A new survey puts the Apple Watch ahead the iconic Rolex wrist watch in the luxury brand segment.<\/p>\n
A study, conducted by analytics firm NetBase, using social media sentiment\u00a0 from more than 700 million posts between 2014 and 2015, found that the Apple Watch placed 13th on the list of luxury brands, with Rolex placing 14th.<\/p>\n
A Rolex Submariner is priced at R100,000 while a Yacht-Master II sells for about R250,000. The more specialized models can cost millions.<\/p>\n
The Apple Watch starts at R6,500 – going up to R270,000 for the ‘Edition’ – subject to rand volatility.<\/p>\n
NetBase Brand Passion Report: Luxury Brands 2016, defines luxury ‘as something that\u2019s logically pretty unnecessary, but brings enough pleasure to justify the expense and just screams you\u2019re worth it’.<\/p>\n
“It might be the quality of a product, the showmanship of the brand, or, usually, a little bit of both. Who\u2019s to judge? The point is, luxury products inspire an emotional response in consumers.”<\/p>\n
The study found that in the wake of the Apple Watch launch in 2015, watches overall account for 7% of mentions among the top 45 luxury brand conversations.<\/p>\n
“Digital retailers are very, very in,” the report said, accounting for around 10% of the top 45 mentions.<\/p>\n
Chanel overtook Louis Vuitton as the number one luxury brand. Gucci stepped in at number two.<\/p>\n
Though Apple as an overall brand dropped two places to fourth, iPhone is still securely in the top 15, and the Apple Watch debuted there (at numbers 11 and 13 respectively).<\/p>\n
eBay improved from the 27th spot year one to number five on the list.<\/p>\n
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