The impact of ethnicity on luxury perception: the case of Singapore’s Generation Y

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate Singaporean millennials' attitudes toward luxury brands. The research focusses on the financial, functional, individual, and social dimensions of luxury value perception and whether ethnicity influences these dimensions. Design/methodology/approach - The research measures luxury value perception among millennials of the three main ethnic groups in Singapore (Chinese, Indians, and Malays) via more than 200 questionnaires. Data were analyzed through Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric ANOVA and cluster analysis. Findings - Luxury value perception does not vary across ethnicity, with the exception of the financial value dimension. Four market segments of young luxury consumers in Singapore are identified and profiled. These segments do not differ in terms of ethnicity. Research limitations/implications - Millennials are an evolving and moving population segment, and thus longitudinal analyses would be useful to develop a more comprehensive understanding of this segment. Practical implications - Ethnicity does not affect luxury value perception. The results of the cluster analysis suggest that luxury companies should address the millennials as a global target sharing the same luxury value perception. At the same time, luxury companies can emphasize some different aspects (i.e. the financial dimension) of their value offer. Originality/value - The research studies the most interesting market for luxury brands - millennials - in a fast-growing luxury market. It adds knowledge to the previous literature on luxury value perception. This research can guide managers to devise suitable marketing strategies addressing the millennials segment as a global market that has the same set of luxury values worldwide.