Competitive advantage from marketing the SDGs: a luxury perspective

Abstract

PurposeShall luxury firms promote their sustainable development goals (SDGs)? What are the risks and the competitive advantages? Some answers from sustainability-oriented luxury buyers are provided.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative and qualitative analysis from an online survey of 315 luxury buyers in 28 countries.FindingsSustainability-oriented luxury buyers want branding strategies aligned with the SDGs and rank SDGs in order of importance for the luxury industry. However, they are unable to rank consistently most brands based on their sustainability efforts. The Stella McCartney brand is a clear exception to the general findings: sustainability-oriented luxury buyers rank Stella the most sustainable luxury brand by a vast margin, show willingness to purchase more from this brand, recommend it and are ready to pay a premium.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper uses partial ranking of 20 luxury brands because in pretests, luxury buyers found it difficult to provide a complete ranking of the sustainability efforts of all the brands. Further research in more cultural or geographical contexts is needed.Originality/valueThe research empirically provides an example of a successful marketing strategy leveraging the SDGs to meet sustainability-oriented luxury buyers with targeted actions and messaging to gain competitive advantage.