Luxury goods : selling a dream

The luxury goods industry in France has a turnover of one hundred and five billion Francs and employs as many people as the entire aeronautical industry. Managers of the luxury goods companies say that they earn money by "selling a dream". According to Olivier Bomsel, the luxury industry is effectively based on representations associated with an object bearing a particular brand name which significantly increases the customer's "willingness to pay". In the opinion of Alain Bucaille, luxury goods enable the individual to indulge himself in the richness of the sensations which they bring. As far as this is concerned; there is no price limit either for the manufacturer, who aims for perfection which he himself sets, regardless of cost, or for the customer who is fascinated by this perfection. Didier Grumbach describes the difficulties faced by the large fashion houses with the emergence of prêt-à-porter (ready to wear) clothes. The luxury business must meet the challenges of a massive production, ie. the management of rare goods with controls on their distribution.