LUXURY STATUS OF MALAYSIAN CONSUMERS

The Malaysian consumer identity has become a luxury brand phenomenon itself which is acknowledged through two consumer behavior theories “Expected Confirmation Theory and “Theory of Planned Behavior” for this study. This phenomenon is credited with philosophy of anthropology, perception, psychographic segmentation, business economics, environmental / social sciences, fashion management and consumer behavior studies to improve fashion and management knowledge. This thesis specifically spreads awareness on the brand factors being brand sustainability, brand congruence, brand identity, brand advertisement, brand perception and consumer identity and its relation to the dependent variable luxury brand awareness which were not exerted enough by fashion professionals in identifying a consumer status in Malaysia. How luxury brands over powers Malaysian consumer fashion identity to form associations such as a western fashion belonging, western fashion appreciation, western social acceptance and status as their only common fashion identity. Problem statement being lack of luxury fashion awareness on luxury brand advertisements by the Malaysian fashion professionals for consumers to blindly confine to other society fashion statements is potentially diminishing the Malaysian consumer fashion confidence. The commonly preferred luxury identities from which fashion professionals could gain knowledge is supported through the exploratory quantitative field work of a purposively sampled questionnaire in Bukit Bintang Malaysia. Research objectives and research questions foregrounded the selection for field work in four malls around Kuala Lumpur region namely Suria KLCC, Times Square, Pavillion and Sangai Wong with only 302 respondents valid to prove the consumer luxury identity preferences of Malaysian consumers. Such a selection became pivotal to show that Malaysian consumers prefer being accepted as a western luxury style icon rather than initiating their personal fashion creation at first. How intense luxury brand advertisement numbs Malaysian consumer fashion preference and leads them to have a western status, pride, rank, class or belonging as their personal fashion statement before product purchase. How intense luxury brand advertisements impact consumer personal fashion initiation further adding value to fashion institutes in Malaysia is the backbone of this study.