Experiences as the basis for value creation and competitive positioning are increasingly placed at the center of luxury marketing activities to create an emotional customer-brand relationship. Especially in the luxury travel and tourism market, the demand for brand experiences becomes apparent and is reflected in a wide range of services ranging from transport and accommodation to entertainment and relaxation. The cruise ship industry as the fastest growing sector in luxury tourism provides a holistic experiential package designed to meet the travelers’ expectations for pleasure and satisfaction. The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate antecedents of consumer luxury value perception and related consumption behavior with practical implications for the successful management of luxury brands. With special focus on brand experiences in luxury tourism and the cruise industry, the results of our empirical study reveal that luxury consumers have an increasing demand for personal and authentic experiences combined with a rising concern regarding ethical and environmental values. As a consequence, addressing brand experience and sustainability orientation as key elements of customer value perception is a promising way to create successful differentiation strategies in the luxury travel and tourism industry.

Despite the growing need for marketers in luxury retail to provide memorable customer experiences via their retail outlets, research investigating the effectiveness of experiential stores on brand and behavioral outcomes is scarce. To address this gap, we investigate the effectiveness of pop up brand stores, which we define as temporary stores that are open for a limited period of time, representing an increasingly popular experiential store format in the luxury fashion and automotive industry. However, pop up brand stores not only reflect one of the latest developments in experiential retailing, but they are also seen as an effective marketing tool to reach new target groups which might perceive traditional luxury as antiquated or obsolete. Collecting data from 345 visitors of two pop up brand stores of a luxury car brand in the US and the UK, we find that three store characteristics – hedonic shopping value, store uniqueness, and store atmosphere – either directly or through brand experience exert a positive effect on word of mouth (WOM) intentions towards the brand. Whereas hedonic shopping value and store atmosphere strengthen the customer’s experience with the luxury brand, store uniqueness, surprisingly, does not. Using brand familiarity as a moderating variable, we further unveil that pop up brand stores create positive WOM in both existing and new target groups. Our empirical results offer novel insights for researchers and marketers, as we quantify the effects of experiential store characteristics on brand experience and WOM, shed light on the role of brand experience in inducing behavioral intentions, as well as illustrate that pop up brand stores are an exceptional opportunity for luxury brands to reach existing and new target groups alike. We argue that pop up brand stores should thoughtfully be considered as a complement to traditional luxury retail and as an alternative to flagship stores.

In the international literature, there is an increasing attention on the analysis of the fashion city (Breward & Gilbert, 2006) and its implication on city branding and competitiveness (Jensen, 2005; Power & Hauge, 2008; Pasquinelli, 2010) and local identity (Bovone, 2006). Some examples are the study of Weller (2013) who examines the success of New Zealand’s designer fashion industry in the first years of the twenty-first century. Hauge, Malmberg & Power (2009) analyse the Swedish fashion cluster underlining that it is benefit from localisation economies, but it also follow rules of globalised industries. Rantisi (2004) examines how New York City was able to reinvent itself as a fashion capital. By tracing the origins of women's ready-to-wear in New York in the late nineteenth century and its consolidation in the Garment District by the early twentieth century. Jansson & Power (2010) approaches the ways in which fashion and design-based industrial actors contribute to creating images and myths that support global-city status. The Italian city of Milan is used as a case study to show how the city is an arena where different brand channels are negotiated and formed to service fashion and design branding. Fashion capitals usually have a broad mix of business, financial, entertainment, cultural and leisure activities and are internationally recognised for having a unique and strong identity (Gemperli, 2010) In this chart of fashion capital city, Italy ranked in a good position with Milan as capital fashion city. Milan emerged as a fashion capital city in 1970s, while Florence and Rome stayed in the following positions (Merlo & Polese, 2006). Florence is usually ranked in the third position in Italy thanks to the luxury pole around the metropolitan area with global brand as Gucci, Ferragamo and Prada. The Global Fashion Monitor (2012) scored Florence at the thirteen position at global level in the ‘World's Leading Cities for Fashion’, with a gain of three position from previous chart and indicating as motivation “Florence: Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli — A proud heritage to a thriving fashion industry”. This situation anyways is not guaranteed in the future. In fact some authors also underlined that this chart of global city will not be maintained in the future as city from developing countries are increasingly enter in the competition (McKinsey, 2013; Gilbert, 2006). In particular, McKinsey (2013) ranks Paris, London, Milan and Seoul in the mature growing fashion industry in the Luxury segment, while Moscow, Singapore, San Peterbrurg, Beijing, Shangai, San Paolo etc as emerging city in the global fashion industry. FASHION AND CITY BRANDING Crewe & Beaverstock (1998) underlined the contemporary fashion industry and the role it plays in identity formation has created a situation where fashion can be taken seriously as a cultural industry supplying symbolic content in sold goods. In this context fashion is identified as a powerful stylistic marker, not a simply part of a trivial consumer culture. Jansson & Power (2010) underlined that the value of global fashion city-based brands lies partly in their ability to persuade consumers of products’excellence, quality, and innovation. Also, the brand infuses products (and firms) with the ‘feel’ of the city: cool clothes come from cool cities. Labels of origin such as ‘Made in Italy’ or Rive Gauche are used as strategic tools in the fashion industry (Hauge et al., 2009). Positive connections between product images and place may create a kind of monopoly rent and therein can create barriers to entry for products from competing places; and give firms an incentive for being in the ‘right’ place. Jansson & Power (2010) underline also that clustering in few fashion city produce also some other benefits as agglomerations of firms and consumers play a central role in the gathering, creation, and transfer of industry-relevant knowledge and cluster of creative industries (Lazzeretti & Capone, 2015). There is in fact an increasing effort in the research on the city branding with the help of local industry and local cultural production (Jensen, 2005). Breward & Gilber (2006) have underlined that city branding is more a focus from city authorities in order to appear in the global hierarchy of fashion capital. Niedamysl (2004) besides points out that city branding has the main aim of attracting visitors, investors or inhabitants. Power & Hauge (2008) discuss the role of the branding for territories, places and cities, underlining that has been a topic deeply undervalued for territorial competitiveness and they analyse the fashion industry as an example. City branding is a recent strand of research with a growing trend (Merrilees, Miller & Herington, 2009) and it results a complex research theme, due to its multidisciplinary approach (Pike, 2011). Born at the beginning for the analysis of the image of the city, it deals increasingly with analysis of marketing strategies and policy for urban context (Merrilees, Miller & Herington, 2012). At the moment, it is a theme that rise interest from different subjects as marketing, management, but also urban studies, economic geography and urban and regional development. If an analysis on ISI Web of Science is developed on ‘city branding’, over 100 articles are collected on these themes with article from the following Journal as Cities, International Journal of Tourism Science, Journal of Business Research, Urban Studies, Applied Geography, Current Issues in Tourism, European Journal of Marketing, etc. These Journals confirm the multidisciplinary approach and the interest on city branding from several stakeholders: policy-makers, urban planners, marketing strategist, urban developer, etc. Within the theme, several studies have focused on how city branding is particularly attached to some local industries and activities, that denote the area and the city. In this context, one of the most interesting aspect is interactions between branding and fashion (Jansson & Power, 2010; Hauge et al .. 2009; Martinez, 2007). The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of fashion and fashion design for the city of Florence, in the formation of a new image of the city, also in a perspective of new branding strategies for the future. The analysis is based on a multi-level approach. First, an initial analysis is developed on publications on ‘city branding’ on ISI Web of Science to identify the relevance of the theme and the most used methodologies in these studies. The second part of the work is instead based on analysis of reviews of online communities (TripAdvisor, Twitter, etc.) of the attractions of the city and a questionnaire is administrated to visitors of the main fashion outlets in Florence (The Mall, Barberino Desegner Outlet, etc.), in order to emphasize the perception of visitors and consumers of fashion in the city and how it contributes to the fashion city branding of the city of Florence. From the point of view of marketing, several authors have tried to analyse the brand association in fashion (Ranfagni, Guercini & Crawford, 2014), but mainly from the point of view of products. In this work, we try to contribute to this debate through the analysis of online communities and city branding of Florence. Merrilees et al. (2009) investigate what are the city attributes influencing city brand attitudes with a quantitative survey of a sample of 878 residents of the Gold Coast City. Hankinson's (2001) study of twelve English cities shows the diversity of approaches in how city organizations market and brand themselves. Vanolo (2008) analysed the city of Turin and its transition from post-industrial to a cultural and creative city. This work develop a single stake-holder perspective as most studies avoid to considers multiple stakeholders perception on city branding (Merrilees et al., 2012). Results confirm the importance of the fashion industry in the perceived image of Florence from the visitors and for the future city branding policies are even more strategic to continue to exploit the competitive advantage that Florence has in the fashion industry globally.

Introduction In 2011, consumers spent $ 6.6 billion on certified fair-trade products, for a 12% increase worldwide (Thompson, 2012). Fair-trade is a social movement aiming to set fair prices for products, alleviate poverty, and assist producers and workers marginalized by the traditional economic model. Online stores have emerged as an effective marketing channel for fair trade products due to their ability to inform and reach a broad range of customers for very low cost. And this trend piques our interest in examining fair trade online stores. How do online fair trade retail stores rate in terms of usability? This is important because usability constitutes a key factor of online store quality. Usability refers to the perceived ease of navigating and/or making purchases through the retail website (Flavian et al., 2006). Previous studies find evidence that the richness of information related to products, culture, and artisans are criteria for success in fair-trade business (Lee & Littrell, 2005). Incorrect and/or low quality information undermine consumer interest in ethical products and subsequently, reduce credibility of fair trade retailers and their products (Carrigan & Attalla, 2001; Maignan & Ferrell, 2004). Usability is a way to ensure information is presented in a manner that will engender the trust of consumers. Trust is defined as the willingness of a consumer to be vulnerable to the actions of a retailer based on the expectation that the retailer will perform a particular action (cf. Mayer et al., 1995). Trust is known to be an antecedent in building relationships (Rotter, 1971). Fair trade retailers operating online stores must consider two types of trust. One type is customers’ trust toward fair trade retailers. To create such trust, fair trade retailers must convey that the marginal price differences between fair trade products and commercial products will be used to help producers (Castaldo et al, 2009), and must be transparent in communicating the operational processes underlying fair trade retailing. The other type of trust is related to the website and reflects skepticism about completing transactions online (Gefen & Straub, 2003). Compared to a brick-and-mortar store, online customer’s trust is critical since a customer’s perceived risk in purchasing goods online can be reduced by trust (Ha & Stoel, 2008; Pavlou, 2003). Lack of social presence for an online store impedes development of a customer’s trust toward the retailer (Gefen & Straub, 2003). Building upon the existing literature, we posit that a low level of usability, due to its role in developing online interactivity and engagement, will lead to lack of trust building, which is critical in promoting the sale of fair trade products. The purposes of this study are (1) to propose how usability, interactivity, and engagement can improve trust building, and (2) to provide empirical evidence of the lack of usability, interactivity, and engagement in current fair trade online stores. Website usability allowing consumer interactivity and engagement is an essential website attribute for formulating trust. Thus, the goal of this study is to provide suggestions for competitive e-retailing strategies for fair trade retailers based on results of a benchmarking study comparing websites of commercial and fair trade retailers. Literature Review Website Usability. Usability is created through the use of advanced website attributes that allow greater involvement of customers. Website usability not only influences consumer attitudes but also trust toward the website or company (Childers et al, 2001; Roy et al., 2001). Recently, scholars have suggested usability is related to engagement (Quesenbery, 2003). For instance, insufficient usability may be a factor in failing to engage consumers with the website; conversely, engagement can be sustained when attributes of usability meet user needs (O’Brien & Toms, 2008). Website usability may have a direct impact on enhancing interactivity. Interactivity. Interactivity refers to the extent to which users can participate in communication, user control, and entertainment (cf. McMillan & Hwang, 2002). Based on this notion, two types of interactivity within the e-commerce context are examined: (1) website interactivity concerns the website design and attributes enabling consumer interaction with the site to make decisions and personalize content (Merrilees & Fry, 2003), and (2) social interactivity promotes ‘consumer-to-consumer’ and ‘consumer-to-company’ communicative interactions within virtual social space provided by the retailer (Chan & Li, 2010; Nambisan & Watt, 2011). The outcomes of interactivity are two-fold. First, interactivity promotes customer engagement with brands (Ha & James, 1998). Consumers’ interaction with other consumers and the company (via social interactivity) and navigating and personalizing the website (via website-interactivity) create psychological engagement with the company. Second, interactivity entices consumers to acquire greater amounts of information from the website, which subsequently has a positive impact on trust towards the online retailer (Ballantine, 2005; Chen et al, 2005). Consistent with this view, Merrillees and Fry (2003) claim that the level of perceived interactivity is a predominant determinant in constructing trust in the online domain. Engagement. Consumer engagement behavior refers to the creation of an enduring and meaningful relationship between the company and the consumer (Doorn et al. 2010). Consumer engagement involves a highly interactive and experiential process. Highly engaged consumers integrate product knowledge and exchange information with other consumers (Borle et al. 2007). Engagement behaviors facilitate consumer trust towards products and the company (e.g. Pigg & Crank, 2004). Social engagement, the spontaneous information exchange among users, can justify one’s purchase decision. The consumer-generated content becomes a more trustworthy source of knowledge than the information promoted by the retailer (Chan et al., 2010). The relationship between interactivity and engagement is reciprocal. Consumers highly involved in engaging with others are likely to utilize more website attributes promoting interactivity. Method The data for this study were collected from 28 commercial apparel retailers and 22 fair trade apparel retailers based in the US. The 22 fair trade retailers consisted of 13 for-profits and 9 non-profits. The sample was selected based on previous studies (i.e., Lee, Geistfeld, & Stoel 2007; Halepete & Park, 2006; Park & Stoel, 2002), trade publications, and a Google search. A binary measurement instrument was employed to categorize website content as either ‘available’ or ‘not available’ on both the commercial and fair trade store websites. In order to minimize any bias occurring from subjective evaluation of website content, two graduate students separately coded the data, and compared coding sheets. Differences were discussed until agreement was reached. Frequency counts were used to describe the availability of website and social interactivity related content. Chi-square analysis was used to identify statistically significant differences between commercial and fair trade online retailers. Results To assess website interactivity, we examined six attributes that facilitated convenience for consumers in locating information or customizing website content. They included (1) search engine navigation, (2) picture enlargement, (3) matching item suggestion, (4) log-in to own personal account, (5) styling suggestions by other consumers, and (6) picture rotation function. Analysis (chi-square) confirmed significant differences in availabilities of search engine navigation, picture enlargement, matching item suggestion, and log-in to own personal account. Interestingly, only two commercial retailers and one fair trade company were equipped with a product or styling suggestion technology. The use of 360-degree view of products was not used by any of the sample companies [commercial retailers (n=0); fair trade retailers (n= 0)]. To assess social interactivity, we analyzed attributes that facilitate relationships. The attributes are categorized into the following dimensions: 1) social media utilization, 2) social commerce, and 3) customer engagement. We examined the following five attributes constituting social interactivity: 1) existence of social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, 2) consumer Facebook sharing, 3) link to other retailers’ websites, 4) online chatting, and 5) consumer review section. Analysis showed the differences between commercial and fair trade retailers were all statistically significant. Conclusion & Implications This study examined the differences between commercial and fair trade retailers to evaluate the current status of fair trade retailers in terms of interactivity and engagement in managing their websites. We identified attributes where fair trade retailers lagged and these could hinder trust development with consumers. We address three implications applicable to fair trade retailers, and more broadly, retailers selling ethical products. First, website interactivity attributes that provide effective ways to communicate product, store and fair trade information are critical when the concept of fair trade is still unknown to a large segment of consumers. The focus of fair trade retailers should remain not only in delivering creative and high quality products, but also well-managed websites that can attract, educate, and engage consumers via interesting cultural products (Lee & Littrell, 2006). In doing so, advanced website interactivity attributes that enhance the convenience of online shopping, increase ease of navigation, and ensure competent delivery of information should be incorporated in fair trade company websites. Second, the lack of use of social media by fair trade retailers is concerning. Word-of-mouth (WOM) communication is innate to social media, and encourages spontaneous communications among consumers. Utilizing various social media platforms is an efficient way to generate consumers’ voluntary exposure to fair trade products at a minimal cost. Encouraging customers to share WOM would be a natural path to increase engagement, and spread the concept of fair trade. Moreover, when a consumer spreads fair trade product information on his or her social media networks, the people who will be viewing the information have already established a relationship with him or her, and such messages are perceived to be more credible than information shared by the company or unknown strangers (Chu & Kim, 2011). In addition, virtual space inviting consumer feedback on the company website or social media sites can stimulate interactions with unknown consumers. The third person point of view by unknown consumers compared to fair trade retailers may be perceived to be unbiased, and consequently accepted as more trustworthy. Third, the concept of social commerce, referring to the practice of featuring links of other company websites on one’s own website, is critical to enhance the overall visibility and traffic to fair trade e-commerce sites. The unique feature distinct to fair trade retailers is their shared use of ‘certified fair trade’ labeling. While commercial apparel retailers promote their brand to generate corporate profits, the vision of fair trade retailers is to promote their products to bring social welfare. Thus, the union of fair trade retailers and collective initiatives can create synergy. Integrating the concept of social commerce with collective initiatives is one practical way to achieve this objective. Considering this common denominator across fair trade retailers, the use of fair trade labeling and links to other fair trade retailers on the website will support greater exposure to potential consumers and engagement with diverse fair trade retailers. Two major challenges fair trade retailers face are that: (1) their small size fails to generate economies of scale, and (2) due to the absence of national chains or organizations managing fair trade stores, brick-and-mortar fair trade stores are not evenly distributed geographically. Therefore, an interactive and engaging online presence for fair trade retailers is critical in resolving these limitations. It is a way to reach a large segment of consumers who do not reside around brick-and-mortar fair trade stores. We hope that interactivity and engagement will increase consumer exposure to fair trade retailers and ultimately increase fair trade sales.

Compelling evidence suggests that the Earth’s resources deplete fast and the fashion industry from mainstream to luxury is also partly responsible to this environmental deterioration. The model of fashion production based on global supply chains for cheaper production locations and consumption where speed and endless diversification cater for global demand can hardly be described as sustainable and luxury is no exception to this. The thorny issue in the current state is how to reconcile sustainability which by definition opposes wasteful production and consumption with competitiveness which is built on aggressive models of global brand domination. The authors argue that the craft practices of the tailoring institutions of Savile Row in London constitute an important sustainable luxury example. The tailors have managed remarkably to combine sustainability and competitiveness in a relational model of competition and cooperation.

The authors of this research show that gender plays a role in whether public star ratings of branded content films (e.g., ratings on Rotten Tomatoes) and increased awareness of surroundings differentially affect movie viewers’ willingness to spread word-of-mouth about films. For men, no matter whether they have high or low awareness of surroundings, a higher versus lower star rating uniformly enhances the likelihood they will recommend the film to others. In contrast, for women, momentarily heightened awareness of their surroundings enhances (diminishes) the likelihood of recommending the higher (lower) star-rated film. If women have low awareness of their surroundings, however, the differences do not emerge.

Traditional luxury shops seem to have a natural talent in creating an atmosphere of old luxury. From a semiotic perspective, those shops use a complex texture of different signs for both creating a traditional luxury myth and addressing specific customers who are looking for this brand identity. In our study, we compile a semiotic concept for analysing a shop design which seeks to reflect old luxury and traditional heritage. While the desire for semiotic analysis in the marketing and management domain is increasing, theoretical approaches and case study analyses too often remain superficial regarding the possibilities of semiotic approaches. Our study aims to present a complex analysing concept to fill this gap and apply it to the field of luxury brand management consequently. While semiotic research discusses many different approaches up to today, Peirce’s philosophy may be still regarded as one of the most complex concepts which allows the most precise analysis and classification of meaningful signs. On the basis of his three trichotomies and their major corresponding subcategories we analysed a traditional luxury shop design, discussing the different signs that produce simple to very complex structures of meaning with respect to approaches of creating a mythical frame. The results of our study reflect the need of a shop design using different signs with a complex texture of meaning to support the idea of traditional luxury. From the perspective of communication theories, the semiotic patterns which are presented in our findings create a narrative frame which eventually leads to a specific myth of old luxury branding. While Peirce’s philosophy offers a complex approach, contemporary studies in marketing and management only use the surface of semiotics. Our study may contribute a rather distinguished methodology, though further research will be necessary to apply semiotics more reasonably not only for fashion and luxury but for several fields of interests in marketing and management research. For brand managers in companies with a traditional heritage, creating myths and classical frames must be of core interest. Our study offers several implications of using semiotic signs to create an aesthetic and old fashioned shop atmosphere. As original values, our study compiles a complex semiotic concept to analyse mythical framing in traditional luxury stores. Our results present specific possibilities of creating specific meaning with respect to the need of representing brand identity within a shop. However, the concept may be also valid for other analyses in marketing and management such as advertising and brand semiotics in general.

As the rapid adoption of the Internet around the globe made digital marketing an indispensable means of gaining competitive advantage for many sectors (Leeflang, Verhoef, Dahlstrom, & Freundt, 2014), its appropriateness for luxury products remains debatable. The main lures to luxury products for many consumers are their exclusivity and rarity, two valuable attributes that are at odds with digital medias’ ubiquitousness and pervasiveness (Hennigs, Wiedmann, & Klarmann, 2012). The main purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of online promotion of luxury brands on different aspects of their brand image. Additionally, the paper checks how the impact of the Internet on luxuries’ brand image varies across different segments of luxury consumers and levels of brand luxuriousness. The main hypothesis of the study, that the Internet affects luxury brand image, is grounded in the McLuhan’s (1964) assertion that "the medium is the message". The congruence of the medium to the advertised brand has a positive effect on brand evaluations (Dahlén, 2005). Given that the Internet could serve as a tool for luxury firms to enhance their creative aspects (Okonkwo, 2009), the question arises as to how congruent the Internet is as a medium to luxury brands that sell on the basis of their exclusivity. The congruence of the Internet to the luxury brands is moderated by: the level of luxuriousness of the brand and the perceived luxury values. Dahlén, Granlund & Grenros (2009) have shown that the use of new media benefit more the “low reputation” brands rather than the “high reputation” ones. In high reputation brands consumers have expectations of higher standards from the medium and are more attentive to changes in the advertising medium. Moreover, by definition the higher the level of brand luxuriousness the higher its exclusivity and rarity. Hence, it is hypothesized that the Internet’s appropriateness as a medium will be negatively related to the luxuriousness of the brand. Luxury values influence consumer choices for luxury brands and brand image perceptions. Luxury value activation by contextual cues like the advertising medium is expected to align image perceptions to the expressed values. As a result, we expect brand image attributes that express specific luxury values to be influenced by the extent to which the medium promotes or inhibits the expression of such values. In luxuries, Wiedmann, Hennings and Siebels (2007) identified four categories of luxury values (financial, functional, individual and social) that are hypothesized to have a differential impact on the effect of the Internet to luxury brand image. To test the hypothesized relationships, an experimental design was used. Facebook was selected as a platform for “online” promotion and the stimuli were luxury watches. The results indicated online luxury promotion adversely affects luxury brand’s perceptions hedonism and uniqueness. The effects were more pronounced to the most luxurious brands and to specific luxury value segments. The results provide useful insights for the development of luxury brand strategies.

The aim of this research is to expand application areas of the advanced manufacturing concept and technology based on combining the traditional weaving techniques with digital forming technology. Through the man-machine interface of traditional weaving techniques of processing machines and craftsmanship complex data visualization and interactive operation, Virtual Reality Technology can realize computer model images, which is a kind of new form of artistic language and the key of VR art presenting its unique advantages. Combined with digital technology, the production of raw materials can generate 2D graphics, and 3D object can also be generated by using rapid solidification laser material preparation and forming technology (3-Dimension Printing). In one word, the traditional weaving techniques of processing machine and craftsmanship realized the complete inheritance. In this paper, main content are 4 parts including the analysis of ethnic traditional weaving technology in southwest areas of China, the usage of fashion digital simulation forming technology, the combination of traditional weaving technology with digital forming technology, and expanding of digital customized technology. We started our research work using grass linen and its weaving machine. In the end, the conclusion of study will be used to build the digital museum online for Southwest Ethnic Traditional Weaving Technology Museum, which is also bridging around world marketing for traditional culture.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine factors affecting customers’ intention to buy apparels through mobile apps. The proposed model was evaluated using survey data collected from 304 mobile app users and assessed by structural equation modeling. Our study contributes to a theoretical understanding of mobile apps usage.

The paper examines the impact of international expansion of retail operations on the choice of performing internally or outsourcing some strategic activities in order to cope with the demands of retail outlets in domestic and foreign markets, providing a case analysis of Italian luxury fashion companies.

Three learning modules on corporate social responsibility (Systems Processes Learning Module, Codes of Conduct Auditing Terminology, and Factory Audit Simulation) were developed and assessed in an upper division course in global fashion sourcing. Three forms of assessment resulted in revisions to the learning modules to meet the learning objectives.

The aim of this study is to understand how companies radically change their approach to marketing after the introduction of a process innovation. Thanks to multiple case studies in Arezzo gold luxury district, it is possible to build a conceptual framework subsequently tested through System Dynamics simulation technique.

With the recent hype concerning three-dimensional (3D) printing technology, affordable 3D printers have been launched, enabling individual machine owners to download or create design files and thus produce artifacts. As a design community, Shapeways—which comprises over 300,000 members and 25,000 online shops—commercializes and promotes good ideas using 3D printing technology (Shapeways, 2015). Through Thingiverse, people can globally upload and share design modeling files without cost and print out items as desired. In general, 3D printing communities provide data without charges and witness gradually increasing data sharing rates. Literature on 3D printing mainly focuses on cases of technology-related patents, policies, and intellectual property rights. Thus, there is a paucity of empirical studies on 3D printing users. To overcome the limitations of previous studies, this study first builds on both social cognitive and social capital theories to elucidate the effects of 3D printing community users’ self-efficacy; altruistic tendency; and perceived structural, cognitive, and relational capital on their voluntary knowledge sharing and innovative behaviors. Second, it aims to verify inter-group differences in innovative behaviors of 3D printing community users while considering either high or low levels of fashion innovativeness and fashion involvement. For this verification, antecedents of knowledge sharing are elicited from previous research followed by an interview and a questionnaire survey with 3D printing community users to substantiate such antecedents. Next, the data collected from the interview and survey is analyzed using SPSS 18.0. The results indicate that first, altruistic tendencies influence knowledge sharing, which is consistent with the social cognitive theory, whereas structural, cognitive, and relational capitals affect knowledge sharing, which parallels social capital theory. Second, knowledge sharing in 3D printing virtual communities exerts significant effects on innovative behaviors. This study establishes the antecedents and consequences of knowledge sharing in 3D printing virtual communities and proposes a model for effective knowledge sharing, which is projected to stimulate the application of 3D printing technology in creating and sharing fashion design content and providing substantive data for market formation.

China has become a key market for the luxury fashion industry. Yet the relationship with the role of digital marketing is still mostly unexplored. The increase of Internet in China has been Impressive. A report from CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) indicated that Chinese netizens increased to around 0.632 billion. Internet has a deep impact on people’s life, changing their lifestyles and consuming behaviours. For luxury brands entering Chinese market, the competition becomes fiercer. Despite the traditional marketing model, an increasing number of luxury companies are orienting their strategy towards the blue ocean—on-line market. On-line luxury fashion commerce has become a creative joint of Internet technology and business operations. Despite the fact that the Chinese market is regarded as potentially the fastest growing market for the luxury industry, many challenges exist nowadays since China is a young player in both luxury industry and e-commerce field. Some experts in the field believe that the limitation of customers’ experience is the most essential problem, and some others assert it would be difficult to do on-line marketing for luxury products. Besides, there is still an ongoing debate on the key factors that determine the success of on-line sales in luxury industry. Luxury Fashion customers are mainly composed by elder segment, while luxury consumers are increasingly becoming a younger segment (about under 40 years old) in China. In particular, their consumption concept is very different from that of traditional customers. A survey from McKinsey & Company indicates that there are almost 90% of Chinese Internet users living in tier1, tier2 and tier 3 cities have enrolled in a social-media site. Moreover, Chinese people are regarded as the world’s most active social-media population, around 91% of respondents telling they visited a social-media site in the previous six months, followed by 70% in South Korea, 67% in the United States and 30% in Japan (Chiu, Lin, & Silverman, 2012). This article is based on an exploratory study analysing the current situation of Chinese online market and the online shopping websites. Through interviews with customers who already had online luxury shopping experience and a questionnaire to about 150 potential customers of online luxury shopping websites, this paper tries to identify some of the key factors affecting the purchasing behaviour of Chinese customers of luxury fashion products. Based on the understanding of the current situation and the innovative role played by the digital orientation of purchasing behaviours in luxury, this article will introduce some hypotheses in order to verify the assumptions associated to key challenges and success factors in the Chinese market which can be the reference for luxury companies to fix their on-line marketing – pricing, distribution network, fashion brands variety. The exploratory study in the field has already showed specific results. With respect to pricing strategy for online purchasing, results showed clearly that besides the fact that traditional luxury purchasers are not price-sensitive also in relation to the fact that luxury products high price is a symbol of exclusivity; the modern luxury fashion Chinese customers, mainly composed by people younger than 30-years old, enjoying the wealth accumulated by their parents and other family members, have better education backgrounds which makes them have little conceptions about the purchasing power of currency. Logistics, which contain the products’ packaging, delivery mode and time and comprehensive quality of it appeared to be the one of the most important way to present the e-retailers’ services for online luxury customers. Through customers purchase luxury products online, the majority of them are still expected to enjoy the luxury experience and services just like in the traditional luxury boutiques. Based on the knowledge and the previous studies of luxury consumers and Chinese e-commerce two hypotheses will be proposed and verified in the empirical study. Furthermore, Supply channel for online luxury shopping websites have also shown to be also particularly relevant as the product quality and the modes are the most attractive factor for customers. A qualified supply channel will guarantee the products’ quality and variety for customers. Chinese market has its own characters and Chinese citizen shopping habits are also distinct, obviously, the current situation in China has indicated that luxury brands and e-commerce still in the run-in period. Through there are some successful cases in western countries which can partly provide some key factors for Chinese market, it is impracticable for luxury brands and some retailing websites copy their experience and follow those “rules” in China. It is quite critical for both luxury brands and e-commerce companies recognize the difference existed in this market, understand the real situation and then modify their marketing policies. This study has only analysed some of the key issues affecting the purchasing patterns of luxury fashion customers. Consequently more quantitative and qualitative research in the field that analyses it from different perspectives it is suggested.

The purpose of this study is to investigate which of the main social and personality factors affect the attitudes of consumers towards counterfeit products and their purchase intentions in one of largest counterfeit product market as much as the attractive one for the Global Luxury goods ,namely Turkey.

Prior research considers culture to be a prime determinant of consumers’ attitudes and behaviors. However, little is known about how different cultural environments shape consumption behavior of consumers from the same heritage culture. The present research addresses this knowledge gap by examining cultural orientation and relevant consumer outcomes of immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel and Germany—desire for unique products and fashion consciousness. The results reveal differences in the cultural orientations of those immigrants in Israel and Germany as well as different relational patterns between cultural orientation and the proposed consumer outcomes. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

The paper examines how culture and desire for status influence the consumption of luxury brands in two culturally dissimilar countries: Vietnam and USA. Based on survey data from the two countries, results confirm that desire for status is a key factor for the consumption of luxuries in both countries. The cultural context of collectivism reinforces the effect of desire for status. Of all the collectivist/individualist orientations, vertical individualism was found to increase desire for status.