Luxury brands would like shoppers to think they are purveyors of uniquely crafted masterpieces. They are not. While employing a number of powerful strategies to maintain the perception of exclusivity, major luxury companies sell millions of units each year.
In a volume business, production costs matter: one euro more or less can have a material impact on profit. So much so that luxury brands have gone to great lengths to minimise production costs, leveraging layers of subcontractors, while…