There are certain consumer goods, at least in my personal opinion, that are “worth” the extra bit of money as they are a luxury brand. For example, I think a pair of $180 dollar Ray-Bans are worth that steep price. Is it overpriced and are you largely paying for the name? Sure, probably. But I have yet to own a pair of cheap knock-off sunglasses that I felt were actually decent and comparable to my authentic pair of Ray-Bans. Luxury brands, whether they be cars or fashion brands, have a higher price that the competition. That’s just part of being a luxury brand. Usually you expect that the added price is because that specific luxury consumer good is of higher quality and better than others. This is definitely true. A $3,000 dollar suit from Zegna is definitely superior in every way to a $400 dollar suit from J.C. Penny’s. It’s not that there is anything wrong with the suit from Penny’s, it’s just the Italian made one from a premium label is better. While we generally think that luxury brands offer superior products, they do sometimes try to rip us off or take advantage of us. When it comes down to it, they are are a business and will gladly take your money. We are going to look at a few different ways that luxury brands attempt to rip you off.
They create unnecessarily high levels of hype for a product
Sure companies and brands have to market and advertise their products, but then sometimes they can take it a bit too far. You should always be wary of a brand or specific product that creates almost too much excitement and hype for themselves. No one likes a “try hard”, and the same can certainly be said about luxury brands that try to shove things down your throat. When was the last time that you honestly saw a Gucci or an Aston Martin advertisement? These companies know that their products speak for themselves, so they don’t create unnecessarily high levels of hype around themselves or their products.
They hardly update or change their newest product
Luxury brands and a lot of other brands for this matter, do this a lot. Essentially they only make very subtle changes to one of their products, changes that hardly make the older version inferior, and then market and sell it as “the latest and greatest” thing that will change your life. Take the iPad Mini 2 and the iPad Mini 3 for example. The only difference between these two products are that the Mini 3 has a fingerprint scanner, comes in gold, and it costs more money. Otherwise they have the same screen, same battery, same processor, etc. Fashion labels also pull stuff like this all the time, so do you research and make sure that the “newest and best” thing is really as great as the company says it is.
Accessories
Accessories are the biggest ways that luxury brands try to rip you off. It’s one thing buying a custom made suit from Gucci, but do you really need to buy a $200 dollar neck tie? There are some luxury items that are worth the cost, and then there are stupid accessories like the $315 dollar 16 GB Hermes USB stick. Just why? You’re honestly a fool if you buy that. Large items from luxury brands are typically worth the extra cost, but go elsewhere for the accessories.
Entry level items
Entry level items from any luxury brand, whether they’re a watch or car company, are typically created to take advantage of people that can’t really afford the product. These items typically have the worst cost-to-value relationship around, and you’re really just paying for the brand name when you buy the cheapest item from a luxury brand.
Limited Edition Products
While there are many limited edition products and goods from luxury brands that many would consider “worth it”, usually limited edition goods are meant to take advantage of people. Is a product really “limited” when a newer and improved version will be released within a year? I would think not. You have to really examine what makes a specific product “limited” outside of just how many the company is choosing to produce. You should also be wary of brands that are constantly releasing “limited edition” products, as if a new one is constantly coming out, are they really that exclusive?
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