This television interview of Hofstra University’s Distinguished Professor Joel Evans (of the Zarb School of Business) very recently appeared on Fios1’s Money & Main$treet. The interview was conducted by host Giovanna Drpic. It deals with the luxury market, especially on Long Island, NY. There are many tips and graphics.
Evans on Marketing Business Analytics and Marketing Information, Consumers and Their Behavior, Distribution, Marketing Communications, Online Marketing, Product Management customer expectations, customer satisfaction, experiential marketing, Fios1, Giovanna Drpic, Hofstra University, joel evans, luxury, Money & Main$treet, shopping, Zarb School 13
I agree with the argument that it is important to have excellent service in a high-end, luxury market. As an assistant in an upscale boutique on Long Island, it is important to make every customer feel important. From acting as their personal stylist to keeping constant contact about the newest apparel in the boutique, customers continue to return, and they continue to spend into the thousands all in one transaction. Also, I agree that it is important to know your customer. I often attend buyer meetings with vendors with my boss, and although all of the apparel is usually appealing, we can only select pieces that we know have a high probability of resonating well with our target customer.
I agree that service is a very important aspect of the luxury market. I am an assistant at a high-end boutique on Long Island, and I see the importance of service firsthand. When high-income shoppers come into the store, it is important that I work as a personal stylist and help them create entire outfits. We constantly call customers to notify them when apparel they like comes into the boutique, and we meet the demand of our customer. I often attend vendor meetings with my boss to decide what apparel is going to go into the store for the following season. Knowing our customer is important because while many of the items we see are appealing, we only select what we know has a high probability of resonating well with our target customer. Being service driven in a luxury market has proved essential in my work because many customers continuously spend into the thousands each time they visit the boutique. Without excellent service, I don’t believe that any small business can truly appeal to the luxury market.
I agree that Long Island is an affluent area where luxury is in high demand. I feel that a lot of the shopping centers are geared toward higher end items and marketed toward people who likely have a larger disposable income than the average person. Small businesses attempting to enter the luxury market, as mentioned in the video, must be conscious of many factors, the most important of which I believe is service. I think that great service is imperative in an emerging small business trying to compete in the luxury market because customers have to believe that they are being treated well. Customers appreciate when employees in the store can recognize them as returning/loyal customers. If customers are not treated well, the public image and business of the company will suffer, and the company will likely not survive very long.
It is obvious that Long Island is a very affluent area, where people enjoy luxury cars and luxury items. I know that despite how expensive the clothes are that I want, I still go into the stores and buy things. The stores that I’m willing to spend that kind of money at are the ones that sell me more than just their clothing. If I receive good customer service and loyalty, I will continuously go back. My favorite store is a 5 location boutique in Long Island and Westchester, and we have built a relationship where I get a some type of benefit/discount with every purchase I make. Long Island people are so competitive with materialistic things, so businesses must realize that they have what customers want, but it depends on their service that will draw the customers to buy from them.
Of course Long island is an affluent area where people just want the luxuries. It’s the reason why most people have more then one car per household or have an average income of 100,000. What they really want from a product is the distinguished service they receive along with it. They wanted to be treated as if they were special which is why they’ll spend more for that extra service provided. They also spend more because the brand is prestigious. Sometimes it’s more then just the product or service itself
I think that the luxury service provided by businesses has a huge impact on the experience of the shopper. For example, Mercedes Benz is one of the biggest believers of the idea that the customer be experiencing nothing but the best while they are shopping or getting their car serviced. Customers can get spa treatments, watch sports, have drinks, relax, have a nice meal. Mercedes thinks beyond the concept of a regular car service and brings it to the next level. I believe they highly attract Long Island residents because of this and because of the luxury lifestyle that surrounds the Mercedes.
Living in long island my whole life I definitely agree that it is an affluent and luxurious area. people are willing to pay money for the high scale brands. If i were to go into retail in Long Island I would focus on high end products. At this point trying to make your prices lower than Walmart and amazon all these big chains is too hard for the small business. Selling unique products and offering great service is the way to go.
Having grown up on Long Island I found this interview very interesting. I agree with all of Dr. Evans comments and opinions. I believe that Long Islanders want the best and they work hard and are willing to pay for it. I think of my High School , everyone had designer clothes, nice jewelry and nice cars. Some would look at this and say we were all spoiled . However, all my friends work jobs after school as well as summer jobs. As my parents said to me and my brother, we gave you a certain lifestyle living on Long Island now it is up to you to continue to work hard to have the luxuries in life. If you don’t want to work hard you probably cant live on Long Island.
Since coming to Long Island the first thing I noticed was the wealth concentrated in this area. The people I know back home would not know what David Yurman is or even what a Bentley looks like in real life. My friends her go on $500-$1,000 shopping sprees at a time. Adversely, my companions back home would never spend 80$ on a sweater from even Banana Republic. It is shocking going from one market focused on luxury, to another focused on savings. I agree with Professor Evans in that what really makes a difference is service. One of my friends recently tried to purchase a bag from Bloomingdale’s twice. Both times her order was canceled and when she called they were very rude to her. This made her change her to buying her product at Nordstrom’s.
I completely agree with the fact that Long Island is a hub for luxury shopping that caters to the more well off people that can afford to buy expensive items. The only reason why these businesses thrive here is because people have the income levels that allow them to spend more money than someone in, lets say Idaho, on goods. But, as Professor Evans stated, service is the key to success. When people get to the level where they are paying a premium price for something, they also expect nothing less than the best service. If the service expectations are not met, they will be more angry than average customers in other less-wealthy areas, and will not buy from that store or company.
I absolutely agree with the idea that Long Island is hot spot for high end, luxury shopping. Since moving to Long Island for school I have noticed that there is a very large market for any high end stores such as Bloomingdales, Prada and so on. The Roosevelt Field Mall is a perfect example of high end shopping. It is not just your ordinary shopping mall it had more stores than the average mall does and most of them are luxury stores that you would find on 5th Avenue in NYC. And not only do the malls show that Long Island is a hub for luxury shopping; all of the developments with major strip malls and outlets have a huge impact.
Well for starters, that was pretty cool to see Professor Evans in the interview! I agree with his comments and critiques that individuals living on Long Island tend to have taste for luxury items including high end cars, fashion, homes, etc. Even in Hofstra, I have noticed girls with expensive jewelry, purses, and clothing. As far as the guys, I have seen many with the new Apple iWatch and spiffy looking suits. Hence, people living on Long Island seem to live affluent lifestyles yet that is not to say they don’t work hard for their money. I just feel that in order for a business to thrive it must aim for elegance and wealth.
I definitely agree that having excellent service is a necessity for a high-end market. It’s important for people to feel that they matter, and that they’re getting the most out of their purchases; they would like opinions from the employees on items they’re planning on purchasing. It’s important for good service as well as customer service. I’ve had many situations where a company messes up on an online purchase, and I have to call to sort out the problem, and a majority of the time, the customer service is extremely rude! I find this irritating, because they being rude about their companies’ mistakes to the customer. Not only does this result in a bad image of their company, but they can end up losing loyal customers, such as myself.