The Role of Culture for Pricing Luxury Fashion Brands

The pricing of luxury goods differs considerably from the pricing of regular products. Whereas the purpose of the latter is focused on functionality, the consumption of luxury goods is rather symbolic. Consumers use their symbolic value as a vehicle to sustain their selves and to communicate their values in a social context. Consequently, prices for luxury fashion brands depend less on physical attributes, but on how consumers evaluate their symbolic meaning for developing their selves. Self-concepts and symbolic meanings are culturally bounded. This paper offers contribution to both marketing and cultural literature: Whereas previous cross-cultural research about luxury goods primarily focuses on psychological and social antecedents, this study addresses their outcome by revealing the role of culture for pricing luxury fashion brands. From a marketing perspective, our findings help practitioners to get a deeper understanding about how cultural values should be taken into consideration when pricing luxury fashion brands. Our sample covers retail net prices for more than 2,400 luxury fashion items from 15 product categories in five countries (France, Great Britain, Germany, Hong Kong, USA). Based on a hedonic regression, we reveal the influence of cultural values on prices for luxury fashion brands. We find prices for luxury fashion brands to be higher in more masculine, power distant, and individualistic countries.