What ‘Brand India’ can learn from ‘Brand France’, ET BrandEquity
By Pauline Brown
India’s luxury market is heating up. Its domestic sales are growing in double-digits, while growth in most other regions is flat or even down. By 2027, India is expected to reach 100 million ‘aspirational consumers’. Against this backdrop, Pauline Brown, former North American chairman of LVMH and author of Aesthetic Intelligence, explains how Indian brands can turn 2025 into a year of re-enchantment.
Coming-of-age
Last year, Christian Dior staged a spectacular fashion show for 850 VIPs in Mumbai. It was the brand’s first showing in India since 1962. The Gateway of India venue was said to be a nod to India’s history of manufacturing for European fashion houses. But I saw it less as a celebration of India’s role as a maker of luxury goods, and more as of a buyer.
Domestic market heating up
India’s luxury market is clearly heating up. Its domestic sales are growing in double-digits, while growth in most other regions is flat or even down. The slump in China, the world’s largest luxury market, is weighing down the entire sector. A decade ago, while I was at LVMH, all eyes were on China and its seemingly unlimited potential. European consumption was saturated (with the exception of sales among Chinese tourists), Japan was still working through ‘Abenomics’ and wealthy Americans preferred spending on dining, entertainment and travel than handbags.
Eyes on the Indian spender
Among the world’s population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, India is growing faster than any other country. Moreover, among ‘aspirational consumers’, which account for about half of all luxury sales, the population in India is expected to reach 100 million by 2027, up 70% over 2023.
These economic indicators are certainly exciting for India, but even more for the international brands. About 80% of luxury fashion sales and nearly 100% of the sector’s economic profits go to five conglomerates — LVMH, Hermès, Richemont, Chanel and Kering. All of these are based in Europe, four of which are French.
India’s age-old luxury market
India is hardly an emerging luxury market. Well before the British East India Company was founded, the Indus Valley Civilisation (around 2500-1900 BCE) made elaborate jewellery from shells, stones and gold; the Mauryan Empire (322-185 BCE) organised guilds (‘Srenis’) of leather and textile workers, who played a crucial role in the economy and society; and the Gupta Empire (320-550 CE) minted coins that are still considered exquisite works of art.
India’s history of craftsmanship is not only older than Europe’s; it is one of the oldest in the world and its quality, unparalleled.
An untold story
As India moves into the first world of luxury consumption, shouldn’t it capture more of the value? The challenge is not about craftsmanship, creativity or cultural relevance, but about storytelling. Luxury is an industry built on rich and compelling stories. Indian luxury brands need to weave stories that intrigue and attract non-Indian buyers.
‘Luxuria’ of excess
The word luxury comes from the Latin ‘luxuria’, meaning extravagance or excess. Historically, it was associated with related words like ‘lechery’ and ‘lust’. Broad-based desire for luxury goods only began in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV of France conceived a strategy to use his local guilds as a tool for European dominance. The king asserted France’s cultural and economic power by displaying its opulence and grandeur to foreign dignitaries as well as to his own subjects. Under his reign, France became the unrivalled centre of luxury — a legacy that endures.
Arnault’s art of storytelling
Bernard Arnault, CEO of the world’s largest luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), built his fortune on this legacy. While Arnault was not born into a noble family, he constructed a strategy 40 years ago to acquire brands that leverage his nation’s centuries-old association with exclusivity, artistry, craftsmanship and cultural influence.
Since then, he has amassed a portfolio of 75 luxury brands that generate annual sales of nearly $100 billion. Arnault understands the power of storytelling to elicit pleasure. He often says he is not in the business of selling luxury, but of creating desire.
Creating desire through ‘Brand France’
The reality of French history is far more complex and incongruous than, say, the court of Versailles, Rococo art, grand cru wine, coq au vin and macrons. But these codes and others have come together to define the ‘brand of France’, revered for its elegance and savoir-faire.
What codes define the ‘brand of India’? Here in New York, we think of its bustling cities, Ayurvedic practices, lavish weddings, spicy cuisine and IT services.
Mass vs class
In today’s marketplace, most luxury brands fall into one of two sub-segments: One marked by industrialisation, democratisation and data-driven marketing; the other, built on artistry, scarcity, emotional connections and human-centred experiences. The first segment includes brands like Nike, Apple and even Louis Vuitton. While they command premium prices, they are also manufactured en masse and marketed to the masses.
How ‘Brand India’ can pivot
The second segment, epitomised by the French accessories brand Hermès, is built on an entirely different set of capabilities – one that I call ‘Aesthetic Intelligence’ or ‘the other AI’. This is what can transform the ‘brand of India’, not to mention the countless brands based in the country.
Sparking delight in a customer
The term ‘aesthetics’ is typically used to describe how things look, but the actual definition goes beyond visual elegance. Aesthetics is the pleasure derived from perceiving an object or experience through our senses.
Aesthetic brands don’t just meet their customer needs; they surprise and delight them. When customers shop at Hermès, part of their delight comes from the brand’s product designs, but the lion’s share comes from the stories that Hermès weaves around its products.
Awakening the imagination
To make aesthetic products requires skill; to create compelling stories requires imagination, empathy and taste. In luxury, these three facets of ‘Aesthetic Intelligence’ must be applied at all touch points – from selling environments to window displays, to digital platforms and marketing campaigns.
And they must be told verbally and visually through stories that convey diverse elements of a brand – stories about its history, founders, values, cultural inspirations and production processes.
Seeking meaning
Indian brands start with a distinct aesthetic advantage. India’s culture is steeped in traditions and heritage, yet its people are modern and innovative. This combination can unleash new forms of expression.
Articulating a brand’s story authentically and artfully is complex. If done well, it leads to deeper connections and stronger demand. Discerning customers aren’t driven to collect material possessions. Instead, they seek inspiration or meaning — that is what eternally delights them.
Wants vs Don’t-Wants
True luxury is not meant to appeal to haves versus have-nots, but to wants versus don’t-wants. After all, what people everywhere want is to dream, discover new forms of expression and escape everyday life. Luxury is built on that dreaming, beating heart.
(The writer is the former North American chairman of LVMH, author of Aesthetic Intelligence, a board director of Neiman Marcus and a marketing professor at Columbia Business School, US. All views expressed are personal.
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