the most recognized luxury brand in the world, with 20 millions sales more than its competitors Louis Vuitton stands as the top of the evoked set in consumer mind. When purchasing a Louis Vuitton product, consumers are driven by social factors, cultural factors, psychological factors and individual factors. The external stimulus of the consumers comes from a wide range of factors such as the continuous innovation of the products. Louis Vuitton has added ready to wear line, fine jewelry, watches and shoes to its collections. Along with the innovation of the products the company has adopted the new technology. The Mon Monogram application allows the consumers to customize their products. Louis Vuitton advertises its products through multiple channels, from print advertising to commercials, billboards, magazines and social media. The nonmarketing-controlled information source comes from hundreds of blogs, and review websites where people talk about the brand, lifestyle-related posts help associate Louis Vuitton with elite culture are successful in driving purchase discussion. When considering of purchasing a LV's bag the consumer is affected by conscious motives such as the high quality of the product that performs well, friends, colleagues or acquitances that already have a LV's bag, and limited edition make it more fashionable. The Latent motives are:
The bag will demonstrate that the consumer is successful, fashionable and elegant.The shopping experience, the feeling of being important and the long-lasting products make the consumer come back to the brand.
Louis Vuitton continues to collaborate with many artists, celebrities and sports figures the long list includes Bono Vox, Scarlett Johanson, Micheal Phelms, Madonna, Yayoi Kusama.
