Luxury logic

Here's an interesting (and rather sardonic, might I add) article on why people blows hundreds of dollars on luxury goods and services. From being status markers, they've now evolved into a mark of connoisseurship for its owners.

As the writer says: When does an outrageous price for a product become acceptable and even desirable? When the item transforms us from consumers to connoisseurs.

Products make the leap from pedestrian to premium when their creators think of them as ideas. Some products are heavy on ideas: perfume, spa treatments, life coaching, alcohol. Others are practically idea-free: mailboxes, fax machines, oil changes. Notice anything about those two sets of goods? You make mega-margins on the first and mini-margins on the second. Margins feed on ideas.

Read the rest of the article here. I especially love the last few lines. Soooo funny!