Indian professionals go in for luxury brands by paying through credit cards. Indians are more concerned with the badge value of brands — they are symbols of affluence elsewhere, these brands may be bought for the talk value of experience or manifesting connoisseurship. In the early 20th century, royalty patronized the luxury brands in India. Recently, the number of Indian billionaires has increased. The salaried class is being paid handsomely. There is a market luxury goods at different price points. The spending is uninhibited. The splurge by the Indians is a fact.

Luxury brands tend to be individualistic. When more and more people can afford them, they become fashionable.

Indian retail in luxury brands copes with the problem of the right portfolio of brands and the media to communicate with the customers. They have to expand beyond the metros to realize the full potential of the market. Most cities have high streets dedicated to the marketing of luxury goods, e.g. 5th Avenue, New York, Oxford Street, London and the Champs Elysees, Paris. Such high streets are still not present in India. India still has no large retailers in terms of space of luxury brands. There is a problem of generating awareness of the brands. It is a problem to reach the target audience using the right media. Media like Vogue, Vanity Fair are not available. There is a problem of trained manpower to retail such brands. Many consumers defer luxury shopping till they go abroad.

There is ample scope for many players in the market as the market for exclusive products is growing in width and depth.

Evolution of Luxury Consumer

Luxury products demanded by the masses are sold on the basis of ‘ I am worth it ‘ feeling. This is a premium brand market for the masses. At the other end of the spectrum, certain exclusive high-priced products are sold.