From Seth Godin’s “Luxury vs. premium” (Seth Godin’s Blog: 17 May 2009):
Luxury goods are needlessly expensive. By needlessly, I mean that the price is not related to performance. The price is related to scarcity, brand and storytelling. Luxury goods are organized waste. …
That doesn’t mean they are senseless expenditures. Sending a signal is valuable if that signal is important to you.
Premium goods, on the other hand, are expensive variants of commodity goods. Pay more, get more. … They’re happy to pay more because they believe they get more.
…
Plenty of brands are in trouble right now because they’re not sure which one they represent.