Hey Big Spender...
In 1971, L'Oreal unveiled the now-iconic phrase, 'Because you're worth it.' It appears that this powerful message has, at long last, begun to resonate with women. Research from Havas Media Network (HMN) has uncovered a significant shift in the luxury market driven by the unprecedented spending power of high-end female consumers. The research shows a quarter of women (27%) spend over £50k annually on luxury items compared to 17% of men. Luxury purchase drivers such as 'symbol of success' (35%) and 'reward' (33%) rank highly among the personal motivations. We’ve come a long way from being satisfied by the pink-it and shrink-it model. We’re real players, and we’ve got money to spend.
So what can luxury brands do to appeal to women?
We need more women designing for women: The luxury fashion industry is dominated by men, and in 2023 we saw Sarah Burton's departure from Alexander McQueen and Gabriela Hearst's exit from Chloe cutting female leadership at major fashion houses even further. Notably Kering, the luxury industry's second-largest group, has no women in Creative Director roles and this dearth of female designers has consequences. Women designers are pivotal in crafting functional, nuanced designs that women want to wear – like dresses with pockets.
Experiences: We’ve spoken before about how brands need to deal in experiences rather than products, but this is even more true when it comes to luxury brands. If women are ‘treating’ themselves by spending thousands on a single product, then realistically that experience should be something to write home about. Bridal salons have seen the value in experience-based selling for some time, where women can bring their friends, have a dedicated sales assistant and be treated to prosecco whilst shopping for ‘The Dress’ - now it’s time for luxury brands to up the ante.
Aftercare in the form of repairs, maintenance, and warranty support can enhance the perception of long-term value and quality associated with luxury items. In fact, HMN found two-fifths define a luxury purchase as being 'quality', 'craftsmanship', 'well-made' and 'long-lasting'. Cartier have got this nailed with their most affordable offering, the Trinity Bracelet, priced at £720 – the bracelet comprises three interlocked rings held together by a coloured cord which can be changed at any time, free of charge, giving the customer a new-ish bracelet whenever you feel the need for a different colour. Incidentally, changing the cord takes about 20 minutes, giving the customer plenty of time to browse!
Loyalty schemes incentivise customers, increase engagement, derive better data and reward customers. Hermes is perhaps the kingpin of the luxury loyalty world; their model means customers have to buy more to buy more, essentially graduating through the levels of Hermes. Hermes most sought-after item, the Birkin bag, can only be purchased by customers with a purchase history - it’s bizarre, but it works. Influencer and TikTok-er Amelia Liana’s most-watched clip (at 4.9 million views and almost 1,000 comments) is titled ‘Rejecting my Hermes Wish’ – where she was finally rewarded for her spending efforts by getting her wish (AKA another bag).
Collaborations and partnerships: The luxury world is all about aspiration, so what better way to be aspirational than by choosing great celebrity partnerships? Jennifer Lawrence is the new face of the Longines' Mini DolceVita watch and is the ultimate funny cool girl. Luxury brands should carefully consider what their choice of ambassador says about the women shopping there – perhaps it’s time to switch out models for successful celebs.
Sustainability and ethics: Whilst some might question if there really is such a thing as ethical consumerism, research shows women are more conscious consumers, seeking out and purchasing sustainable retail brands more often than male customers. We know women like the idea of buying from ethical and sustainably responsible brands, so why aren’t more luxury brands considering this messaging? If they aren’t thinking about it, this is their sign to!
If you’re wondering where we get the money, then let me introduce you to girl math; it’s a handy way to justify our purchases. It means if we’ve recently been refunded, we’ve made money; cash is free money as we don’t see it coming out of our accounts and spending an extra £X to get free shipping is always worth it. Another universal law of girl math is that you can spend whatever you want on any piece of clothing if you wear it often enough – it’s all about cost per wear. On TikTok, #girlmath has garnered over 488 million views. It’s a light-hearted and amusing take on women’s spending habits and shows the societal shift that women are no longer as ashamed about their spending. You can see the lifestyle creep from a mile off.
In Nick Hornby’s book, Just Like You, Lucy the main character introduces the concept of bubbles. “Bubbles make life tolerable and the trick was to blow as many as possible. There were new baby bubbles, honeymoon bubbles, success at work bubbles and new friends’ bubbles, great holiday bubbles, and even tiny TV series bubbles, dinner bubbles party bubbles, they all burst without intervention and then it was a matter of getting through to the next one.”
Maybe these luxury purchases and treats are just about making life as fizzy as possible, and women are great at that.
