We Need to Talk About “Luxury”
What do we mean when we say the word?
Welcome back to Laughing Hyena's column on African consumer business. We've spent the last few pieces poking around the machinery behind consumer brands: where people buy things, why they come back, and what happens when founders start thinking beyond the little corner of the market they can currently see. You can catch up on these pieces here: laughinghyena.co/blog.
Today, we're going somewhere a little less usual. We're talking about luxury. Or, more accurately, we're talking about how badly we seem to use the word.
Three days ago, my cousin updated her WhatsApp status with these words:
"For a country as poor as Nigeria, the way we use the word “luxury” is just too much. And whenever this “luxury” is used, it is just like a form of classism."
I stared at it for a while. Because, well, she's onto something.
You see it everywhere. A nice apartment with basic amenities that's called luxury. A restaurant uses proper ingredients, charges a little more and suddenly we are discussing “luxury dining.” Or a brand makes something well, packages it beautifully and doesn't price it like a roadside commodity, and somehow the product has entered the luxury category.
At some point, I started wondering whether we have confused quality with luxury. And that is a problem, especially if you're building consumer brands.
Everything Can't Be Luxury
There is something funny about calling a thing “luxury” simply because most people cannot currently afford it. By that logic, almost everything becomes luxury in a country where incomes are low enough.
A decent mattress can be luxury. Good skincare can be luxury. A properly designed chair can be luxury. A nice bottle of olive oil can be luxury.
But at some point, we have to ask if we describing the product, or describing people's purchasing power. Those aren't the same thing.
Luxury, at least to me, should mean something more than expensive. It carries an idea of exclusivity, scarcity, craftsmanship, status, heritage, experience. There is a reason a Hermès bag is a luxury product. The price is part of the story, but it isn't the entire story.
If I put ₦200,000 on a bottle of water tomorrow, I haven't created a luxury water brand, but an expensive water brand. Please, let's be serious.
And this distinction matters because African consumers are often spoken about as if there are only two settings: cheap and luxury. That middle is where things get interesting.
The Missing Middle
There are millions of people who want better things without necessarily wanting to announce that they have entered the one percent.
They want a chair that looks good, skincare that works, food that tastes good and comes in packaging they aren't embarrassed to carry around. They want their homes to feel nice. They want a drink that isn't just functional but actually enjoyable.
None of this is particularly radical.
In other markets, entire consumer categories have been built around this instinct. People don't necessarily want the cheapest version of something. They also don't necessarily want the most exclusive version.
They want better.
That word is doing a lot of work. And I think this is one of the most interesting opportunities for African consumer brands.
There is a generation growing up with access to the same visual language as everyone else. We see what people are buying in Seoul, London, New York and Lagos. We know what good packaging looks like. We know what good branding looks like. We can open Instagram and see a product from Copenhagen before breakfast.
The internet has done something strange to aspiration. It has made it global. Your wallet, unfortunately, did not get the memo.
So there is this widening gap between what people have seen and what they can actually afford. That gap is a consumer market.
Gen Z Is Not Actually Asking for “Luxury”
This is where the conversation gets interesting. A lot of young consumers don't necessarily want luxury in the traditional sense. They want taste, things that feel considered, products that look like somebody cared when making it, a brand with a point of view, and quality without having to break a bank.
And yes, sometimes they want the flex. Obviously! We are still on Instagram.
But the flex doesn't always have to be about price. It simply is knowing about something before everyone else does. It can be the packaging, story, or the fact that the product feels like it was made for people like you.
That is not necessarily luxury. It's branding, and African founders should pay attention to the distinction.
Because if every attempt to make something beautiful, premium or aspirational gets placed in the “luxury” box, we create a strange incentive structure. Founders either make cheap products for the mass market or expensive products for the wealthy.
But what about the person who wants something better and can pay a little more for it? That person is not an edge case. They might be the market.
Maybe the Problem Is Our Mental Model
There is also something uncomfortable underneath all this. Sometimes calling something “luxury” is a way of telling people that it isn't really for them.
That's luxury. Meaning: People like us don't buy that.
And once that language becomes normal, it can become a form of class signalling without anyone having to say the quiet part out loud. The product becomes associated with a particular class of people. Then the price reinforces the association. Then the association reinforces the price.
And before you know it, we've convinced ourselves that good things are supposed to be inaccessible. I don't think that is particularly useful for a continent trying to build consumer companies.
African consumers should not have to choose between something poorly made and something absurdly expensive.
There should be a lot more room in between. Room for brands that say: We're going to make this properly. Not because we're trying to exclude you but because we think you deserve a good product.
That feels like a much more interesting consumer proposition.
There Is a Difference Between Premium and Pretentious
This doesn't mean African brands should be allergic to premium pricing. Quite the opposite.
If you make a better product, build a stronger brand and create a better experience, you should be able to charge more for it. Consumer markets need that kind of value creation.
But premium doesn't have to mean pretentious. You don't need gold lettering and a French-sounding name to convince someone that your product is good.
The most compelling premium product is simply the one where the founder cared about the details everyone else ignored. One where the ingredients are better, packaging doesn't look like an afterthought, the product actually works, the experience feels intentional, and the price makes sense when you put everything together.
That, to me, is far more interesting than slapping “luxury” on the front and hoping nobody asks questions.
Perhaps We Should Retire the Word for a While
No! I don't think we need less ambition from African consumer brands. I think we need more of it. More founders trying to make everyday products genuinely good, and brands competing on taste, design, quality, convenience and experience.
And maybe we should be a little more careful with the word luxury. Because sometimes something isn't luxury. It's just good.
And perhaps, in a country where too many people have become accustomed to things being unnecessarily difficult, inconvenient or poorly made, good should not be such a remarkable thing that we need a special word for it.
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