奢侈品牌在中国市场的网络营销
摘要
当今社会,奢侈品已经成为人们生活中不可回避的一个名词。奢华的零售门店,醒目的户外广告牌与大幅海报,炫目的时尚活动与表演还有充斥于杂志,互联网以及电视甚至电影上的各种广告,这一切围绕在我们周围,没有人能够完全摆脱奢侈品,即使他从来不曾想象自己有朝一日会拥有其中的任何一件。
奢侈品行业在过去的15年间经历了快速的扩张发展。1995到2000年间发展最迅速,市场总额的复合年增长率达到11.3%。这种增长势头在2001年受到了阻碍,9.11事件严重打击了全球消费者的信心,此后两年市场几乎停止增长,在2003年行业进一步受到伊拉克战争和SARS病毒的影响,15年来才首次出现行业销售额负增长。很快行业又重新恢复了快速增长的势头,直到2009年由于次贷危机市场再次出现负增长。相比2008年,美国市场减少了16%,日本减少了10%,欧洲也减少了8%。形成鲜明对比的是,中国市场依然保持了12%的销量增长。据预测2010年中国奢侈品销量有望进一步实现16-18%的增长,中国已正式成为全球第二大奢侈品市场,奢侈品牌在这个市场的营销管理具有极大的研究价值。
奢侈品总是与一定的品牌相联系的。奢侈品牌并不只是一个说服消费者支付高额溢价的文字标签,它是奢侈品情感功能的承载者,担负着将奢侈品的无形价值传递给消费者的重要职责。一个奢侈品牌所蕴含的无形文化遗产往往一定程度上反映了它所发源的国家的精神。意大利质量基金会总结了意大利产品品质的6个特征：1、美观；2、高质量的手工做工；3、文化内涵,是一种对归属地的简明表达；4、社会关系质量,强调家庭和集体；5、多样性；6、表达意大利人对生活品质的追求。这六个特征正是意大利奢侈品发展的基础,也是全球时尚和奢侈品业的中心始终不曾开意大利的原因。不同的品牌在共同拥有意大利精神的同时也积极表达着自己的内在精神,比如为赞美米兰之雾而诞生的Armani灰色夹克,标志着佛罗伦萨富足精神的Cavalli,象征着地中海古典主义的Versace,还有表达西西里宗教仪式的Dolce & Gabbana.
品牌价值一直被认为是奢侈品高额溢价的来源,因此与消费者之间的品牌沟通在奢侈品营销活动中占有重要地位。传统的营销战略由产品、价格、分销、促销四方面技术组成。在经济衰退与信息技术发展的双重背景下,网络媒体作为一种以更高的成本效益与消费者沟通的渠道受到了越来越多的关注。与传统的产品导向的营销战略相比,互联网营销战略更侧重消费者导向,将关注点集中在消费者体验上,这一点与奢侈品行业重心从关注产品转移到关注体验上的趋势不谋而合。互联网作为沟通工具的固有缺陷在于缺乏人员的直接交流,在应用于具有明显感性特征的奢侈品行业时这一缺陷必须首先得到克服。大部分奢侈品牌在应用互联网作为市场营销工具方面相对保守,他们担心品牌形象会受到互联网的负面影响。奢侈品与互联网的矛盾在于,奢侈品需要维护并保持其“渴望”与“排他”的特征,在互联网这样一个大众无阶级区分的世界里,要做到这一点同时保持品牌价值是不容易的。更为窘迫的是,奢侈品一方面要冒着过度曝光的风险提高销售量,一方面却又要苦苦坚持限量供应的理念。在这个博弈困境中没有绝对的最优解,每一个奢侈品牌都必须在两个极端中间根据自身的品牌战略和具体的市场环境选择好自己独特的定位。任何一个奢侈品牌在走向国际化之前都有必要充分理解市场特征的差异性。
不同地区奢侈品市场的成熟度都不相同。欧洲作为奢侈品的发源地,市场成熟度最高,其次是美国和日本。大部分亚洲国家都还处在奢侈品行业发展的初级阶段,其中中国市场最为引人注目。中国奢侈品市场崛起,是国民财富的快速积累和消费文化转变的共同结果,庞大的人口总量和依然强劲的发展势头预示着未来更大的市场潜力。中国奢侈品市场总体具有以下特征：富有消费者相比于其他市场更为年轻；主要由男性消费者驱动,不过女性消费群体正迅速成长；最主要的购买动机的商务赠礼,基于中国文化中对人际关系的强调；消费者需求正变得越来越复杂但总体表现出对国外品牌的偏好；由于极大的价差,大陆消费者在海外消费比在大陆更多；折扣卖场和线上销售正引起越来越多的重视。
中国奢侈品消费者的品牌认知度相对较低,只有少数专家型消费者能够脱口而出各大品类中最顶级品牌的名称。因此,在中国市场进行品牌教育对于任何奢侈品牌来说都很重要。尽管以杂志为代表的广告媒体依然是奢侈品牌最依赖的营销渠道,但传统媒体的广告效果在中国市场显得差强人意,原因一方面在于中国新闻媒体上的广告泛滥造成的淹没效应,另一方面则在于杂志在中国幅员辽阔的国土上有限的消费者触及率。互联网作为一种能够大范围传播的媒体平台,应当得到希望在中国市场有所作为的所有奢侈品牌的关注。
目前关于奢侈品牌网络营销的系统研究大都还停留在一般理论阶段,较少有深入到具体某个市场环境中的实证研究。关于中国奢侈品市场内网络营销的讨论十分有限,大部分仅出现在一些国际大型咨询调研机构的市场报告中,但其研究本身有着各种商业目的,缺乏系统性和客观性。
此研究正是为了填补这方面的空白,采用自上而下的定性战略分析与自下而上的定量消费者态度分析相结合的方式,对以意大利品牌为代表的奢侈品牌在中国市场进行互联网营销的前景和方式进行探索。一方面,利用互联网营销组合的10Cs模型对在中国市场领先的意大利奢侈品牌在官方网站上的表现进行比较分析；另一方面,通过数据调研测量分析中国奢侈品消费者对于线上奢侈品的态度。此研究重点关注的是中国奢侈品消费者已在多大程度上依赖于互联网作为信息渠道,是否有进一步发展网络营销的空间和必要,同时探索意大利奢侈品牌应当怎样改进在互联网上的表现以在中国这个激动人心的市场上赢得更多的消费者和潜在消费者。
在进行实证研究的过程中,有几个概念需要特别强调。首先,关于奢侈品,定义不是绝对的。在一个国家市场被认为是奢侈品的商品,在另一个国家却可能归类不同,比如Levi's的服装,在中国普遍被认为是奢侈品,但在美国本土只能算是普通的时尚品。而即使在同一个市场里,收入不同的群体对奢侈品的定义也会不一样。少数极富人群所认为是日常消费品的商品,在大众眼中很可能就是奢侈品。只有对于国际公认最顶级的一批商品,奢侈的定义会没有异议,越接近大众,奢侈品与非奢侈品的界限就会越模糊。奢侈品的品类也有狭义和广义两种定义。传统意义上,奢侈品主要是指可以拥有的某种具体物品,包括皮件,鞋类,香水,服装,手表等,但在广义上,温泉休闲,航海度假,甚至高端的金融服务等服务体验都可纳入奢侈品的范畴。此项研究中所关注的奢侈品,主要是在中国社会环境中被广泛认可的传统类型的奢侈品,服务体验型的奢侈品不包括在内。
其次,关于奢侈品牌,定义也有许多种,但它们有一个共性就是对奢侈品牌包含的心理情感价值的认定。在奢侈品的这种无形价值中,发源地的精神品质是很重要的一部分,因此奢侈品牌往往集中在一些国家中诞生。作为奢侈品的重要输出国,意大利奢侈品的共同特征包括：创意与性能的完美结合；手工与小规模制造保证了高级质量；小型的家族经营运作模式保证了业务模型的灵活性和连续性；强调控制整个纺织生产流程以支持行业整体的不断创新；文艺复兴带来的审美敏感；强调整体性的优雅,却又设计形式多样。
再次,关于网络营销。与利用传统媒介的营销相比,互动性是最大的特点。不再只是品牌向消费者的单方面信息传输,消费者的意见能够更多地通过网络媒体反馈回来,营销同时也成为信息收集的渠道。另外,通过网络,营销对象得以个体化,服务得以个性化。这些特点与传统的4Ps营销组合模型相结合,便产生了网络营销领域的10Cs模型,在奢侈品行业中具体可以表述为：1.消费者价值。取代传统模型中的“产品”,指通过产品或服务传递给消费者的满意的体验,在网络上可以表现为提供全面的产品线信息和令人满意的访问服务。2.方便。取代传统模型中的“渠道”。网络服务应当随时保持有效,保证消费者能在任何时候方便地获取信息购买产品。3.成本。取代传统模型中的“价格”。网络渠道的优势在于能够减少消费者的信息收集成本和前往门店购买的访问成本。4.沟通。取代传统模型中的“促销”,表现为能够在线上实时与消费者进行沟通,不再是单向说服消费者购买,而是要通过沟通了解消费者意见再调整自身,在互动中为消费者实现满意的购买体验。5。计算。通过计算机网络整合生产、营销和物流系统,实现最优的体验服务。6。消费者特权。通过满意的访问服务来保持消费者对品牌的信任和信心。7。消费者关注。体现在通过细节弥补缺少人员直接互动带来的各种缺陷。8。社区。通过网络建立可控的消费者与消费者之间的沟通渠道,有利于收集消费者的负面反馈改进自身。9。内容。主要指保持品牌线上线下形象的一致性,这一点对于奢侈品牌来说尤为重要。10。定制化。基于网络营销对象的个体性,提供可供消费者自由选择的弹性服务。不难看出,大部分的营销行为都需要通过一个统一的公司网络平台,也就是公司网站来实现。本研究的重点就放在中国消费者对奢侈品牌公司网站服务的态度上。
实证研究包括两部分。第一部分,深度访谈。对象包括奢侈品消费者,行业专家,零售从业人员,奢侈品网站营销经理等。访谈一方面提供了真实的行业概况信息和新的思路,另一方面检验了第二阶段调查问卷的框架与细节。所有的问卷调查都基于访谈中确认的10个在中国最受认同的意大利奢侈品牌,包括BVLGARI, FENDI, Ermenegildo Zegna, PRADA, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Armani, Versace, TOD's和Dolce & Gabbana。问卷内容包括中国奢侈品消费者对品牌的认知,对于网络营销(包括品牌官方网站和其他渠道)的期待程度,以及对于奢侈品牌官方网站服务各种特质的偏好。收集回来的信息经过编码整理,数据检测,通过因子分析总结出影响消费者偏好的关键因素,再进一步聚类分析出不同的消费者类型加以探讨,最终得出以下结论：
1.中国消费者对于意大利品牌的购买倾向与他们对品牌的认知程度具有明显的正相关性,但品牌认知程度整体还不高,市场潜力依然很大,不存在过度曝光的忧虑,积极加强品牌沟通将利于提高销售业绩。
2.中国消费者所了解的奢侈品信息来源于网络的部分还不多,但通过统计对比可以发现,消费者对奢侈品牌官网上的信息有更高的期待,但对于其他的网络信息媒体并没有表现出明显更高的期待。积极改善官方网站的服务是奢侈品牌赢得中国消费者的一个重要机会。
3.10Cs模型中,现阶段中国奢侈品消费者最为关注的只有7Cs(消费者价值,成本,内容,沟通,消费者关注,方便和消费者特权),消费者对于10个意大利奢侈品牌官方网站满意度的反馈证实了这一结论,在这7个方面表现突出的网站赢得了较高的满意反馈。中国消费者对奢侈品网上服务的偏好还相对保守,对于线上奢侈品购买和奢侈品网络社区等在成熟市场被广为采用的营销手段的接受程度还不高,有些消费者甚至表示强烈的反对。这与中国奢侈品市场依然处在发展早期,成熟的消费观还没有形成有关。奢侈品牌有必要为这些服务进行准备,但正式大规模推行的时机还不成熟。
据预测,中国10年内将成为世界上最大的奢侈品市场。对于那些进入中国市场还不久的品牌来说,尽快利用新技术取得领先的竞争地位尤为重要。意大利奢侈品牌以它的高质量和优良设计在中国消费者中间享有较好的声誉。然而除了部分在中国市场已经发展成熟的顶级品牌,大部分消费者对其他意大利优质品牌的认知比较模糊。同时,意大利奢侈品牌精神中其他的闪光点也有待挖掘,比如对个人整体和谐的追求和对自然精神的崇尚,这些精神与中国传统文化不谋而合,将更容易得到中国消费者的接纳认同。
此项研究的局限性在于,调查样本还不够大,年龄分布集中在20-40岁间,相当一部分年长、与网络接触不多的消费者没有被触及到。在他们中间,网络营销的作用仍值得分析。进一步的研究方向还包括,网络营销在消费者做出购买决策过程中各个阶段的具体作用的不同,线上品牌形象如何保持与线下一致,以及不同国家奢侈品牌在针对中国市场的网络营销方面的行为对比。这些都有助于改进完善已总结出的7Cs模型。另外,除了奢侈品公司的官方网站,可以利用的网络信息平台还有许多,比如奢侈品专业信息网站,大型门户网站,名人博客,即时通讯工具,甚至手机平台等,都是网络营销的一部分,值得在未来深入研究。
总而言之,此项探索研究帮助加深了对于中国奢侈品市场网络营销环境的理解,研究结果鼓励意大利奢侈品牌更多地通过网络与中国消费者进行沟通,总结出了最适合中国奢侈品市场的网络营销组合7Cs模型。研究得出的结论证明,网络在营销方面的互动功能还没有得到中国大多数消费者的重视,但少部分精英消费者已经在这方面有了明显的需求,对奢侈品网站服务提出了较高的要求,中国市场终将向世界成熟市场靠拢。尽管运用互动的媒体平台有助于控制品牌形象和了解消费者观念,但在中国市场要实现全方位的网络营销还为时尚早。集中于网站的传统服务功能并积极等待互动营销时机的成熟,将是意大利奢侈品牌的明智选择。
In the modern world, luxury is unavoidable in every aspect of social life. Magnificent retail stores, prominent billboards and posters, dazzling fashion shows and campaigns and flourish advertisements in magazines, on TVs or movies and even on Internet constitute a living space where nobody could escape from luxury even if he or she never tends to be an owner of it. The luxury industry has expanded quickly during the past 15 years. Although the subprime mortgage crisis hit the industry a lot the business potential in this industry still high, especially in the emerging markets such as China.
Luxury is of high quality, expensive and, in most cases, branded. It has evolved from an original value associated with projecting status to a modern value more and more related to supporting individual images. Luxury is always related with brands. A luxury brand is more than a label that persuades consumers to pay for the high margin of a product. It is the carrier of the emotion function of luxury and is responsible to deliver intangible value of the product to consumers. The intangible heritage in a luxury brand always reflects part of the spirit of the original country. Italian luxury brands are characterized by the blend of creativity and functionality. However, in the trend of marketing brands online, Italian luxury brands show slowness in establishing online presence, which is in contrast with its creative intrinsic. Even famous brands such as Versace and Prada did not have official website until 2005 and 2007.
Interactivity is the key difference between the Internet and the traditional media. It offers opportunity for luxury brands to communicate the emotional value better with consumers. However, paradigm between the Internet media and luxury spirit still cannot be neglected. Luxury brands emphasize on exclusivity while the Internet is accessible to the mass. There is risk that the high-end brand image would be damaged by over-exposure on the Internet. Considering the long time and high costs it takes to establish a successful luxury brand, brand owners are reluctant to step into the Internet marketing. However, there is no choice about whether the luxury brands should enter the online marketing field or not. The only choice for all the global luxury brands is to decide when and how much to be involved in the Internet campaign. The key point in seeking a balanced solution is to make sure of the core brand value and the customers'attitudes towards luxury online in a specific social context. The main task of this study is to explore the Chinese consumers'attitudes towards Italian luxury brands online.
Empirical studies based on 10 selected Italian luxury brands were conducted under three propositions:Purchase intent of Italian luxury brands has positive relation with the brand awareness level; Chinese luxury consumers expect more luxury information from the Internet; Chinese luxury consumers'preferences to the features of luxury brand official website display diversification. To explore the propositions, qualitative strategic analysis and quantitative questionnaire research were sequentially carried out. The qualitative analysis defined the scope and details of survey and explained the questionnaire in the Internet marketing mix model of 10 Cs. After data collection through online questionnaire, the results of the survey were coded and entered for statistical analysis. Explore factor analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis were carried out to extract key features that consumers care about most and to classify different consumer group types. The critical 7Cs elements in current Chinese market were extracted out of the original Internet marketing mix model of 10 Cs. The new model was then utilized to compare the performance of the selected 10 Italian luxury brands'official websites and the result showed consistency with the consumers'feedbacks.
Finally, conclusions can be made that it is beneficial for Italian luxury brands to invest more on Internet marketing for Chinese consumers. However, Chinese luxury market is still at the early age of industry evolvement and the consumption ideas of Chinese luxury consumers are still conservative. Chinese luxury consumers have not prepared well to accept the fashion of luxury online shopping and luxury online community as a way to contact with their favourite luxury brands. Some of them even strongly resist these kinds of communications. Internet marketing model for luxury brands in the context of China can be summarized as 7Cs (Customer Value, Cost, Content, Communication, Customer Care, Convenience and Customer Franchise) of luxury brand official website performance.However, further utilization of it are still to be studied.
It was also found that the brand awareness of Italian luxury goods are still low in the Chinese market, and only several top luxury brands such as Gucci and PRADA, which entered China at an early age are widely well-known. The gaps between the other named brands are relatively small. Lack of familiarity means a tremendous opportunity for smaller and midsize brands to gain shares and also means a large amount of education efforts should be made by every brand.
Chinese luxury market is predicted to be the largest luxury marketing in a decade. It will be important to obtain a leading competition advantage for those brands that haven't entered this market for long. Italian luxury brands enjoy a good fame among Chinese consumers for their high quality and elegant design. But except several most famous brands, consumers still can tell few the other fabulous brands. Moreover, there are more shining spirits inside Italian luxury brands, such as harmony in personality and respect to the nature, which have to be broadcast to a wider range of Chinese consumers. Chinese traditional culture shares a similar value and so it would be accepted more easily.
The limitation of the study is that the survey sample is not large enough. The age range of the respondents is 20-40 and a number of older and wealthiest consumers cannot be contacted easily through the Internet. Further study can also be conducted on the topics of the influence of the Internet in different phases of luxury consumer's purchase decision making process and online brand consistency to modify the 7Cs model to be more delicate. Comparisons of online performance of luxury brands from different countries can also be made to summarize a more general e-marketing model for all the luxury brands in Chinese market.
In summary, the exploratory study helps to bring an understanding of the Internet marketing environment for luxury brands in Chinese market. The findings encourage Italian luxury brands to communicate more with Chinese consumers through the Internet and summarize the marketing mix of 7 Cs that is most suitable for current Chinese luxury market. The study gives evidence that the interactive functions of the Internet are not valued too much by the majority of mass consumers while a small portion of pioneer consumers have already had requirements on high level of online services, being consistent with the original luxury brand images. It is argued that to utilize the interactive media is helpful and effective to collect consumer feedbacks and to control brand images in the mind of consumers. It still takes time for Chinese luxury market to be mature enough to get involved in all-round digital marketing.
奢侈品行业在过去的15年间经历了快速的扩张发展。1995到2000年间发展最迅速,市场总额的复合年增长率达到11.3%。这种增长势头在2001年受到了阻碍,9.11事件严重打击了全球消费者的信心,此后两年市场几乎停止增长,在2003年行业进一步受到伊拉克战争和SARS病毒的影响,15年来才首次出现行业销售额负增长。很快行业又重新恢复了快速增长的势头,直到2009年由于次贷危机市场再次出现负增长。相比2008年,美国市场减少了16%,日本减少了10%,欧洲也减少了8%。形成鲜明对比的是,中国市场依然保持了12%的销量增长。据预测2010年中国奢侈品销量有望进一步实现16-18%的增长,中国已正式成为全球第二大奢侈品市场,奢侈品牌在这个市场的营销管理具有极大的研究价值。
奢侈品总是与一定的品牌相联系的。奢侈品牌并不只是一个说服消费者支付高额溢价的文字标签,它是奢侈品情感功能的承载者,担负着将奢侈品的无形价值传递给消费者的重要职责。一个奢侈品牌所蕴含的无形文化遗产往往一定程度上反映了它所发源的国家的精神。意大利质量基金会总结了意大利产品品质的6个特征：1、美观；2、高质量的手工做工；3、文化内涵,是一种对归属地的简明表达；4、社会关系质量,强调家庭和集体；5、多样性；6、表达意大利人对生活品质的追求。这六个特征正是意大利奢侈品发展的基础,也是全球时尚和奢侈品业的中心始终不曾开意大利的原因。不同的品牌在共同拥有意大利精神的同时也积极表达着自己的内在精神,比如为赞美米兰之雾而诞生的Armani灰色夹克,标志着佛罗伦萨富足精神的Cavalli,象征着地中海古典主义的Versace,还有表达西西里宗教仪式的Dolce & Gabbana.
品牌价值一直被认为是奢侈品高额溢价的来源,因此与消费者之间的品牌沟通在奢侈品营销活动中占有重要地位。传统的营销战略由产品、价格、分销、促销四方面技术组成。在经济衰退与信息技术发展的双重背景下,网络媒体作为一种以更高的成本效益与消费者沟通的渠道受到了越来越多的关注。与传统的产品导向的营销战略相比,互联网营销战略更侧重消费者导向,将关注点集中在消费者体验上,这一点与奢侈品行业重心从关注产品转移到关注体验上的趋势不谋而合。互联网作为沟通工具的固有缺陷在于缺乏人员的直接交流,在应用于具有明显感性特征的奢侈品行业时这一缺陷必须首先得到克服。大部分奢侈品牌在应用互联网作为市场营销工具方面相对保守,他们担心品牌形象会受到互联网的负面影响。奢侈品与互联网的矛盾在于,奢侈品需要维护并保持其“渴望”与“排他”的特征,在互联网这样一个大众无阶级区分的世界里,要做到这一点同时保持品牌价值是不容易的。更为窘迫的是,奢侈品一方面要冒着过度曝光的风险提高销售量,一方面却又要苦苦坚持限量供应的理念。在这个博弈困境中没有绝对的最优解,每一个奢侈品牌都必须在两个极端中间根据自身的品牌战略和具体的市场环境选择好自己独特的定位。任何一个奢侈品牌在走向国际化之前都有必要充分理解市场特征的差异性。
不同地区奢侈品市场的成熟度都不相同。欧洲作为奢侈品的发源地,市场成熟度最高,其次是美国和日本。大部分亚洲国家都还处在奢侈品行业发展的初级阶段,其中中国市场最为引人注目。中国奢侈品市场崛起,是国民财富的快速积累和消费文化转变的共同结果,庞大的人口总量和依然强劲的发展势头预示着未来更大的市场潜力。中国奢侈品市场总体具有以下特征：富有消费者相比于其他市场更为年轻；主要由男性消费者驱动,不过女性消费群体正迅速成长；最主要的购买动机的商务赠礼,基于中国文化中对人际关系的强调；消费者需求正变得越来越复杂但总体表现出对国外品牌的偏好；由于极大的价差,大陆消费者在海外消费比在大陆更多；折扣卖场和线上销售正引起越来越多的重视。
中国奢侈品消费者的品牌认知度相对较低,只有少数专家型消费者能够脱口而出各大品类中最顶级品牌的名称。因此,在中国市场进行品牌教育对于任何奢侈品牌来说都很重要。尽管以杂志为代表的广告媒体依然是奢侈品牌最依赖的营销渠道,但传统媒体的广告效果在中国市场显得差强人意,原因一方面在于中国新闻媒体上的广告泛滥造成的淹没效应,另一方面则在于杂志在中国幅员辽阔的国土上有限的消费者触及率。互联网作为一种能够大范围传播的媒体平台,应当得到希望在中国市场有所作为的所有奢侈品牌的关注。
目前关于奢侈品牌网络营销的系统研究大都还停留在一般理论阶段,较少有深入到具体某个市场环境中的实证研究。关于中国奢侈品市场内网络营销的讨论十分有限,大部分仅出现在一些国际大型咨询调研机构的市场报告中,但其研究本身有着各种商业目的,缺乏系统性和客观性。
此研究正是为了填补这方面的空白,采用自上而下的定性战略分析与自下而上的定量消费者态度分析相结合的方式,对以意大利品牌为代表的奢侈品牌在中国市场进行互联网营销的前景和方式进行探索。一方面,利用互联网营销组合的10Cs模型对在中国市场领先的意大利奢侈品牌在官方网站上的表现进行比较分析；另一方面,通过数据调研测量分析中国奢侈品消费者对于线上奢侈品的态度。此研究重点关注的是中国奢侈品消费者已在多大程度上依赖于互联网作为信息渠道,是否有进一步发展网络营销的空间和必要,同时探索意大利奢侈品牌应当怎样改进在互联网上的表现以在中国这个激动人心的市场上赢得更多的消费者和潜在消费者。
在进行实证研究的过程中,有几个概念需要特别强调。首先,关于奢侈品,定义不是绝对的。在一个国家市场被认为是奢侈品的商品,在另一个国家却可能归类不同,比如Levi's的服装,在中国普遍被认为是奢侈品,但在美国本土只能算是普通的时尚品。而即使在同一个市场里,收入不同的群体对奢侈品的定义也会不一样。少数极富人群所认为是日常消费品的商品,在大众眼中很可能就是奢侈品。只有对于国际公认最顶级的一批商品,奢侈的定义会没有异议,越接近大众,奢侈品与非奢侈品的界限就会越模糊。奢侈品的品类也有狭义和广义两种定义。传统意义上,奢侈品主要是指可以拥有的某种具体物品,包括皮件,鞋类,香水,服装,手表等,但在广义上,温泉休闲,航海度假,甚至高端的金融服务等服务体验都可纳入奢侈品的范畴。此项研究中所关注的奢侈品,主要是在中国社会环境中被广泛认可的传统类型的奢侈品,服务体验型的奢侈品不包括在内。
其次,关于奢侈品牌,定义也有许多种,但它们有一个共性就是对奢侈品牌包含的心理情感价值的认定。在奢侈品的这种无形价值中,发源地的精神品质是很重要的一部分,因此奢侈品牌往往集中在一些国家中诞生。作为奢侈品的重要输出国,意大利奢侈品的共同特征包括：创意与性能的完美结合；手工与小规模制造保证了高级质量；小型的家族经营运作模式保证了业务模型的灵活性和连续性；强调控制整个纺织生产流程以支持行业整体的不断创新；文艺复兴带来的审美敏感；强调整体性的优雅,却又设计形式多样。
再次,关于网络营销。与利用传统媒介的营销相比,互动性是最大的特点。不再只是品牌向消费者的单方面信息传输,消费者的意见能够更多地通过网络媒体反馈回来,营销同时也成为信息收集的渠道。另外,通过网络,营销对象得以个体化,服务得以个性化。这些特点与传统的4Ps营销组合模型相结合,便产生了网络营销领域的10Cs模型,在奢侈品行业中具体可以表述为：1.消费者价值。取代传统模型中的“产品”,指通过产品或服务传递给消费者的满意的体验,在网络上可以表现为提供全面的产品线信息和令人满意的访问服务。2.方便。取代传统模型中的“渠道”。网络服务应当随时保持有效,保证消费者能在任何时候方便地获取信息购买产品。3.成本。取代传统模型中的“价格”。网络渠道的优势在于能够减少消费者的信息收集成本和前往门店购买的访问成本。4.沟通。取代传统模型中的“促销”,表现为能够在线上实时与消费者进行沟通,不再是单向说服消费者购买,而是要通过沟通了解消费者意见再调整自身,在互动中为消费者实现满意的购买体验。5。计算。通过计算机网络整合生产、营销和物流系统,实现最优的体验服务。6。消费者特权。通过满意的访问服务来保持消费者对品牌的信任和信心。7。消费者关注。体现在通过细节弥补缺少人员直接互动带来的各种缺陷。8。社区。通过网络建立可控的消费者与消费者之间的沟通渠道,有利于收集消费者的负面反馈改进自身。9。内容。主要指保持品牌线上线下形象的一致性,这一点对于奢侈品牌来说尤为重要。10。定制化。基于网络营销对象的个体性,提供可供消费者自由选择的弹性服务。不难看出,大部分的营销行为都需要通过一个统一的公司网络平台,也就是公司网站来实现。本研究的重点就放在中国消费者对奢侈品牌公司网站服务的态度上。
实证研究包括两部分。第一部分,深度访谈。对象包括奢侈品消费者,行业专家,零售从业人员,奢侈品网站营销经理等。访谈一方面提供了真实的行业概况信息和新的思路,另一方面检验了第二阶段调查问卷的框架与细节。所有的问卷调查都基于访谈中确认的10个在中国最受认同的意大利奢侈品牌,包括BVLGARI, FENDI, Ermenegildo Zegna, PRADA, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Armani, Versace, TOD's和Dolce & Gabbana。问卷内容包括中国奢侈品消费者对品牌的认知,对于网络营销(包括品牌官方网站和其他渠道)的期待程度,以及对于奢侈品牌官方网站服务各种特质的偏好。收集回来的信息经过编码整理,数据检测,通过因子分析总结出影响消费者偏好的关键因素,再进一步聚类分析出不同的消费者类型加以探讨,最终得出以下结论：
1.中国消费者对于意大利品牌的购买倾向与他们对品牌的认知程度具有明显的正相关性,但品牌认知程度整体还不高,市场潜力依然很大,不存在过度曝光的忧虑,积极加强品牌沟通将利于提高销售业绩。
2.中国消费者所了解的奢侈品信息来源于网络的部分还不多,但通过统计对比可以发现,消费者对奢侈品牌官网上的信息有更高的期待,但对于其他的网络信息媒体并没有表现出明显更高的期待。积极改善官方网站的服务是奢侈品牌赢得中国消费者的一个重要机会。
3.10Cs模型中,现阶段中国奢侈品消费者最为关注的只有7Cs(消费者价值,成本,内容,沟通,消费者关注,方便和消费者特权),消费者对于10个意大利奢侈品牌官方网站满意度的反馈证实了这一结论,在这7个方面表现突出的网站赢得了较高的满意反馈。中国消费者对奢侈品网上服务的偏好还相对保守,对于线上奢侈品购买和奢侈品网络社区等在成熟市场被广为采用的营销手段的接受程度还不高,有些消费者甚至表示强烈的反对。这与中国奢侈品市场依然处在发展早期,成熟的消费观还没有形成有关。奢侈品牌有必要为这些服务进行准备,但正式大规模推行的时机还不成熟。
据预测,中国10年内将成为世界上最大的奢侈品市场。对于那些进入中国市场还不久的品牌来说,尽快利用新技术取得领先的竞争地位尤为重要。意大利奢侈品牌以它的高质量和优良设计在中国消费者中间享有较好的声誉。然而除了部分在中国市场已经发展成熟的顶级品牌,大部分消费者对其他意大利优质品牌的认知比较模糊。同时,意大利奢侈品牌精神中其他的闪光点也有待挖掘,比如对个人整体和谐的追求和对自然精神的崇尚,这些精神与中国传统文化不谋而合,将更容易得到中国消费者的接纳认同。
此项研究的局限性在于,调查样本还不够大,年龄分布集中在20-40岁间,相当一部分年长、与网络接触不多的消费者没有被触及到。在他们中间,网络营销的作用仍值得分析。进一步的研究方向还包括,网络营销在消费者做出购买决策过程中各个阶段的具体作用的不同,线上品牌形象如何保持与线下一致,以及不同国家奢侈品牌在针对中国市场的网络营销方面的行为对比。这些都有助于改进完善已总结出的7Cs模型。另外,除了奢侈品公司的官方网站,可以利用的网络信息平台还有许多,比如奢侈品专业信息网站,大型门户网站,名人博客,即时通讯工具,甚至手机平台等,都是网络营销的一部分,值得在未来深入研究。
总而言之,此项探索研究帮助加深了对于中国奢侈品市场网络营销环境的理解,研究结果鼓励意大利奢侈品牌更多地通过网络与中国消费者进行沟通,总结出了最适合中国奢侈品市场的网络营销组合7Cs模型。研究得出的结论证明,网络在营销方面的互动功能还没有得到中国大多数消费者的重视,但少部分精英消费者已经在这方面有了明显的需求,对奢侈品网站服务提出了较高的要求,中国市场终将向世界成熟市场靠拢。尽管运用互动的媒体平台有助于控制品牌形象和了解消费者观念,但在中国市场要实现全方位的网络营销还为时尚早。集中于网站的传统服务功能并积极等待互动营销时机的成熟,将是意大利奢侈品牌的明智选择。
In the modern world, luxury is unavoidable in every aspect of social life. Magnificent retail stores, prominent billboards and posters, dazzling fashion shows and campaigns and flourish advertisements in magazines, on TVs or movies and even on Internet constitute a living space where nobody could escape from luxury even if he or she never tends to be an owner of it. The luxury industry has expanded quickly during the past 15 years. Although the subprime mortgage crisis hit the industry a lot the business potential in this industry still high, especially in the emerging markets such as China.
Luxury is of high quality, expensive and, in most cases, branded. It has evolved from an original value associated with projecting status to a modern value more and more related to supporting individual images. Luxury is always related with brands. A luxury brand is more than a label that persuades consumers to pay for the high margin of a product. It is the carrier of the emotion function of luxury and is responsible to deliver intangible value of the product to consumers. The intangible heritage in a luxury brand always reflects part of the spirit of the original country. Italian luxury brands are characterized by the blend of creativity and functionality. However, in the trend of marketing brands online, Italian luxury brands show slowness in establishing online presence, which is in contrast with its creative intrinsic. Even famous brands such as Versace and Prada did not have official website until 2005 and 2007.
Interactivity is the key difference between the Internet and the traditional media. It offers opportunity for luxury brands to communicate the emotional value better with consumers. However, paradigm between the Internet media and luxury spirit still cannot be neglected. Luxury brands emphasize on exclusivity while the Internet is accessible to the mass. There is risk that the high-end brand image would be damaged by over-exposure on the Internet. Considering the long time and high costs it takes to establish a successful luxury brand, brand owners are reluctant to step into the Internet marketing. However, there is no choice about whether the luxury brands should enter the online marketing field or not. The only choice for all the global luxury brands is to decide when and how much to be involved in the Internet campaign. The key point in seeking a balanced solution is to make sure of the core brand value and the customers'attitudes towards luxury online in a specific social context. The main task of this study is to explore the Chinese consumers'attitudes towards Italian luxury brands online.
Empirical studies based on 10 selected Italian luxury brands were conducted under three propositions:Purchase intent of Italian luxury brands has positive relation with the brand awareness level; Chinese luxury consumers expect more luxury information from the Internet; Chinese luxury consumers'preferences to the features of luxury brand official website display diversification. To explore the propositions, qualitative strategic analysis and quantitative questionnaire research were sequentially carried out. The qualitative analysis defined the scope and details of survey and explained the questionnaire in the Internet marketing mix model of 10 Cs. After data collection through online questionnaire, the results of the survey were coded and entered for statistical analysis. Explore factor analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis were carried out to extract key features that consumers care about most and to classify different consumer group types. The critical 7Cs elements in current Chinese market were extracted out of the original Internet marketing mix model of 10 Cs. The new model was then utilized to compare the performance of the selected 10 Italian luxury brands'official websites and the result showed consistency with the consumers'feedbacks.
Finally, conclusions can be made that it is beneficial for Italian luxury brands to invest more on Internet marketing for Chinese consumers. However, Chinese luxury market is still at the early age of industry evolvement and the consumption ideas of Chinese luxury consumers are still conservative. Chinese luxury consumers have not prepared well to accept the fashion of luxury online shopping and luxury online community as a way to contact with their favourite luxury brands. Some of them even strongly resist these kinds of communications. Internet marketing model for luxury brands in the context of China can be summarized as 7Cs (Customer Value, Cost, Content, Communication, Customer Care, Convenience and Customer Franchise) of luxury brand official website performance.However, further utilization of it are still to be studied.
It was also found that the brand awareness of Italian luxury goods are still low in the Chinese market, and only several top luxury brands such as Gucci and PRADA, which entered China at an early age are widely well-known. The gaps between the other named brands are relatively small. Lack of familiarity means a tremendous opportunity for smaller and midsize brands to gain shares and also means a large amount of education efforts should be made by every brand.
Chinese luxury market is predicted to be the largest luxury marketing in a decade. It will be important to obtain a leading competition advantage for those brands that haven't entered this market for long. Italian luxury brands enjoy a good fame among Chinese consumers for their high quality and elegant design. But except several most famous brands, consumers still can tell few the other fabulous brands. Moreover, there are more shining spirits inside Italian luxury brands, such as harmony in personality and respect to the nature, which have to be broadcast to a wider range of Chinese consumers. Chinese traditional culture shares a similar value and so it would be accepted more easily.
The limitation of the study is that the survey sample is not large enough. The age range of the respondents is 20-40 and a number of older and wealthiest consumers cannot be contacted easily through the Internet. Further study can also be conducted on the topics of the influence of the Internet in different phases of luxury consumer's purchase decision making process and online brand consistency to modify the 7Cs model to be more delicate. Comparisons of online performance of luxury brands from different countries can also be made to summarize a more general e-marketing model for all the luxury brands in Chinese market.
In summary, the exploratory study helps to bring an understanding of the Internet marketing environment for luxury brands in Chinese market. The findings encourage Italian luxury brands to communicate more with Chinese consumers through the Internet and summarize the marketing mix of 7 Cs that is most suitable for current Chinese luxury market. The study gives evidence that the interactive functions of the Internet are not valued too much by the majority of mass consumers while a small portion of pioneer consumers have already had requirements on high level of online services, being consistent with the original luxury brand images. It is argued that to utilize the interactive media is helpful and effective to collect consumer feedbacks and to control brand images in the mind of consumers. It still takes time for Chinese luxury market to be mature enough to get involved in all-round digital marketing.
引文
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[2]Alleres D. Luxe-Strategies Marketing. Economica.1990, Vol 1.
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[8]Chadha, R. and Husband, P. The cult of the luxury brand:Inside Asia's love affair with luxury, Nicholas Brealey Publishing,2006.
[9]Chaffey, D, Mayer, R, Johnston, K, Ellis-Chadwick, F. Internet Marketing:Strategy, Implementation and practice. Prentice Hall,2003.
[10]Christopher, P. R. Italian Fashion Defines Luxury:Quality, Craftsmanship and Culture,.it Italian Trade.2010, Vol 7(1),6-7.
[11]Dubois, B. How to overcome the Paradoxes of Marketing Luxury Goods, In Revue Francaisa de Gestion,1993,30-37
[12]Dubois, B. and Paternault, C. Observations:Understanding the World of International Luxury Brands:The "Dream Formula"", Journal of Advertising Research.1995, July/August,69-76
[13]Erica, C. and Stefania, S. Managing Fashion and Luxury Companies:Etas,2009.
[14]Kiani, G.R. Marketing opportunities in the digital world. Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy.1998,5(2),185-194.
[15]Kotler, P'. Marketing management:Analysis, planning, and control:Prentice Hall, 1996.
[16]Laurent, G. and Dubois, B. The functions of luxury:A Situational Approach to Excursionism. Advances in Consumer Research.1996,23,470-477.
[17]Matsuyama, K. The rise of mass consumption societies, The Journal of Political Economy.2002,110(5),1035-1072.
[18]Nueno, J. L. and Quelch, J. A. The Mass Marketing of Luxury, Business Horizons, 1998, November-December,61-68.
[19]Okonkwo, U. Luxury fashion branding:trends, tactics, techniques:Palgrave Macmillan,2007.
[20]Okonkwo, U. Luxury Online:Styles, Systems, Strategies:Palgrave MacMillan,2009.
[21]Okonkwo, U. Sustaining the luxury brand on the Internet. The Journal of Brand Management.2009,16,5(6),302-310.
[22]Seringhaus, FHR. Cross-cultural exploration of Global Brands and the Internet:18th Annual IMP Conference,2002.
[23]Seringhaus, FHR. Comparison of Website Usage of French and Italian Luxury Brands. Journal of Euromarketing.2005,14(4),5-34.
[24]Wong, ACY., Zaichkowsky, JL. Understanding luxury brands in Hong Kong. European Advances in Consumer Research..1999,4,310-316.
[2]Alleres D. Luxe-Strategies Marketing. Economica.1990, Vol 1.
[3]Aron O. C. Frost H. Status Brands:examining the effects of non-product related brand associations on status and conspicuous consumption. Journal of Product and Brand Management.2002, Vol 11,67-88.
[4]Arthur C. C. Using Free Association to examine the relationship between the characteristics of Brand Asociations and Brand Equity. Journal of Product and Brand Management.2001, Vol 10(7),439-451.
[5]Bearden W. O., N. I. T., LaForge R. W. Marketing, Principles and Perspectives. Irwin Inc,1995.
[6]Bhat S., Reddy S. K. Symbolic and Functional Positioning of Brands. Journal of Consumer Marketing.1998, Vol15(1),32-43.
[7]Bucklin, L. P. Retail Strategy and the Classification of Consumer Goods. Journal of Marketing.1963, Vol 27,51-56.
[8]Chadha, R. and Husband, P. The cult of the luxury brand:Inside Asia's love affair with luxury, Nicholas Brealey Publishing,2006.
[9]Chaffey, D, Mayer, R, Johnston, K, Ellis-Chadwick, F. Internet Marketing:Strategy, Implementation and practice. Prentice Hall,2003.
[10]Christopher, P. R. Italian Fashion Defines Luxury:Quality, Craftsmanship and Culture,.it Italian Trade.2010, Vol 7(1),6-7.
[11]Dubois, B. How to overcome the Paradoxes of Marketing Luxury Goods, In Revue Francaisa de Gestion,1993,30-37
[12]Dubois, B. and Paternault, C. Observations:Understanding the World of International Luxury Brands:The "Dream Formula"", Journal of Advertising Research.1995, July/August,69-76
[13]Erica, C. and Stefania, S. Managing Fashion and Luxury Companies:Etas,2009.
[14]Kiani, G.R. Marketing opportunities in the digital world. Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy.1998,5(2),185-194.
[15]Kotler, P'. Marketing management:Analysis, planning, and control:Prentice Hall, 1996.
[16]Laurent, G. and Dubois, B. The functions of luxury:A Situational Approach to Excursionism. Advances in Consumer Research.1996,23,470-477.
[17]Matsuyama, K. The rise of mass consumption societies, The Journal of Political Economy.2002,110(5),1035-1072.
[18]Nueno, J. L. and Quelch, J. A. The Mass Marketing of Luxury, Business Horizons, 1998, November-December,61-68.
[19]Okonkwo, U. Luxury fashion branding:trends, tactics, techniques:Palgrave Macmillan,2007.
[20]Okonkwo, U. Luxury Online:Styles, Systems, Strategies:Palgrave MacMillan,2009.
[21]Okonkwo, U. Sustaining the luxury brand on the Internet. The Journal of Brand Management.2009,16,5(6),302-310.
[22]Seringhaus, FHR. Cross-cultural exploration of Global Brands and the Internet:18th Annual IMP Conference,2002.
[23]Seringhaus, FHR. Comparison of Website Usage of French and Italian Luxury Brands. Journal of Euromarketing.2005,14(4),5-34.
[24]Wong, ACY., Zaichkowsky, JL. Understanding luxury brands in Hong Kong. European Advances in Consumer Research..1999,4,310-316.