The Three Consumption Tiers of the High-Luxury Sector

Under normal circumstances, almost no one would deliberately cause trouble in a luxury brand store—after all, without any intention to buy, why would someone bother to stir things up?

Unless they weren't exactly normal.

So when An Wuyang indicated he still wanted to look at shoes, Jack knew this order was pretty much in the bag.

"For shoes to match this casual suit, we have two recommendations: casual shoes and lace-up shoes," Jack offered.

"Sir, please step this way and try on both the casual shoes and the lace-ups. Then see which style you prefer before deciding." Jack gave a solid recommendation without overstepping.

An Wuyang nodded. "Alright, I'll try both."

In truth, An Wuyang was leaning more toward the lace-ups. Although lace-ups felt more formal, Zegna's casual shoes were the kind that made anyone who saw them shake their head—they were just too ugly, right?

Under Jack's lead, An Wuyang arrived at the shoe section. He tried on the casual shoes first, then immediately blacklisted them.

Because Zegna's casual shoes were as abstract as ever!

An Wuyang tried on the lace-ups next. This time, he picked a pair of brown Oxford shoes.

The Oxford silhouette was excellent, and the brown avoided the overly formal vibe of black. He slipped on the brown Oxfords, tested the fit, and walked around to gauge the feel, then decided on this pair of brown Oxfords.

As An Wuyang silently made his choice, he also quietly calculated the price in his head.

The Crossover deep beige linen casual suit he'd just picked was priced at 26,300 yuan. The brown Oxfords were 11,900 yuan. Together, that came to 38,200 yuan.

An Wuyang had previously obtained a Beginner Consumption Cashback Card from a food reward, which offered a random 1–5x cashback on up to 50,000 yuan in spending. He planned to use it at Zegna.

After all, a freebie reward was better left unused than wasted!

So An Wuyang added, "Let me also check out your belts."

"This way, please." Jack immediately led the way. He'd actually been guessing that An Wuyang would want a belt.

After all, if you'd already bought a suit, how could you skip the belt?

After some browsing, An Wuyang chose a Hemp Gray Suede Belt. The combination of hemp gray and suede gave the belt a casual vibe, keeping it from clashing with the casual suit.

This Hemp Gray Suede Belt was priced at a steep 4,900 yuan—no denying that luxury brands came with a hefty price tag!

An Wuyang calculated privately: the cashback card's limit still had 6,900 yuan left. What should he buy?

That amount was neither here nor there, feeling a bit like a chicken rib.

'Should I buy a wallet?' An Wuyang thought with a hint of sarcasm.

Buddy, it's 2021 in the Xia Kingdom!

How many people still used wallets these days?

Mobile payment ruled the world with one scan, right?

Even if he really needed a wallet, he wouldn't buy a Zegna one.

An Wuyang ruled out wallets. Clutches and backpacks were out too, since they exceeded the budget.

Zegna was a luxury brand!

Clutches could easily top 10,000 yuan, and backpacks or crossbody bags often exceeded 20,000 yuan. A 6,900-yuan budget really wasn't enough.

In the end, An Wuyang decided to prioritize practicality. He chose underwear and socks.

Zegna's Modal boxer briefs cost 700 yuan a pair. Summer Cotton boat socks were priced at 250 yuan a pair, while the Cashmere and silk blend cotton socks cost a full 1,200 yuan a pair.

An Wuyang picked six pairs of Modal boxer briefs—that was 4,200 yuan. Then he selected one pair of Cashmere and silk blend cotton socks as formal wear for the Oxfords, costing 1,200 yuan. That came to 5,400 yuan.

The remaining 1,500 yuan went to six pairs of summer Cotton boat socks, which he could take home and give to An Huchun, since An Huchun was also a Zegna customer.

After some back-and-forth selection, An Wuyang finally hit the 50,000-yuan limit.

While An Wuyang was picking out underwear and socks, Niu Fenjin fully acknowledged An Wuyang's status as a wealthy man.

Because An Wuyang was actually choosing underwear and socks at Zegna!

That kind of behavior was something only a true rich person could pull off.

In luxury consumption, there were three tiers hidden beneath the surface.

The lowest tier: luxury brand classic bags and beauty products. These were things ordinary people could buy if they gritted their teeth.

For example, LV's classic monogram bags—plenty of average white-collar women gritted their teeth and bought one, then squeezed onto buses and subways, just to fulfill a luxury dream.

But in the eyes of the wealthy, that kind of behavior?

Glad you're happy—no comment!

The second tier was buying luxury brand apparel.

Luxury brand classic bags were expensive, but once bought, they could be used for years, even decades.

Spread over the usage time and price, the cost-effectiveness was actually high!

But luxury brand apparel was different. Many luxury clothes had a shelf life.

For instance, this summer's LV seasonal new T-shirt, priced between a few thousand and ten thousand yuan—would you wear it next year after this year?

Even if you wore it next year, would you still wear it the year after?

If you wore it the year after that, to those in the know, it wouldn't project the style and class of luxury apparel—it would just look like you were trying too hard.

After all, it was already a three-year-old design, and still being worn—that either meant the family had fallen on hard times, or they were just trying to show off.

So in the world of luxury spending, the level of expenditure on clothing had actually surpassed that on classic handbags.

But there was one exception!

That was Hermes!

Because Hermes had a quota system, their clothing was far too common, and the discounts were massive.

So in the luxury sector, even though Hermes handbags were second to none, the quality and pricing of their clothing didn't even measure up to LV's.

Finally, there was the third tier, the highest tier—spending on luxury brand underwear, socks, sleepwear, and other products meant to indulge oneself.

The most important value of luxury handbags and clothing was to showcase oneself through the brand, letting others know you used luxury brands, thereby gaining a sense of psychological satisfaction.

This kind of social display was indeed the core competitiveness of luxury brands!

It was also the reason for the brand premium on luxury goods.

But underwear, socks, and sleepwear simply couldn't showcase the brand value of a luxury label.

You couldn't exactly pull a Superman and wear your underwear on the outside, could you?

Plus, luxury brand underwear, socks, and sleepwear were extremely expensive, with very low cost-effectiveness, so the customers who bought them were definitely people with money to burn.

Otherwise, spending the same amount on clothing and handbags would be a much better way to show off.