brandon1
842
Frustrating as it may be, this is the reaction they want (apparently)
Sep 11, 2020,13:22 PM
The Open Caseback had an interesting article earlier this year discussing the textbook The Luxury Strategy, which is apparently taught at MBA programs (not the one I attended, but to be fair I didn't opt for the types of classes where this would have been relevant).
TL;DR version: In the luxury segment, brands consider it a sign of weakness to accept customer demands. I don't have a copy of the book but according to the (excellent) article some of the principles for luxury brands include:
-Dominate the client
-Do not respond to rising demand
-Do not pander to your customer's wishes
-Do not look for consensus
I only mention this to play devils advocate and point out that the watch brands do not necessarily value your input the way you (and I) think they should.
Now, the irony in all of this as it relates to the luxury watch sector is that these tactics are designed to cast the brands as unassailable institutions and the ultimate arbiters of taste. Which may have been a good strategy at some point, but in this day and age the images are often undermined in very public ways:
-Industry data showing ever declining export volumes of Swiss watches
-Publicly traded groups of watch brands publishing declining revenues (for COVID, but also just very poor growth in general lately)
-Resources like Chrono24 and gray market sites that enable customers to easily gauge the market appetite for specific brands/models
-Information about executive turnover, layoffs, etc. being easily accessed by potential clients
-Brands undermining their own position as "arbiters of taste" by having athletes and celebrities 'design' limited editions.
-Executives complaining in the media that they don't know how to market to millennials (or this or that other group, whatever the case may be)
-They very obviously and selectively listen to the market is about some things even when it spoils the product itself (every interview with a watch executive where the topic of date windows come up, they respond "our customers want it.")
In light of the above, the "do not pander to customer's wishes" seems like hilariously bad advice for most luxury watch businesses. May work for PP, RM, AP, but for the longer tail businesses it seems like folly. It's good to see the indies able to benefit from it though, and may they ever prosper.
Best,
Brandon