Читать книгу Marketing for Sustainable Development - Группа авторов - Страница 36

The inclusion of a sustainable attribute in luxury products has been associated with a decrease in the quality level by consumers, which requires the target market to be reassured. We can highlight some initiatives to this end. For example, the Stella McCartney brand indicates on its website that the use of vegetable raw materials to replace animal-based materials has no effect on the beauty and luxurious nature of its products: “As a vegetarian brand, we never use leather, skin, fur or feathers. By taking this stance we are proving it is possible to create beautiful, luxurious products that are better for everyone – animals, people and the environment.” To convince consumers that sustainable luxury products are not of a lower quality than their conventional equivalents, Stella McCartney has associated the viscose used in its luxury products (a forest-friendly material) to the excellent reputation and knowledge of its country of origin, Italy.

Furthermore, to consolidate their position as being luxury and of high quality, sustainable luxury products must be sold at the same price, or even a higher one, than conventional luxury products. Offering sustainable luxury goods at lower prices would make them more accessible, which could damage their usefulness as a symbol of ecological dedication. On the other hand, higher prices can allow consumers concerned about the status of using sustainable luxury products to display their wealth. In this regard, the example of the Lexus brand is interesting. Its decision to set the price of its environmentally-friendly LS600h model at over 100,000 US dollars was received with skepticism from experts in the sector. This positioning turned out to be valuable as sales predictions increased by 300% (Puska et al. 2016).