The atypicality of sustainable luxury products

Abstract

This study tackles the issue of how consumers might perceive luxury products' sustainability-focused communication. We compare consumers' reactions when luxury brands communicate their focus on either product sustainability or product excellence (i.e., a sustainability- vs. excellence-focused communication strategy, respectively). We predict that consumers perceive the former as more atypical for a luxury brand, which renders the communication more effective at enhancing consumers' willingness to buy the brand's products. Across six experiments, we demonstrate that perceived atypicality mediates the effect of luxury product communication strategy on consumers' willingness to buy; that perceived atypicality increases willingness to buy by increasing consumers' perception about the uniqueness of the communication strategy; that the effect of perceived atypicality is stronger for consumers with a higher chronic need for uniqueness; and that the greater effectiveness of a sustainability-focused communication strategy on atypicality and willingness to buy is peculiar to luxury products (i.e., it does not manifest for mass-market products). From a managerial perspective, our findings demonstrate that luxury brands may innovate their communication strategies by leveraging sustainability rather than product excellence.