Identifying young German market’s values for luxury fashion: case: Trippen
Nardi, Ada Maria (2022)
2022
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202205026718
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202205026718
Tiivistelmä
This thesis aims at identifying the values of the young German market for luxury fashion, using the luxury shoe company “Trippen” as an example.
The first section past the introduction of this thesis contains an introduction to the company Trippen, and to its history and most important values. The company was founded in 1991 with the aim of making high-quality craftmanship and design available to a larger amount of people, therefore offering a sustainable and socially responsible option for footwear that would not only be available to the highest-earning members of society. The concept behind the company was producing luxury for the happy many, rather than the happy few – and being sustainable with that.
This section also contains the presentation of a framework on luxury value perception, which is used throughout the whole thesis to be able to assess customers’ luxury value perception as objectively as a subjective thing can be assessed. This framework by Wiedmann et al. (2007) splits luxury value perception into four main values: the social value, the functional value, the individual value and the financial value.
Next, the concept of marketing communication is explained and with that the reason behind the focus on digital marketing communication in this thesis, which is the preference of the targeted customer group to use digital communication channels. Next to explanations on how digital marketing works and what it includes, Trippen’s digital marketing communication is analyzed in this section.
The third section contains information on sustainability and, more specifically, sustainable luxury, as sustainability is one of Trippen’s core values and therefore needs to be considered when analyzing the company. Further, the targeted customer group also has an increased interest in sustainable consumption, which makes this topic even more relevant.
Trippen aims at being as transparent as possible when it comes to its production and tries to produce its shoes both sustainably, by recycling certain products and sourcing others in a sustainable way, and socially responsibly.
After these theoretical sections, the findings of the research conducted specifically for this thesis are presented. A semi-structured focus group interview has been conducted for this thesis, with four participants from Germany – two of which were male, and two female. The findings of these interviews confirmed hypotheses made earlier on in this thesis, as the customer group considered sustainability greatly important. The customer group also found the effect luxury products had on them individually more important than the social prestige the consumption of luxury goods gave them.
Finally, the findings from all parts were combined, coming to the conclusion that the core values of Trippen and the targeted customer group do match up quite well. However, Trippen considerably lacks digital marketing communication. The targeted customer group, unlike the older customers which are currently Trippen’s main customers, requires a customer experience which includes digital communication by the brand, be it directly or through third parties, such as influencers or other representatives.
The first section past the introduction of this thesis contains an introduction to the company Trippen, and to its history and most important values. The company was founded in 1991 with the aim of making high-quality craftmanship and design available to a larger amount of people, therefore offering a sustainable and socially responsible option for footwear that would not only be available to the highest-earning members of society. The concept behind the company was producing luxury for the happy many, rather than the happy few – and being sustainable with that.
This section also contains the presentation of a framework on luxury value perception, which is used throughout the whole thesis to be able to assess customers’ luxury value perception as objectively as a subjective thing can be assessed. This framework by Wiedmann et al. (2007) splits luxury value perception into four main values: the social value, the functional value, the individual value and the financial value.
Next, the concept of marketing communication is explained and with that the reason behind the focus on digital marketing communication in this thesis, which is the preference of the targeted customer group to use digital communication channels. Next to explanations on how digital marketing works and what it includes, Trippen’s digital marketing communication is analyzed in this section.
The third section contains information on sustainability and, more specifically, sustainable luxury, as sustainability is one of Trippen’s core values and therefore needs to be considered when analyzing the company. Further, the targeted customer group also has an increased interest in sustainable consumption, which makes this topic even more relevant.
Trippen aims at being as transparent as possible when it comes to its production and tries to produce its shoes both sustainably, by recycling certain products and sourcing others in a sustainable way, and socially responsibly.
After these theoretical sections, the findings of the research conducted specifically for this thesis are presented. A semi-structured focus group interview has been conducted for this thesis, with four participants from Germany – two of which were male, and two female. The findings of these interviews confirmed hypotheses made earlier on in this thesis, as the customer group considered sustainability greatly important. The customer group also found the effect luxury products had on them individually more important than the social prestige the consumption of luxury goods gave them.
Finally, the findings from all parts were combined, coming to the conclusion that the core values of Trippen and the targeted customer group do match up quite well. However, Trippen considerably lacks digital marketing communication. The targeted customer group, unlike the older customers which are currently Trippen’s main customers, requires a customer experience which includes digital communication by the brand, be it directly or through third parties, such as influencers or other representatives.