Enclose Luxury Products in Glass

Luxury products are more appealing when they are less accessible, such as when customers are standing further away (Chu, Chang, & Lee, 2021).

Enclosures should be effective, too. Obviously not every product in a luxury store can be enshrined in glass, but this approach can boost the appeal of prestigious items.

• Prevent Unwanted Touches. Products seem inferior when other people have touched them (Argo Dahl, & Morales, 2006).
• Glass Communicates High Quality. Food products seem more appealing in glass, rather than plastic (Balzarotti, Maviglia, Biassoni, & Ciceri, 2015). I suspect a similar effect would occur for luxury.
• Prevent Contagion From Self-Touch. Touching can infuse traits. In one study, food seemed more disgusting when it was touching a jar of mayonnaise because the “disgust” transferred (Morales & Fitzsimons, 2007). Perhaps touching luxury products will infuse your low status into these products, making them less desirable.

• Argo, J. J., Dahl, D. W., & Morales, A. C. (2006). Consumer contamination: How consumers react to products touched by others. Journal of Marketing, 70(2), 81-94.
• Balzarotti, S., Maviglia, B., Biassoni, F., & Ciceri, M. R. (2015). Glass vs. plastic: Affective judgments of food packages after visual and haptic exploration. Procedia Manufacturing, 3, 2251-2258.
• Chu, X. Y., Chang, C. T., & Lee, A. Y. (2021). Values created from far and near: Influence of spatial distance on brand evaluation. Journal of Marketing, 85(6), 162-175.
• Morales, A. C., & Fitzsimons, G. J. (2007). Product contagion: Changing consumer evaluations through physical contact with “disgusting” products. Journal of Marketing Research, 44(2), 272-283.