Search results

Building on the Brands as Intentional Agents Framework (BIAF), the aim of this study is to demonstrate the effectiveness of social media marketing (SMM) as a tool to communicate luxury fashion brands' good intentions toward the general public.

A sample of 488 US female consumers was used to test a conceptual model delineating the sequential linkages from luxury fashion brands' intentions to brand emotions (i.e. envy vs admiration) and to consumer–brand relationships (i.e. emotional brand attachment and brand forgiveness). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to test the measurement and structural models.

The results indicated that luxury fashion brands' “populist” intentions had a positive impact on consumer admiration. Both consumer envy and admiration had positive effects on emotional brand attachment and brand forgiveness. However, admiration had a stronger effect than envy on these relational consumer responses.

This study identified that luxury fashion brands, frequently stereotyped as exclusive, can become brands admired by mass-market consumers by expressing warmth on social media. Drawing on social psychological perspectives and the BIAF, this study adds to the literature on luxury brands' social media communication by demonstrating the effectiveness of brand warmth to induce consumers' strong relational outcomes.

This empirical study, from the international retailing perspective, examines the direction of retailers' further expansion after initial entry into overseas host market in the context of the luxury fashion retail market in China.

The research adopts qualitative multiple case studies.

After initial entry into China, luxury fashion retailers further expand their retail operations through three directional patterns: cautious, regional and countrywide expansions. The stepwise expansion from tier-1 to tier-2 and tier-3 cities remains popular; however, the importance of the tier system of Chinese cities has been weakened because tier-3 cities in affluent regions are perceived to have more potential than some tier-2 cities in less developed regions. The retailers assess a potential local market through interrelated criteria, including location and strategic importance, economic development, available store locations and staff, a high degree of urbanisation and tourism, debatable favourable policies and offers, and popularity of e- and m-commerce. There is a positive relationship between popularity of e- and m-commerce in a city and the potential of that city to run brick-and-mortar stores.

The paper offers an insight into the current international retailing literature by examining the direction of luxury fashion retailers' further expansion after their initial market entry. Particularly, the research considers a set of criteria which can be used to assess a potential local market, and the impact of e- and m-commerce on local market choices for brick-and-mortar stores.

From an international retailing perspective, this empirical study aims to examine luxury fashion retailers' changing marketing strategies in China.

Using case studies of 14 luxury fashion retailers, qualitative data were collected via 31 semi-structured executive interviews.

Both standardised global and localised multinational marketing strategies were found to have initially been employed by luxury fashion retailers entering into China. Subsequently, localised multinational strategies became increasingly important for their post-entry operations and business development, particularly in terms of their product strategies. More specifically, as well as the introduction of Chinese brand names, product design has been adapted according to Chinese market conditions, and product portfolios have been adapted to satisfy regional differences. However, localised product sourcing in China is far less common.

As the findings are generated from China, they may not explain luxury fashion retailers' marketing strategies in other markets. Despite the relatively small sample size, the 14 luxury fashion retailer case studies originate from across a wide range of countries, retail formats and ownership structures and are therefore considered to be varied enough to represent the market.

The study offers practitioners insights into the success that can be generated by the manipulation of marketing strategies, particularly product strategies, within the world's second biggest luxury market.

This paper extends the current international retailing literature by examining and comparing the motives and practices of luxury fashion retailers and the increasing localisation of their marketing strategies in China as they move from initial market entry into their post-entry operations.

It is generally agreed that marketing campaigns developed for western markets may not be appropriate for consumers living in eastern cultures, particularly with respect to strategies for promoting luxury brands. While consultancy reports and media commentaries show that rising levels of disposable income are driving increasing demand for luxury goods in China and Taiwan, for example, the academic literature offers very few consumer research findings clearly elucidating the different luxury purchasing behaviour of eastern and western consumers. The purpose of this paper is to compare the consumption of luxury products and luxury fashion purchasing habits in Taiwan and the UK, with particular reference to the fashion sector, focusing on a strategically important emerging market segment: young consumers of luxury brands.

To achieve the study’s objectives, questionnaires were administered online in each of the two countries to females aged 18-26 years, who had made more than two luxury purchases in the year preceding the survey. Employing a two-wave survey, respondents were selected via social media and personal contacts in the UK and by means of snowball sampling in Taiwan.

The study found one major point of difference among many similarities: the Taiwanese buyers scored significantly higher on indicators that they were treating luxury brands as a means of developing their self-identity and communicating their social standing: an important part of maintaining “face” in Asian cultures. These findings contain important strategic implications for luxury fashion brand managers developing marketing campaigns for the promotion of their brands in the distinctive cultures of Taiwan, Mainland China and their neighbours.

The study reported in this paper compares the consumption of luxury products in Taiwan and the UK, with particular reference to the fashion sector. The study contributes to existing knowledge by evaluating differences and similarities in: first, the luxury fashion purchasing behaviour of young women in Taiwan and the UK; and second, the ways in which the two sets of consumers use luxury fashion products as an extension of their selves.

The purpose of this paper is to examine internationalising luxury fashion retailers’ entry and post-entry expansion strategies in mainland China.

The study adopts a pragmatic mixed-methods research approach, including a quantitative mail survey and qualitative face-to-face in-depth executive interviews.

Different from initial single entry methods, multiple methods are increasingly popular for luxury fashion retailers’ post-entry expansion in mainland China. Although directly controlled expansion strategies have become significant, local partnerships are still important and omnichannel distribution strategies are rapidly growing.

The findings were generated in mainland China only.

This work provides an understanding of luxury fashion retailers’ activities in the Chinese market from both macro and micro perspectives. It examines luxury fashion retailers’ initial entry strategies, as well as their post-entry expansion strategies in mainland China. Few studies in the area of international luxury fashion retailing have employed a mixed-methods approach with this number of participants.

This paper offers insights into the consumption motives and purchasing behaviour of that market segment in Taiwan against the background of increasing consumption of luxury fashion brands by young female consumers in Asian countries.

Analysis of data collected using face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 23 fashion-conscious females aged 18-32 years was completed and new empirical insights are offered.

The study found a high level of involvement in the world of luxury fashion retailing. Asian consumers devoured media commentary, drew inspiration from female celebrities and treated information-seeking and discussion of luxury fashion brands with friends as a serious and enjoyable pursuit. The social status conferred by expensive fashion wear motivated them to spend on luxury brands even if their discretionary income was limited. Potential guilt in so doing was assuaged by rationalising that the quality was good and the purchase would be long lasting. Marketers targeting this valuable segment should communicate appeals to an aspirational lifestyle in traditional and social media, effective at reaching young women.

The study reported in this paper contributes to the limited published research into the luxury-marketing sector in Asia by examining the buying behaviour of female Strawberry Generation consumers in Taiwan. It is the first to research and investigate the meanings attached to luxury by these individuals in the collectivist culture of Taiwan, as well as their motivations, and the factors influencing their purchase of luxury fashions. The study thus contributes with new knowledge to the buying of luxury fashion products by young female Taiwanese consumers, which may be extended to other collectivist cultures in Asia.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the decision-making process used by luxury fashion retail buyers in Greece in order to assess the applicability of Sheth's (1981) model to the selection of brands and collections by retail buyers in luxury fashion resellers.

The study takes an interpretive approach, utilising participant observation and semi-structured interviews with retail buyers in five luxury fashion reseller companies in Greece, which boasts the world's highest proportion of luxury fashion consumers. Qualitative data were analysed thematically according to the theoretical constructs in Sheth's (1981) model of merchandise buyer behaviour.

Brand reputation, quality, appropriateness for the market and exclusive distribution were the most important criteria for supplier selection. For evaluating merchandise, the most important criteria were design, style, fashionability and quality. The most relevant influencer of decision making in supplier selection was the competitive structure in terms of the power balance between retailer and brand. For merchandise selection, the most relevant influencing factors were retailer size, management mentality, product positioning and type of decision (re-buy or new task).

Due to the exploratory nature of the study and its focus on the context of a particular geographical marketplace, the findings may not be generalised to other countries.

This paper provides an insight into the decision-making practice of retail buyers in Greek luxury fashion retailers, where the buying task involves balancing the retailer's commercial interests with a more cultural role in terms of shaping fashion trends and generating PR and publicity for the retailer. The task is further complicated by the power imbalance between retailer and brand, enabling brands to impose limitations on the buyer's decision. Additionally, the combined influence of shortening product life cycles, increasing product variety and the emergence of a new and younger luxury fashion consumer requires a shift from intuitive to scientific, data-driven decision making.

This study, which is based on the extended hierarchy of effects (HOE) model, aims to examine whether social media interactions with one or more luxury brands can affect consumers' knowledge of, affection for and purchases of as well as loyalty to luxury fashion brands as a category.

SoJump (a leading data collection company in China) launched an online survey to collect data from Chinese luxury fashion brand consumers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to analyze data from the random sample of 308 Chinese luxury fashion brand consumers.

The findings of this study demonstrated that social media interaction had direct positive influences on three stages of the luxury fashion brand decision-making process – knowledge, affection and loyalty – but not purchases. The results also empirically confirmed that consumers' response to social media interaction follows the cognition-affect-conation sequential process presented in the HOE model.

This study not only provides a new perspective for researchers to investigate the impacts of interactive social media marketing on purchase decision-making in the luxury fashion brand category but also underpins the importance of building interactive alliances for luxury brands to increase consumers' knowledge of, affection for, purchases in and loyalty to the luxury fashion brand category.

This study is among the first to investigate whether social media interactions with luxury fashion brands as a category influence consumers' knowledge of, affection for and loyalty to that category. In addition, this study is the first attempt to explore whether social media interactions can directly influence consumers' luxury fashion brand purchases.

By celebrating tourism destinations through cruise collections, luxury brands open to new influences. They may develop deeper connections with certain geographical areas, but may also challenge the quintessentially national dimension of luxury brand culture. The best example of synergies between a luxury fashion brand and tourism destinations are the Christian Dior cruise collections with Maria Grazia Chiuri at the helm. This chapter is to understand how cruise collections may enhance luxury fashion houses' brand culture through the connections they develop with tourism destinations. Further, the chapter assesses the extent to which destinations can benefit from the exposure provided by luxury fashion brands' cruise collections.

There is extensive research where consumer emotions of brand love and brand hate are investigated. However, the studies where a transition in consumer-brand emotions is explored are scant. This paper aims to investigate the mediating effect of brand jealousy in the relationship between brand love and brand hate among luxury fashion brand consumers. Also how value expressiveness moderates the relationship between brand hate and negative word of mouth (NWOM) is examined.

The study is based on a cross-sectional survey conducted among 273 luxury fashion consumers from Pakistan. The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique is employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

All the proposed hypotheses are supported. Brand jealousy mediates the relationship between brand love and brand hate. Furthermore, value expressiveness buffers the relationship between brand hate and NWOM.

The luxury fashion marketers should focus on strengthening the symbolic identity of a luxury fashion brand via advocating its visual elements. Moreover, there is a need to advertise luxury fashion brands as exclusive to individual customers. Finally, some rewards can be offered to consumers to generate positive word of mouth (WOM) about luxury fashion brands.

The study of an emotional transition among luxury brand customers via a mediating role of brand jealousy is a unique theoretical contribution. Moreover, the moderating role of the value-expressiveness function examining the hate-to-NWOM path is also unique to this study.