Luxury Is a Made Up Word Used To Convince You of Value
The word luxury is not rare in the entrepreneur service-based industry. I see accounts on Instagram every day that flaunt titles like Luxury Event Planner, Luxury Brand Designer, or Luxury Wedding Photographer. In the product-based world, the word luxury is not spared either… Luxury Eyelashes, Luxury Jewelry, or Luxury Daily Planners.
This conversation about luxury really began when I was searching for a wedding photographer. I found a photographer that called themselves a “luxury wedding photographer”, who charged $3000. I then came across a photographer that called themselves an “affordable wedding photographer”, and charged $5000.
Naturally, this sent me to Google to figure out the real definition of the word luxury.
lux·u·ry
/ˈləkSH(ə)rē,ˈləɡZH(ə)rē/
noun
the state of great comfort and extravagant living.
"he lived a life of luxury"
Similar: opulence, luxuriousness, sumptuousness, richness, costliness, grandeur, grandness, splendor, magnificence
adjective
luxurious or of the nature of a luxury.
"a luxury yacht"
The biggest issue I have with the overuse of the word luxury is that it’s overused… If everything is luxury, nothing is luxury. But for the purpose of today, I am going to talk about some of the things that people associate with luxury, breaking down the word itself, and then discuss what I think really makes a brand luxurious — perhaps in the hope to provide you with some insight on whether or not the word actually applies to you and your business.
Does expensive = luxury?
Before I talk about this question, I want to mention my background and bias here. I grew up in a middle-class family. My dad really valued thriftiness. I love a good project. I am definitely a DIY bride. So to me, cost is a pretty important factor because I always want the best deal. That being said, I am also very aware of value (but more on value in the next section).
When I think about fashion and the word luxury, brands like Bottega Veneta, Jean-Paul Sarte, and McQueen come to mind. The interesting thing is that sometimes these “luxury” brands use cheap materials, or sell things that are clearly a money grab just because they have a name made for themselves… In case you missed it, here’s the Chanel advent calendar that sold for over $800 and was full of dollar-store crap. Maybe even so-called high-end brands abuse the word luxury too.
Going back to the definition of luxury though, “great comfort and extravagant living”, cost is not mentioned. This definition really connects luxury to value. So just because you add an extra zero to your service, doesn’t mean that you can call it luxury.
Where does value come from?
If you read last week’s post about the giant community of wedding vendors I pissed off by asking for pricing, you may have seen many of them talk about value. Many of them were connecting cost with value. I will die on this hill: COST DOES NOT EQUAL VALUE. But if cost doesn’t equal value, then how is value determined? Back to Google we go…
val·ue
/ˈvalyo͞o/
noun
the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.
"your support is of great value"
Similar: merit, worth, usefulness, use, utility, practicality, advantage, desirability, benefit, gain, profit
verb
estimate the monetary worth of (something).
"his estate was valued at $45,000"
consider (someone or something) to be important or beneficial; have a high opinion of.
"she had come to value her privacy and independence"
Oooh interesting, The verb version is challenging me already, connecting value to monetary worth. And I agree with it in that the word can be used like this. However, the primary use of “value” in the entrepreneur space is as a noun, so let’s stick with that definition.
The thing with value is that it’s in the eye of the beholder. What you value is different from what I value. In the wedding industry, what brides value is going to be different for every person. For some brides, flowers are the most important things, while others value photographers. For me, it’s really important to have a second photographer at our wedding, so I automatically value photographers who can arrange that higher. That doesn’t mean that they are more “luxurious” photographers. It just means that what they offer better aligns with what I value.
If value is dependent on the individual, then luxury would be unique to each person. So this begs the question, is luxury just a made-up word used to convince us that something is of higher value?
Is luxury a facade?
When you take a word with so many variables and try to slap it onto your product or service, it loses meaning. For example, the word beautiful. If I said “I build beautiful websites”, I doubt that would convince you of anything. After all, beauty is something that every individual decides for themselves.
The thing is, the word luxury still has an implication that the service/product is of higher quality. But it’s also a word that anyone can use. We’ve seen billionaires put out products that were disgustingly low quality, but they had HUGE marketing budgets that showed the product in a luxury atmosphere on a private jet. And we’ve seen small businesses showcase their handcrafted goods, photographed in their backyard, that last a lifetime.
I honestly think that the way that luxury is used these days is a facade. It’s used by people to try and add catchy keywords without providing any more value. I also think that if you are promoting yourself as luxury, it’s what you want to be, not what you actually are.
What really makes a brand “luxury”?
So now that I’ve thoroughly called bullshit on the word luxury, I want to talk about what I think a luxury brand really is:
They don’t call themselves luxury.
They have impeccable systems in place that are well thought out.
The client experience is the bomb.
They have a beautiful flawless website. (work with me here)
They care about their clients and actually serve them… They are more focused on the client than the money.
They deliver high-quality experiences and products.
There is attention to detail.
Summary:
The word luxury in itself has a lot of potential, but at this point, I think the word is overused. Instead of focusing on how you can add this word to your word cloud, I encourage you to consider what makes something luxurious and focus on that instead.
Please leave a comment below. This conversation is open for (respectful) discussion and dialogue.
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