Investigating consumers’ motivations for luxury brand consumption and its impact on mental health

The luxury market has seen rising sales over the past few years through the use of digital marketing. The continuous success of many recognized brands can largely be attributed to the employment of exclusivity in digital marketing, which is commonly conveyed by imposing limitations on the availability of luxury products. In contrast to the benefits exclusivity can bring to a brand’s sales, it is also believed to have resulted in negative impacts on its consumers. In this study, we surveyed 129 respondents to investigate consumers’ motivations for buying luxury products and whether those motivations relate to the consumers’ mental health. We hypothesized that most people are more likely to be motivated by brand name recognition than product quality when making a luxury purchase. We also hypothesized that perceived product brand recognition as motivation for shopping would be strongly correlated with a decrease in self-confidence and tendency to compare items. Our results do not support that brand name recognition is the primary motivation for purchasing luxury goods. Yet the second hypothesis was testified: we found a correlation between exclusivity, certain types of purchase motivation, and a decrease in mental health. We hope that our findings will open doors for future research investigating other potential negative effects some marketing strategies may have on their consumers.