In my master thesis I study factors, mainly economic and sociological, that influence buying behaviour and perceptions of luxury consumers and consumers of counterfeits, with intention of applying these theories to a small sample of Slovenian luxury bags consumers. In the first chapter I present economic and sociological theories, with emphasis on Thorstein Veblen and his conspicuous consumption theory. In the second chapter I present definitions of prestige, which differ based on cultural context and prestige consumption in the era of democratization of luxury. Third chapter is luxury brand oriented, where I talk about main characteristics of luxury brands and reasons for consuming them. Fourth chapter is about counterfeits, what they are and what are people’s reasons for buying them. In the fifth chapter I concentrate on the bags, their historic development, iconic models and luxury brands of bags today. In the sixth chapter I present my research method of in-depth interviews and analyse perception of luxury and counterfeits of each interviewee. In the seventh chapter I conclude that we can apply theories of Vigneron and Johnson and Han, Nunes and Dreze to Slovenian luxury and counterfeit consumers, which means the buying behaviour theories are applicable to a modern Slovenian luxury consumer in his buying motivations.
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