The Online Luxperience - Discovering luxury cosmetics consumption online

Abstract

The luxury industry is evolving quickly, and the most recent trend amongst luxury retailers is to expand their product range to include a cosmetics line. Meanwhile, the luxury consumer has turned to the web and an increasing amount of young women are using the Internet to purchase their beauty products. Hence, the aim of this article is to reveal the underlying motivations for consumers’ to purchase luxury cosmetics online. The findings indicate that all motivational factors in luxury cosmetics are linked to self-directed pleasure and that the consumer is driven by intrinsic motivations. The intrinsic motives are further enhanced by the online experience, referred to as luxperience by the authors. This study sheds light to the area of luxury retail and e-commerce, and can be useful for companies in the industry when developing new digital strategies.