Case Questions:

LVMH
1. Present overview of the case and discuss about history of iconic luxury brands discussed in the
case.
2. Should LVMH reach out to the new middle-class consumers who are willing to purchase luxury
items? If so, how should LVMH reach this market without tarnishing its brand?
3. How should luxury-goods companies combine the ‘old luxury’ and the ‘new luxury’? How could
LVMH seamlessly link the two to create new markets and advantages?
4. What advantages does LVMH as a group have over independent brands?
5. Describe the Counterfeit business today. How is this affecting companies and businesses? How
should luxury brands fight against counterfeiting? How should LVMH counter the gray trade?

Shanghai Tang
1. How luxury brand is different from a regular, mass-market brand? How does one build a luxury
brand? How important is brand extension for increasing brand awareness?
2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Shanghai Tang’s existing personality and image?
3. What might have accounted for Shanghai Tang’s unsatisfactory results in building a global luxury
Chinese brand? What could they or should they have done differently?
4. Do you think any Indian luxury fashion brand has potential to go truly global? Explain.

Vertu
1. Vertu has been fairly successful using a standardized branding approach to promote Vertu
around the world. Should this approach be changed considering the unique customer
preferences in Asia and the Middle East? What kind of risk is associated with market
adaptation?
2. The Vertu brand is currently tied closely to Frank Nuovo- Vertu’s founder and principle designer.
Do you foresee any potential problem with this marketing approach? If yes, what should Vertu
do?
3. Should Nokia acquire any of the Vertu’s competitors? Why or why not?
4. Provide detailed analysis of Vertu’s marketing mix?
5. If you had just been hired as Global Marketing VP at Vertu, what top 3 marketing priorities
would you choose to focus on? Explain how you arrived at your answers.

XYLYS
1. How the ritual of using watches in the Indian culture has evolved during the years? Explain in
context of changing environment and symbolic appeals?
2. What do you infer from the data obtained in the exhibits that are associated with the present
and the potential users of premium watch brands?
3. What role does country of origin plays in this industry? Did the buyers and prospective buyers of
premium watches hold any specific stereotypical images of such watches?
 4. Why did XYLYS changed its positioning from ‘Symbol of Success’ to ‘Feeling of Love’? Was it a
right decision?
5. Present perceptual map of XYLYS and other players mentioned in the case based on price and
professional life stage?

Kering
1. Discuss the characteristics of the luxury industry’s online presence in 2011 and compare it with
current scenario.
2. How is Kering situated in the luxury industry market? Consider its history, brands, online
presence and competitors.
3. What alternatives should Kering consider?
4. What are the key success factors of a luxury brand and how they can be applied online?
5. What is Kering’s ‘brand identity prism’ and what changes need to be made to ensure that the
online ‘receiver’ receives this constructed image?

ITC
1) Are luxury and sustainability at the opposite ends of the same continuum or are they
closely related? Explain.
2) What is meant by the term ‘Responsible’ or ‘Sustainable’ particularly from the
perspective of the luxury and hospitality industry?
3) What were the design elements at ITC Hotels which united the concept of ‘Responsible
and ‘Luxury’?

Project Details:

1) Phase 1: Students need to visit at least 3 luxury web stores (.com) in a particular
category (e.g. apparel and accessories, shoes, bikes, cars, watches, jewellery, wines, etc.)
and evaluate each brand as per below mentioned criteria in order to understand the unique
digital strategies of luxury brands. (Presentation [10 minutes per group] during
session 9)
Before session 11 you have to submit PPT and word document.

Assessment Criteria  Brand 1 Brand 2 Brand 3 Brand 4

Content: the offering mix,

which includes product    
information, special    
campaigns, brand    
messages, brand history
and corporate information.
Community: communities
established by the brand
where customers interact    
with the brand    
and each other.    
Connection: links to
external sites that use
either microsites or there is    
content from external    
sites.    
Commerce: the existence
of a full set of e-commerce
functionalities/features,
including
shopping assistants, virtual
stores, shop able videos,    
and commerce on social    
media sites.    
Context: the existence of
aesthetically pleasing
website design including
the existence of
flash, videos, animations,
augmented reality and 3D    
or 360 degree view of    
products.    
Customization: customer
involvement in designing
and developing products;
customizing the site    
experience for the    
individual user.    
   
Is digital store available in    
India?    

Example:
Content
Product information
History
Corporate information
Special
promotions/campaigns
 Brandin Operational One way or
Assessment Criteria g or or Two way
Selling Innovative communication

Brand 1

Brand 2

Brand 3

Brand 4

Phase 2: Choose any one luxury brand (from the brands studied in phase 1) and provide detailed
understanding of its marketing and communication strategies. Include their tech and
sustainability initiatives. Talk about impact of covid 19 on that brand in terms of sales, revenues,
profits, business model, etc. Take interview from at least 1 expert. Share details of experts
(name, designation, etc.) and inferences received from them. Also, suggest what strategies
this brand should adopt to have deeper penetration in the Indian luxury market? (Presentation
during session 16).
1. Each group should provide detailed understanding of chosen brand’s marketing and
communication strategies.
 2. Imagine you have just been hired as Indian Marketing head of that brand; suggest
what marketing strategies you would adopt to have deeper penetration in the Indian
luxury market? Explain how you arrived at your answers.
3. Each group will mail the soft copy of Word document final report and PPT before
session 16. The minimum word limit of the report would be 2000. There is no
maximum word limit but extra material, not relevant to main body of report, should
be provided in exhibits.
4. Share the questionnaire in exhibits and snap shot of conversation you had with
experts/ audio attachment.
5. The final presentation will have to be done using PowerPoint during session 16. Each
group will be given 10 minutes to present their work.
6. The evaluation of group project work will include the evaluations of presentation and
report.
Individual marks of a group member may vary based on their presentation, group peer marks and
faculty evaluation. Every member from the group may be called out by faculty to present parts of
the presentation.
Note: If more than 10% plagiarism is detected in any report, the whole team would
get zero.