Abstract This article discusses the role of brand and product line extension strategies in balancing exclusivity and accessibility in the fashion luxury industry. Many luxury brands have long considered mass consumers as an important driver for their business growth, and their importance has kept increasing in the past two decades partly due to the emergence of e-commerce. However, many argue that going too mass could be a dangerous move because it may damage their luxury brand image in the long run. To manage the balance, it is essential that luxury brands maintain their perceptions of exclusivity and uniqueness by carefully designed marketing strategies. In this article, we discuss two common price-segmentation approaches that allow luxury brands to control the balance: brand and product line extensions. We first review conceptual theories on these extension strategies. We then examine the current industry practices using data on product prices and category membership from ten fashion luxury brands in 2015. Our data analysis reveals patterns that are mostly consistent with theoretical predictions. In particular, most of the luxury brands in our sample use distinct product and pricing strategies for their original product category and extension categories so as to control the balance between exclusivity and accessibility. We provide further discussions and managerial implications for the balancing role of brand and product line extension strategies.

中文翻译：

---

平衡排他性和可访问性：时尚奢侈品行业的品牌和产品线延伸策略模式

摘要 本文讨论了品牌和产品线延伸策略在平衡时尚奢侈品行业的排他性和可及性方面的作用。许多奢侈品牌长期以来一直将大众消费者视为其业务增长的重要推动力，并且在过去二十年中，由于电子商务的出现，大众消费者的重要性不断增加。然而，许多人认为，过于大众化可能是一个危险的举动，因为从长远来看，这可能会损害他们的奢侈品牌形象。为了保持平衡，奢侈品牌必须通过精心设计的营销策略来保持其对排他性和独特性的看法。在本文中，我们将讨论两种常见的价格细分方法，它们可以让奢侈品牌控制平衡：品牌和产品线延伸。我们首先回顾这些扩展策略的概念理论。然后，我们使用 2015 年十个时尚奢侈品牌的产品价格和类别成员资格数据来检查当前的行业实践。我们的数据分析揭示了与理论预测基本一致的模式。特别是，我们样本中的大多数奢侈品牌对其原始产品类别和扩展类别使用不同的产品和定价策略，以控制排他性和可访问性之间的平衡。我们为品牌和产品线延伸战略的平衡作用提供了进一步的讨论和管理意义。我们的数据分析揭示了与理论预测基本一致的模式。特别是，我们样本中的大多数奢侈品牌对其原始产品类别和扩展类别使用不同的产品和定价策略，以控制排他性和可访问性之间的平衡。我们为品牌和产品线延伸战略的平衡作用提供了进一步的讨论和管理意义。我们的数据分析揭示了与理论预测基本一致的模式。特别是，我们样本中的大多数奢侈品牌对其原始产品类别和扩展类别使用不同的产品和定价策略，以控制排他性和可访问性之间的平衡。我们为品牌和产品线延伸战略的平衡作用提供了进一步的讨论和管理意义。