The effect of consumers' perception of luxury consumption on brand choices

As globalization and mass production increase, social values have changed drastically and consumption culture has become widespread. The phenomenon of consumption changing over time has turned into a symbolic and editorial consumption that meets not only the physical needs of individuals but also their psychological, social and cultural needs. Luxury consumption has become a remarkable subject with the effect of an increasing and significantly changing consumption culture in recent years. At this point, the concept of luxury, which is largely reflected in the lifestyles of consumers, is of great importance. The impact of consumers' perception of luxury consumption on brand preference constitutes the subject of research. The concept of luxury, which changes depending on the developments occurring today, has caused the perception of consumers towards luxury consumption to change. For this reason, while investigating the factors that shape the brand preference of the consumers, it is important to examine the perception of luxury and luxury consumption. For this purpose, what the concept of luxury means to consumers, how it is perceived, and how it affects the brand choice was questioned. Luxury consumers change over time and the luxury sector is growing rapidly in economic terms. For this reason, the research is thought to be a guide for those in the luxury sector. In this study, which aims to contribute to the literature in a conceptual sense, it is aimed to determine how consumers born between 1980-1999 and who are called Generation Y perceive luxury consumption phenomenon and to reveal the effects of luxury consumption perceptions on brand preference. In the light of the information obtained as a result of the literature review, the data were obtained by conducting a survey study that constituted the sample of Generation Y consumers. According to the research model, the data were analyzed and the findings were revealed. There are three main hypotheses in the research model. The first is to investigate whether consumers' perceptions of luxury consumption have a significant effect on brand preference. According to the results of the analysis, it has been determined that it has a significant effect. The second hypothesis is to investigate whether luxury perception sub-dimensions have a significant effect on brand preference. When all sub-dimensions of the perception of luxury consumption are examined, it is concluded that superior quality, little or unique, personal history, unnecessary and prestige dimensions have a significant effect on brand preference. However, no statistical significance was found between aesthetic or multiple sense size and brand preference. The third hypothesis in the study is to examine whether the perception of luxury consumption sub-dimensions has a significant effect on brand preference sub-dimensions. Analyzes were carried out on six sub-dimensions under the brand preference. As a result, when the fashion awareness, rarity-status, reference group, social media, role model and experience sub-dimensions of luxury consumption perception sub-dimension scores were evaluated, the model was found to be highly significant.