Gucci : Consumer Behavior

Gucci : Consumer Behavior

Meredith Holliger

September 24th, 2016

        Guccio Gucci opened a leather goods and small luggage company in Florence Italy in 1921.  In the1930’s the line was expanded to handbags, trunks, gloves, shoes and belts.  Many of the customers were equestirians so Gucci developed the horsebit detail. Due to World War II, Gucci was faced with a shortage of supplies so they started using atypical materials for luxury goods such as linen, hemp and jute.  It was in the 1940’s that the now iconic bamboo handle was created.  The Bamboo bag became the first of many beloved products. The 1950’s saw the invention of the now trademark green and red stripe/  It became an instant success and hallmark for Gucci. Gucci started to build its global presence by opening up stores in Milan and New York. Guccio Gucci passed away in 1953 and his four sons Aldo, Vasco, Ugo and Rodolfo took over the company. Gucci products became timeless luxury pieces that were sought out by movie stars, and jet setting figures.  One of the most popular bags today was made famous and named the Jackie bag after Jackie Kennedy Onassis carried it.  The Gucci Flora print was a personal request from Grace Kelly.  In 1965 Gucci created the interlocking double G logo that has now become more famous than the green and red stripe.  Aldo Gucci took the company to new heights in luxury by adding clothes and fine home fashion to the brand in the 1970s.  Gucci truly embraced the double G logo and branded everything with the logo.  The brand also started using much more luxurious materials such as crocodile and platinum fox fur.  1981 bright the design house’s first runway show in Florence.  They became a public limited company in 1982 with Maurizio Gucci; Rodolfo’s son, holding 50% of the company’s shares.  Investcorp, an investment company based in Bahrain began purchasing the company shares in 1987. The the early 1990s Investcorp own Gucci completely.  The fashion house was relaunched in 1994 under the creative direction of Tom Ford.  Ford’s provocative and glamorous vision was embrace by celebrities and the fashion world.  Under the new CEO Domenico De Sole, Gucci was named “ European Company of the Year” in 1998.  In 1999, Gucci joined  Pinault-Printemps-Redoute to  transform itself from a single brand company into a multi-brand luxury group.  Since the start of the new century Gucci has continued to grow and reinvent itself over and over again to stay a relevant, sought after design house.

        A target market is a specific group of consumers at which a company aims its products and services ("Target Market - Small Business Encyclopedia," n.d.) .  Demographics are the easiest and most logical way to classify people and can be measured more precisely than other segmentation bases.  Gucci’s target customer is a male or female  age 26 to 40.  The customer is in a higher income group with a high purchasing power.

        Psychographics segments consumers based on their lifestyles, which consist of consumers’ activities, interests, and opinions.  The Gucci customer most likely lives in a major city throughout the world, is well educated and associates luxury goods with status.  The consumer has a good understanding of fashion and enjoys luxury shopping.  They are bold and trendy and also have an appreciation for timeless, classic luxury items.  In the case of Gucci, the Jackie handbag or the Gucci loafers.  

        Behavioristics is a method of segmenting a market by dividing customers into groups based on their usage, loyalties, or buying response to a product or service ("Behavioristic segmentation," n.d.).  Gucci consumers are loyal to the brand.  Consumers are purchasing Gucci products to suit an occasion and not necessarily on impulse.  

        Gucci uses a mix of traditional and experimental advertising in order to keep their loyal customers while gaining new customers.  Their traditional advertising campaigns focus on the classic pieces and always include the interlocking double G logo.  The experimental advertising was used effectively when Tom Ford took over as creative director. In the 90s “sex sells” was alive and well and Gucci took full advantage of this.  Ford pushed the boundaries and featured a naked woman laying across the lap of the androgynous woman to sell cologne.

        Gucci has had a long list of celebrities and socialites that have helped promote the brand as well if not more than traditional advertising.  The list of clients goes back to the 1950s with Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn and continues to be be seen on celebrities and models around the world.  In this day and age, when websites are publishing photos taken on the red carpet moments after being taken, having celebrities dressed in Gucci is more effective.

        VALS is an acronym for “values and lifestyles” representing a widely used segmentation method that classifies America’s adult population into eight distinctive subgroups: innovators, thinkers, achievers, experiencers, believers, strivers, makers and survivors (Schiffman & Wisenblit, 2015).  Gucci consumers primarily innovators and achievers.  They are successful and sophisticated, goal-oriented and committed to their career and family. They enjoy the finer things in life and prefer products the show their success to their peers.  Secondly the Gucci consumers are believer and strivers.  They are brand loyal to established brands.  Strivers are trendy, and fun loving.  They also seek approval from their peers and mirror the purchases of their peers with more material wealth.

         The Rokeach Values Survey is a self-administered, two part values inventory. It is comprised of eighteen terminal values that reflect goals and desirable states of exisitence and are defines as end (e.g., happiness, pleasure, freedom, self-respect), and eighteen instrumental values, defined as the means to achieve the ends (e.g., ambitious, honest, polite, responsible)(Schiffman & Wisenblit, 2015).    In the Rokeach Values Survey below you can see that Gucci consumers value an exciting and comfortable life most of all.  They are ambitious, capable and independent.

        There are five steps in the consumer adoption process of a brand: product awareness, product interest, product evaluation, product trial, and product adoption.  Gucci consumers are influenced by peers, culture, social class and social pressure as they make their decision.  In the first stage product awareness, consumers are learning about the product from their peers, or thru marketing campaigns. This is the step where consumers see the product whether it be a bag, shoes, clothing or perfume in an ad or while shopping.  In the product interest stage, first time consumers are doing research about the brand and products.  Loyal consumers may be doing research as well at a much higher level.  Loyal consumers are more likely to be going into the stores looking and getting more information from the store itself.  This leads directly into product evaluation.  Actually walking into the Gucci store or luxury department store and getting up close and personal with the product.  The evaluation process increases in intensety and need once the item in question is more expensive, sophisticated and complex or critical (Chandra, 2014).  While the product trial phase it probably short for some products like trying on shoes, accessories and clothing it still is part of the buying process.  The consumer is getting a fee l for the product how it feels, does it look good and how it feels.  Last but not least the consumer decide whether or not the product is right for them.  This stage is the final stage of the process.