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Some luxury goods sell better when their price goes up, because the price itself is the point
Most goods follow the law of demand: as prices rise, people buy less. Veblen goods break that rule, because their demand rises with price. Economist Thorstein Veblen described the pattern, which is why these goods act as status symbols through conspicuous consumption and leisure. A product can be a Veblen good because it is positional, meaning few others can own it, so the high price is what makes it valuable.
Normally a higher price reduces demand. With a Veblen good, the buyer is paying partly for the signal of wealth, and a lower price would reduce that signal, so demand can rise with price.
The idea explains why some luxury brands raise prices instead of cutting them to boost sales, since a lower price could make the product less desirable. It shows that buyers sometimes pay for exclusivity rather than the product's function.
Status goods that become more desirable as they get more expensive have a long history, from Veblen's observations of the wealthy in the 1890s to modern luxury markets.
The economist Thorstein Veblen also coined the phrase conspicuous consumption, which describes buying goods to display wealth.
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