Online review sites such as Booking.com or Tripadvisor are considered to be the most accessible and valuable feedback platform in the hospitality industry (Verma et al., 2012; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010; Yoo & Gretzel, 2008). To keep pace with customers’ use of social media, hotels have recently begun to use customer-generated content or online reviews to assist in decision-making (Chan & Guillet, 2011; Leung et al., 2013) since reviews can affect customer satisfaction and ultimately hotel sales and profitability (e.g. Ye et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2011; Kim et al., 2016; Berezina et al., 2016;). However, limited research efforts have been made to understand customers’ satisfactory and unsatisfactory experiences by analysis of online reviews (Kim et al., 2016; Berezina et al., 2016; Rhee & Yang 2015 a;b; Levy et al., 2013; Li et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2015; 2016; Kwok & Xie, 2016). Furthermore, the effect of different service characteristics on hotel performance is expected to be assymetrical and non-linear (Mikulic & Prebežac, 2008; Füller et al. 2006; Kim et al., 2016; Zhang and Cole, 2016). The objective of this study is to analyse online reviews and determine whether different hotel service characteristics have assymetrical or symmetrical effects on hotel customer satisfaction. A total of 8.540 online customer reviews (from Booking.com) for 42 4 and 5 star hotels in Athens, Greece were analysed in terms of the overall score of the hotel and the individual service characteristics (cleanliness; location/access; personnel quality; installation quality; room quality; food quality; service process quality, and perceived value) for a 2-year period. Data was analyzed using penalty-reward analysis (Mikulic & Prebežac, 2008) and the three factor (satisfiers, dissatisfiers, hybrid) theory of customer satisfaction (Matzler & Sauerwein, 2002; Matzler et al., 2003). Results show that there are indeed asymmetric effects on customer satisfaction. The most powerful frustrators are cleanliness and perceived value and the highest impact dissatisfier is room quality, followed by installation quality and food quality. Only personnel quality and location/access are hybrid factors, meaning that they can have symmetric effects on customer satisfaction. Also, no characteristic was found to be a satisfier or delighter showing that delighting customers is very difficult. Results also differ according to reason for travel (leisure / business) and type of traveller (solo, groups, families, friends). The results of this study can serve as a guide for customizing hotel services for each type of customer. This can lead to higher customer satisfaction and higher perceived overall performance of hotels as expressed in online reviews. Also, higher review ratings can influence overall profits.

As information technology advanced, customers’ service consumption process heavily shifted to the online environment, particularly social media and mobile. A new topic, customer engagement, has emerged along with the fast advancement of social media. Customer engagement refers to a type of customer behavior that is beyond purchase such as spreading word-of-mouth, providing recommendations to family and friends, interacting with fellow customers, and writing online reviews (Bijmolt et al., 2010; Verhoef, Reinartz, & Krafft, 2010). This study introduces the Flow theory, which is especially important to understand consumers’ online experiences, with the intention to shed light on how to better engage consumers in the hospitality industry (Bilgihan, Okumus, Nusair, & Bujisic, 2014; Hoffman & Novak, 2009). The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents of flow and further investigate its influence on positive attitude and continuance intention among restaurant social media users. This study specifically examines restaurant customers who use social media through their smart phones in searching information and sharing experiences with others. A self-administered questionnaire was developed and a Structure equational modeling (SEM) was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Study results support the hypotheses, indicating the importance of creating flow to increase customer engagement. Academically, this study contributes to the limited body of literature on flow experience and customer engagement in the hospitality context. Additionally, it provides practical insights for hospitality marketers on how to gain competitive advantages by strategically managing customer engagement on social media marketing through flow.

The study of online brand communities is inseparable from the concept of customer engagement. The purpose of this study is to conjoin these two emerging research streams in tourism. Past studies relevant to customer engagement in online communities consider it from only brand perspective, whereas this study considers engagement with brand and engagement with community separately. Social identity and user gratification perspective are used to develop framework in building brand relationship quality. The context of the study is to throw light on benefit of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on tourism industry in Pakistan. The CPEC is a mega-project between Pakistan and China, worth more than 54 billion US dollars. The Framework was verified using the data collected from several Facebook pages (official and unofficial). This study contributes in understanding the way to enhance brand relationship quality of tourism brand via social media based online communities. This study also validates the customer brand engagement scale consisted of seven dimensions within tourism brand proposed by Dessart, Laurence (2016). The results of this study indicated that community identification has a significant role in engaging customer with community as brand community engagement and with brand as customer brand engagement. Customer brand engagement further enhances brand relationship quality whereas brand community engagement has an insignificant effect on brand relationship quality. This study also provides insight to practical and further research implication.

How the destination image is presented in terms of the content and the selected media is known to have a considerable influence on consumers. In the current study, we examined the effect of destination images of Japanese hot spring hotels through photographic images taken by actual hotel guests on intended customer engagement behaviors (CEB) and their evoked conceptualization of the hotels. By showing photographic images of two types of hot spring hotels (traditional/contemporary) to participants from the United States (Phase 1, n=154) and Japan (Phase 2, n=677), we found that the image of traditional hot spring hotels induced higher evaluations and stronger CEB. When participants were clustered based on their travel motivations, we also found that, in both inbound and domestic markets, more engaged tourists gave higher evaluations and stronger CEB. The results suggest that the relationship among key constructs tested in this study validates the conceptual perspective on the theory application of destination image and CEB to hotel operations. From a practical perspective, hotel managers should carefully reconsider the primary drivers that attract tourists to visit the site and stay at their hotel. In addition, when developing promotional materials, managers should also consider key features in the photographic image to create a desirable destination image to attract tourists to visit and recommend the property to others.

Introduction This paper investigates the implementation possibilities of the Industry 4.0 systems within the production of fashion luxury goods by collecting the opinion of the managers and the perception of the potential customers. The results indicate that technologies 4.0 can be implemented within luxury fashion production without affecting the quality of the finished product. However customers are negatively prevented against them. Therefore, giving the present situation of the fashion industry, now more demanding than ever, it would be appropriate to implement such systems without disclosing it to customers. Theoretical development With this research we aim to demonstrate that in the world of luxury fashion production there is room, if not the need, to implement the technologies of the Industry 4.0 without affecting the quality of the final product. We believe it is crucial that the luxury environment starts to seriously consider the Industry 4.0 as the former, in recent years, has become ever more challenging. Since luxury has become more accessible to masses, customers are no longer content just by getting the product, they often want it before the general public has it or fully customized to distinguish themselves. This implies a reduction of production times together with multiple rearrangements of the entire production process. Which is why we need to start thinking about Luxury and Industry 4.0. The concept of Industry 4.0 started developing with the exponential involvement of technological means during production processes of any kind. The term describes the model of the “smart” factory of the future where computer-driven systems “monitor physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world and make decentralized decisions” based on self-organization mechanisms (Smith, 2016). The goal of the industry 4.0 is to reach a deeper interconnection and cooperation between the available resources and the final customer; it’s a multiple layer engagement composed by complex machines, people, products, information within the production sight and all along the value chain (Tolio, 2016). The implementation of such systems allows achieving better levels of efficiency and contributes to increase the competitive advantage; it is a revolution that involves a company at all levels from the production centers to human resources. Although luxury fashion is a quite peculiar industry, all its processes are still very much cyclical and could benefit from the help of such implementations. The main technologies that are often quoted as being at the core of the Industry 4.0 are IoT (Internet of Things), big data, additive manufacturing, 3D printing, augmented reality and new generation robots. All this may seem too futuristic for an industry such as luxury that has always been associated with craftsmanship. When defining luxury in fact, one of the qualities attributed to this kind of products is the “strong connection with the past proven by the tradition handed down over time” (Dubois, 2001); a description that can be taken quite literally as the heritage of the brand is built upon the traditions passed on by the different artisans who crafted the product. But if we fraction the production process and analyze it in depth, we will see that it is cyclical, and that some of its parts may benefit from such technologies that would make it leaner without affecting the quality of the end product. An example of this can be seen in the laser cutting machines for leather. A robot can cut the elements required to compose a bag in a few minutes, while it would take up to half an hour to do it by hand. Even if mechanically cut though, the bag will still need to be assembled by a highly skilled artisan to become the exceptional quality product that customers expect to see in stores. Many are afraid that technological implementations will lead to the disappearance of the artisanal component failing to understand that the Industry 4.0 is not about complete automation but rather about human-machine interaction. Talking about production we will refer to the process in its integrity, from the sketches to the products in the stores. Research design The research was conducted using semi-structured interviews to questiont professionals who work in different stages of luxury fashion production for different companies. All the interviewees were chosen among the industry biggest players: LVMH, Kering, Richemont, Hermès, Chanel and others. To establish the sample of interviewees we divided the production process into four main phases and then identified at least one professional to question for each one of them. The subdivision we applied was the following: ⦁ Phase 1 - Creation & Design ⦁ Phase 2 - Production & Merchandising ⦁ Phase 3 - Retail & Marketing ⦁ Phase 4 - Supply Chain & Distribution Each interviewee was asked a set of specific questions related to the complexities of their job and the problems encountered while doing it (Appendix 1). Among the sample there were two professionals that did not belong to the production process but that we deemed necessary to involve to have a more complete outcome. One is a Professor of Fashion design at the Politecnico of Milan, the other is a Strategic Planning Analyst who works for Lectra, one of the biggest companies producing technologies for fashion. In order to investigate the perception of the customers we distributed a multiple choice survey to a heterogeneous sample of 200 people. Among the questions asked one was strictly related to the use of technology while the others regarded arguments, related to its utilization, that emerged while interviewing the professionals. Despite not being directly on the use of technology, we deemed the other queries important to evaluate if the problems emerged from the interviews were relevant also from a customer point of view. The questions submitted via survey were the followings: 1) On a scale of 1 to 4, (1= low interest, 4=high interest) how interested are you in luxury goods? 2) How much worth is being able to buy a luxury good before it is on sale in stores? (1= not worth, 4= very worth) 3) Would you think of higher quality a bag completely handcrafted rather than the very same bag produced also by using industrial processes? 4) Would you attribute a higher value to a luxury product conceived to be respectful for the environment? The survey ended up highlighting that customers have a negative bias towards the exploitation of such systems within the production of luxury goods. In fact they attribute a higher value to completely handcrafted products, without considering the possibility that the latters may have more defects. The methodology used was successful in helping us understanding the opinion of the management along with the perceptions of the customers. Moreover, through the interviews we were able to highlight practical daily problems encountered by people directly involved in the production process. Results and conclusion We used the problems that arose as bases to begin thinking what could be concretely implemented, in which phase and with what goal. We started by focusing our attention on five points that currently challenge production and could be exploited as opportunities for the implementation of specific technology. Nevertheless, we also highlighted three main limits that might prevent the application of said technology. The opportunities of implementation were the following: Production times - Representing one of the biggest problems in the industry, we believe that technology could come to the rescue especially in the first two stages of the process. For example, the use of 3D printing to produce some prototypes or certain components that could be useful for reducing time and costs. Another example is Modaris 3D, a new generation software that allows you to digitize the pattern allowing you to see it in 3D. Exploiting this software would allow to predict the potential problems of the prototype before even crafting it and would help save a lot of time and resources. Not to mention that digitized patterns can be archived and easily reused later. Moreover, the exploitation of the new generation robots to pre-cut certain components would once again allow a shorter production time and reduce costs. Couterfeiting - Another implementation opportunity is represented by counterfeiting. Now that online commerce is booming, the fake industry is at its peak and people find it difficult to distinguish between what is real and what is not. IoT technologies could help immensely with this problem. One of the interviewees working in the distribution phase told us that today when the products are shipped, in order to track them down and recognize them from counterfeits, companies install into their pockets RFID chips, small chips similar to those of credit cards. Their limitation though is that they can be traced or recognized only if scanned. The use of IoT technologies on this type of device (for example, providing the same type of support with a GPS) would allow them to be interactive and serve their purpose even better when the products are shipped all over the world. Sustainability - In recent years the problem of sustainability has become increasingly relevant, to the point that some luxury empires have been built on it, as in the case of Stella McCartney. To pay more attention to the environmental cause, fashion houses could start by wasting less resources. One way to do this could be to use software to optimize pattern placements on fabrics or on leather. Human supervision would still be required, as some pieces need to be cut from specific parts of the leather but it would certainly help in making some useful proposals. Internal communication – Internal communication is a problem at all levels of the production process. It can be an issue especially when it comes to communicating the intentions of the design team to the production and controlling the stock level in real time. In the first case, to solve the problem, we could consider the implementation of a software like PLM (Product Life Management). This type of program helps to follow the transformation from sketches to prototypes to products, providing detailed information on everything that is present on the garment, specifying consumption and costs of materials. With regard to the inventory control problem, we could again use the help of the IoT. Inventory control is a problem both in terms of raw materials (for all those houses that produce prototypes internally) and finished products. In the first case a potential solution could be to label the raw materials with magnetic labels that would allow to see immediately when the components leave the stock. In the second case, as previously mentioned, supplying the finished products with IoT chips would help to locate them and know how many are in stock. Demand forecast – Another major help that industry 4.0 could bring to fashion production is the exploitation of big data to forecast the demand. Nowadays in fact, the constant and hardly predictable changes in fashion heavily affect a demand that already has few reference standards. When it comes to forecast, several factors have an impact on it: trends, social medias, consumption habits etc. The most unpredictable of these factors is probably represented by the social media as clients may cause a peek in demand after seeing a celebrity or an influencer wearing a specific product. Giving all this, it's evident how the more variables we are able to consider when doing forecasts, the better the chances of predicting a scenario close to reality and Big Data would allow to do so. As previously mentioned we also highlighted some limits that could prevent implementation: Costs - The more significant limit when talking about this kind of technology is related to costs. It is important to consider both the ones needed to purchase the technology as well as the ones to train the employees in order to make the implementation possible. As we all know technology is extremely expensive, and in a certain way a form of luxury itself, often being just for few. The size of the brand would modulate of course the amount of the investment in it. Client perception & adverse attitude – The survey pointed out that clients are negatively biased towards technology and, if informed that the product has been realized with the help of technological means, may attribute to it a lower value. What it's necessary to keep in mind though, is that, when taking a survey, you are in front of a screen and not in front of the products. I believe in fact that if a "blind" test was conducted presenting two products of which one completely handcrafted and the other realized by artisans who exploited technological means as well, no one would be able to tell the difference. Training of employees - Another big challenge in the implementation of such systems is the training of the employees. Implementing these technologies for some employees may mean learning again how to do their job with the help of a computer. Being an environment where youngsters are outscored due to the lack of experience, this may represent a problem. In conclusion our research proved that there is indeed room to implement the 4.0 systems as the issues emerged can be partially, if not completely, solved by introducing these technologies making the process leaner and more efficient. Nevertheless, giving the fact that customers are negatively biased towards their use, it would be appropriate avoiding to disclose the information with them.

Introduction This research will investigate the advancement of cognitive computing and how it can be applied through „Dynamic Marketing Capabilities‟ (Bruni and Verona, 2009) to raise the bar of personalizing services and amenities provided to the luxury watch market loyal customer. Through intuitive digital applications, new levels of interactive systems can focus on explicitly the next generation of hyper-connected luxury customers. Theoretical Development The purpose of this research is to investigate how to personalize the communication process in the luxury market segment through cognitive computing and address the high expectation of the new affluent consumer of the digital age. The next generation of affluent luxury consumers is accustomed to interactive systems and personalized interfaces that enable computers to get more intuitive of the customer(s) to enable them to personal the individual‟s needs. This level of personalization undoubtedly raises the bar on the luxury customer‟s journey from the tactile in-person luxury shopping experience currently found in brick-and-mortar locations, to a decidedly more interactive and increasingly immersive online customer experience. Abbott (1955) and Alderson (1957) focused on the notion that “what people desire are not products but satisfying experiences” (Abbot 1955, p. 40). The fundamentals of cognitive computing are to recognizing trends and behaviors that enable companies to utilize Artificial Intelligence to make proper predictions and give insight to intuitively give consumers what they need before they have to request it. The idea behind this research is to take the traditional luxury market sector of Swiss watches and combine it with the intuitive software provided by cognitive computing. Research Design According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS) in 2017, Switzerland occupies only 3% of the global market regarding the quantity of watches. As for value, Switzerland represents 54% of global sales that is 21 billion USD. Thus, about 95% of luxury watches with price starting from 1,000 USD are stamped "Swiss Made.” Thus, the Swiss watch industry has become an integral part of the luxury universe. However, it‟s not an easy task to get a place in this luxury market of reference. According to the estimation made by the Institute of Watch Marketing, there are approximately 200 active Swiss independent watch brands on the market today. Under conditions of the highly competitive market, the challenge concerns not only market share, but also competitive advantage as well as customer relationships or brand equity. We situate this research within the context of the Swiss luxury watchmaking industry and focus on the power of the website to increase customer loyalty. We suggest ways to utilize a brand‟s electronic (desk, mobile, tablet) touch points to aggregate data to gain a deeper understanding of their loyalist. Armed with knowledge, luxury watch brands can connect to their customers through the power of artificial intelligence. Affluent “digital native” consumers have “hyper-connected” instincts, and increasingly expect more from their chosen brands through next-level personalization. The continued evolution of consumers‟ online behavior, attitude, and expectations from brands currently exceeds what is possible for a single human to process. It is, therefore, becoming increasingly necessary to incorporate both the power of cognitive computing and the information gleaned from large data sets (big data) to produce more intuitive and personalized experiences. This information enhances the brand‟s ability to uncover behavioral patterns and begin to incorporate “machine learning,” (a subset of AI) a calculated algorithm that can facilitate the process of personalization. The speed at which data can now be processed, analyzed, clustered and contextualized has increased the value of machine learning in the world of the consumer experience. Personalization of luxury branded communication that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to help them connect intuitively with their audience are more apt to meet the needs of the next generation of affluent consumers on a more personalized level. By focusing on the shift in adaptive interactive systems, we highlight the power of cognitive computing to help offer more intuitive luxury personalization for their loyal customers (owners of the brand‟s watches). Achieving this stage of customization requires computers to mimic human intelligence using logic and insight. This research will explore new opportunities to help identify the independent luxury watch industry to capture the attention of the next generation of customers in cyber-space. The customer‟s journey no longer ends at the front door of the traditional brick-andmortar location – it continues into the digital space and even starts from it. Offline Swiss luxury watch brands have mastered the role of personalization through “white glove” in-person customer service and installations exhibiting their expert craftsmanship. This level of customer service is still best accomplished through cultivating and curating the boutique shopping experience, although AI is rapidly changing this dynamic. Currently, the online experiences of luxury watch brands have proven to be less than satisfying for their discriminating clientele because most still shy away from creating a fully-realized digital landscape including an e-commerce presence. Independent watch brands need to push beyond the generic expectations and curate rich aesthetic experiences that set a crucial dimension of the luxury sector (Berthon et al. 2009). This research begins to address how Swiss luxury watch brands can fully embrace the digital evolution and strategically utilize the valued subset of AI including cognitive computing, machine learning, and adaptive interactive systems. AI machine learning will ensure the level of personalization to which the discerning luxury customer has grown accustomed. The next section details how watchmakers can accomplish this integration. Conceptual Framework Over the past years, researchers have increased conceptual understanding of the role of marketing in enabling firms to create and sustain competitive advantage and superior value (Ramaswami et al., 2009). By potential to improve business performance, some studies (Bruni and Verona, 2009), have introduced the term „Dynamic Marketing Capabilities‟ (DMCs hereafter). In fact, DMCs are focused explicitly on releasing and integrating the market knowledge that helps firms evolve. The strategic position of marketing to absorb market knowledge allows Swiss luxury watch brands to provide accurate insight into brand equity and distinctive experience. DMCs are capabilities that use market knowledge to adapt firms‟ resources and capabilities (Day, 1994; Slater and Naver, 1998). In this research will explore the characteristics and uses of market-based resources, such as building brands, relationships, and knowledge and apply to digital solutions through interactive systems and personalized interfaces. This market-based perspective suggests that marketing research increasingly focuses on intangible, complementary resources, whose effects on the firm‟s sustained competitive advantage (SCA) and performance may be greater than the impact of tangible resources (Srivastava et al.1998). As much as 70% of a firm‟s market value may come from its intangible resources (Capraro and Srivastava 1997), and organizational performance increasingly seems tied to intangible resources, such as customer relationships or brand equity (Lusch and Harvey 1994). The abundance of active users globally on the internet, smartphones, laptops, tablets, and desktops creates a wealth of data, up to 80 percent of which is untapped and unstructured and not contextualized for use (Alexander, 2016). This unused data often referred to as “dark data,” includes web images, social media networks, emails, blogs, and videos (Alexander, 2016). An analysis of the online behavior of a brand‟s current customers contributes to the formation of stronger, more meaningful clusters based on current customer personas to reveal patterns of similar interests between groups of customers. This majority of available data can be analyzed by machine learning, and “the more data an algorithm can train on, the more accurate it will be” (Deep Learning, n/a). The sub-domain of machine learning, deep learning, which is itself a sub-domain of AI, breaks down tasks to make machine assistance possible (Copeland, 2016). Thus, deep learning provides insights, which can then be used to help curate a personalized experience through predictive analytics. Gathering customer attributes through insight for this research requires that we take a closer look at similar customer gathering registering their watches online (serial number required) making sure to capture necessary demographic and psychographic information, and through using clientele retail locations, which would then was mined for insights and more branded content. The reactive software would utilize deep learning algorithms to recognize moments, behavior and geo-location to offer realtime personalized mobile engagement. The increasingly common practice of merging of marketing teams enhances marketing deliverables through the User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX). The interface, coupled with the experience, need to work synergistically to drive curiosity and encourage the user to explore and discover what will eventually become more personally-targeted curated content on the website. To further explain how these technologies can be employed for the luxury watchmaking companies, we examine several Swiss luxury watch brands. Describing how actionable data derived from cognitive computing can create a more intuitive customer experience, Vishal Katelia, Senior Manager, Global CRM at the luxury ecommerce website Mr. Porter provides an analogy from the luxury hotel world. He says that luxury hotels excel in many ways, “especially around the „surprise and delight‟ aspect of keeping track of small but important details that personalize their clientele‟s experience from the type of pillow they prefer to sleep on. Paying attention to these details can ensure future expertise, are as perfect as the hotel can offer (Miller, 2016). While machine learning focuses on building machines that replicate the human brain‟s cognitive capabilities to apply this knowledge from cognitive science to react in a intuitive way (Jones, 2017). Artificial intelligence refers to "a broad set of methods, algorithms and technologies that make software 'smart' in a way that may seem human-like to an outside observer," according to Lynne Parker, director of the division of Information and Intelligent Systems for the National Science Foundation (Noyes, K., 2016). Cognitive technologies are themselves products of artificial intelligence that perform human-like tasks such as speech recognition, natural language process, machine learning, computer vision (Schatsky D., Muraskin, Ragu Gurumurthy, R. 2015). Furthermore, it is important to look beyond AI to the most efficient way to personalize the customer‟s experience. By using cognitive technologies marketers can create intuitive experiences for customers offering services and experiences based on behavioral profiling through data clusters and affinity analysis. Result The actionable insight that can be gained through this research was presented in a two-pronged process. First, connecting data that would typically be collected from a brand‟ e-commerce customers‟ journey now would be used to produce more curated content. The ability to apply cognitive computing through tools such as Qubit (data science company) that was used for this study that offers gives us the opportunity to apply an affinity analysis to form insights, patterns, behaviors that previously were undiscovered. Insights gathered would help to identify and reward loyal customers beyond the standard loyalty programs with notifications, private activations on geolocation services. Second, understanding the UX and UI on the websites of the three pre-selected independent luxury watch brands enabled us to follow and eventually understand the user‟s journey both on mobile and desktop. The personalization of the interface allows for in-depth learning to better understand an individual‟s needs and create an intuitive experience for the user. This research is limited to the personalization of loyal users, not to the interested parties of the independent luxury watch brands. While for marketing purposes, most insight collected from a brand‟s website typically is obtained from e-commerce, the independent luxury watch brands are currently limited to UX to measure the movement and interests of the users. The practical application of utilizing untapped „dark data‟ through the process of deep learning personalizes the interface and further utilizing AI technology to offer unique immersive experiences raises the innovation of personalization. The behavioral insights provided by deep learning can contextualize actionable information, which can then be applied by the brand‟s marketing management, retail managers, digital marketing, and public relations (PR) teams. Collection Process & Insight 1. Discovery of Audience Clusters based on Interests 2. Selection Process of Interest-Sets 3. Profiling / Persona of Audience 4. Discovery patterns from AI‟s Subset of Deep Learning 5. Select Deliverables That Align with Brand Through Mobile Applications Further investigation and re-evaluation of changing audience should be measured through the new applied data collected from discovering of new AI subset of deep learning from the luxury consumer. The AI movement will continue to change the next generation of affluent consumer‟s expectations, and with a continued reliance on smartphone technology it is inevitable that the future of personalization will require further investigation. While we have specifically focused on these three independent luxury watchmakers and the four clusters of interests currently available on their websites, future research will need to more deeply examine how the continued evolution of deep learning measurements can be best utilized to match the organic interests of the next generation of loyal customers. The behavioral insights provided by deep learning can contextualize actionable information, which can then be applied throughout the luxury brand communication; marketing management, retail managers, digital marketing, and public relations (PR) teams. Conclusion In this paper, we aimed to revisit luxury customer‟s expectation in the digital age and discuss how the industry is in the midst of a revolution that is changing the level of expectations of personalization. There is no doubt that the new technology is shifting the levels of customization through interactive systems and personalized interface will continue to advance. The next generation of affluent consumers have a high demand for interactive visual content, and dynamic marketing capabilities concept helps to integrate data for creating the new value and competitive advantage for the company. Cognitive computing insight will continue to enable luxury Swiss watches makers to understand how to personalize for the next generation of affluent consumers; more research is required to continue to explore more actionable insight.

In branding literature, the customer based brand equity (CBBE) model developed by Kevin Lane Keller finds many applications. The CBBE model (Keller, 1993) involves six brand building blocks out of which the brand resonance block is considered to be the most valuable helping firms to reap a host of benefits like higher brand loyalty, greater price premiums and more efficient and effective marketing programs. This research focuses on the factors that influence brand resonance among past customers (alumni) with the objective of building competitive and innovative service strategies that would help in building strong educational brands. The proposed framework for brand resonance includes existing sub dimensions (behavioral loyalty, attitudinal attachment, sense of community and active engagement) along with two additional dimensions (sense of belonging and gratitude) and aims to identify the key drivers of brand resonance. Since brand resonance characterizes the bond shared by past consumers (alumni) with the brand (educational institute) identifying the significant sub dimensions would provide input while devising strategies to engage with past customers (alumni). The present study provides initial empirical evidence that behavioural loyalty and sense of community create feelings of gratitude which impacts brand resonance; alumni who do not have strong feelings of gratitude limit their interaction with their alma mater on all parameters. Since higher education is an experiential service, it is imperative to understand the construct of gratitude that creates brand resonance and use it to develop relationships and competitive service strategies. The ultimate objective of all marketing activity is to build strong and well differentiated brands that would stand the test of competitive forces over time. Building emotional relationships with alumni as past customers rather than maintaining transactional relationships would be possible only if alumni feel emotions of gratitude and sense of belonging with their alma mater.

Customer participation (CP) refers to customers’ contribution of effort, knowledge, information or other resources to service production and delivery (Dong & Sivakumar, 2017). A key management challenge is to ensure that after customers’ initial acceptance these service formats, customers continue to use them, by the provision and management of CP quality as perceived by the customer. In a CP context, shaping customers’ quality perceptions is complex. First, these perceptions are the result of multiple parties (i.e., customer, employee, and firm). Secondly, customer performance is difficult to control and forms a preeminent source of variability and operational inefficiency (Groth, 2005). Against this backdrop, two research objectives guide this study. First, to propose and test a quality typology that takes a comprehensive view on the CP quality dimensions. Second, to assess whether organizational socialization -consisting of role clarity, self-efficacy, and motivation- is able to influence the customer in service formats that rely on CP. To address these issues survey data were collected from 138 customers. PLS-SEM results indicate that stimulating continued usage of CP formats involves managing an intricate mix of customer quality perceptions (i.e., employee functional and technical quality; firm functional and technical; customer technical quality. In addition, the results show that socialization techniques can be useful to influence customer quality contributions in CP service formats.

Introduction The study chooses smartphone applications which have update experience as the study case to analysis if it will cause customer attrition. Application updates aims to make up the bugs which may cause bad effects on using, while in fact, most changes will be resisted by customers. We adapt three elements to collect data about the attitude of customers toward applications update, the conclusion illustrates, customers will resist changes in some conditions and cause customers attrition. Therefore, application developers should focus on the personal emotional reaction and cognitive evolution as well as predict what may influence the customers normal use after the applications update to make correct update decisions. In order to define the relationship between variable and result., we take smartphone application which had experienced update as examples and choose fsQCA as the methodology to analysis. Literature Review Resistance to change is a psychological process, Brehm（1966）claims customers resist to change origins from their believe that they have rights to control free, when this rights be challenged, this resistance behavior will happen due to they want to protect their own rights. Some scholars distinguished the concept of resistance to change: when receptors in the low involvement or limited cognize, their resistance behaviors is likely to be considered as the passive resistance; otherwise, the behaviors would be recognized as active resistance (Nabih,1997). Bagozz and Lee（1999) think that functional barrier is an important factors which influence the degree of innovation receptance, when customers think products after update cannot meet their function needs will cause resistance to change. Resistance always occur passively, bemuse of the disturb of the former habits of using (Ram &Sheth 1989), and former studies also indicate that prejudice towards changes is one of significant factors. Because changes are uncertainty, Fiske and Taylor（1991）claims that uncertainty can make people hate changes and Whitson and Galinsky（2008）consider aversion will be the strong driver of resistance to change to reduce uncertainty and risk. In terms of a company, the cost of maintaining a old customer is much lower than these of develop a new user, Actually, customer attrition is response of entrepreneur revenue and the vital section in development of companies. The famous american honesty management scholar Frederic Reichheld’s research indicates that when the extension of the commercial relationship of entrepreneur and customers, companies can acquire fatter profit through the relationship. Conclusions This study chooses fsQCA as methodology to define the relationship between resistance to change and customer attrition instead of using structural equation modeling. Sometimes, even customers have right cognitive evolution towards changes, when they find their efficiency be influenced by it, they also resist to change; while adverse emotional reaction also has an adverse effect on customer retention though they build positive cognitive evolution about changes. there is a remain circumstance of lossing of customers that when customers hate changes and they find their efficiency be influenced by update, the honesty of this product will also decrease. This three condition all contribute to customers attrition which should be paid more attention by companies.

The aim of this exploratory research is to investigate whether luxury brands social media activities (Kim & Ko, 2012) – which are online activities that could potentially engage customers in digital environment (Sashi, 2012) – are capable of transmitting the sense of heritage of such brands to the customers. Moreover, the authors will observe whether the aforementioned activities are capable of transmitting the sense of exclusivity, which will be measured through the customers’ perceptions of the brand prestige (Hwang & Hyun, 2012), to the latter. In order to explore such a phenomenon, the authors have selected structural eqation modeling (SEM) as the main methodology of the research (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988). The theoretical foundations of the present research are related with three streams of marketing literature, namely (1) luxury brands social media marketing activities (Kim & Ko, 2010; Kim & Ko, 2012), (2) luxury brands heritage (Ciappei, Zollo, Boccardi, & Rialti, 2016; Hudson, 2011; Rialti, Zollo, Boccardi, & Marzi, 2016) and, finally, (3) luxury brands customer-based prestige (Napoli, Dickinson, Beverland, & Farrelly, 2014). In particular, building on the concept of social media marketing activities (Kim & Ko, 2010), we aimed at observing how the latter could influence customers’ perceptions of the brand by engaging them in online activities and conversations (Sashi, 2012; Zaglia, 2013). Specifically, we investigated if engagement in online activities or in online communities is related with a positive perception of luxury brands’ heritage and prestige. Hence, customers’ online engagement deriving from social media activities has been considered as an antecedent of customer perceived heritage and prestige (Phan, Thomas, & Heine, 2011; Hamzah, Alwi, & Othman, 2014; Riviezzo Garofano, & Napolitano, 2016). Luxury brands have been selected as the context of research since heritage and prestige have emerged as relevant strategic marketing levers for luxury brands’ brand strategist. As a proof of that, recently, luxury brands’ strategist and product managers are increasingly focusing brands’ strategies on the history of the brands in order to transmit customers a feeling of exclusivity and elitism (Hudson, 2010; Balmer, 2011). Thus, luxury brands heritage perceived by costumers emerged as a fundamental component of brand identity and, in addition, it may be considered as a form of competitive advantage increasing brand equity (Van Riel & Balmer, 1997). The main findings of the present research are related with the fact that social media marketing activities may engage customers online (Sashi, 2012). Moreover, it emerged how social media strategies are capable to engage customers and transmit them the sense of heritage and prestige. Hence, social media marketing strategies focused on developing a relationship with customers emerged as crucial in order to enhance customers’ perceptions of a brand heritage and prestige. Finally, the development of such a kind of social media marketing strategies is the principal implication for marketing managers. Due to the aforementioned results, this exploratory research contributes to online luxury brand management literature (Kim & Ko, 2010). In particular, due to our results it is possible to assess that social media activities, which are capable to engage customers online, are able to transmit the sense of heritage and of prestige. Future researches should explore better this phenomenon. In particular, on the one hand we suggest scholars to investigate through qualitative methodologies which kind of communications are capable to transmit sense of heritage and prestige. On the other hand, we suggest scholars to compare traditional form of communications with online form in order to understand which one is more capable to influence customers’ perceptions. The principal limitation of this research is related with its exploratory nature and with the traditional limitations of SEM methodology.

The purpose of this study is to provide basic data for the development direction and strategy for medicines through analysis of differences in choice attributes according to customers awareness of medicines and experience. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted on dietary education among national network trainees and lecturers by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock in Daegu, Gyeongsan, and Ulsan, Seoul from December 5, 2016, respectively. First, factor analysis results showed that six factors were extracted with respect to the choice of the restaurant. Second, the difference in each factor according to the recognition and experience of medicinal herbs was the health related factor as sex, females, age 50~59 years, companion others, and publicity and advertising' factors were more important for publicity and advertisement when the gender was female, the customer's age was 40~49 years, the companion was other, and the time of use was during the weekend. Among the factors related to 'getting dressed', the more important gender was female, age 40~49 years, and the other partner, The factors related to 'time' were as follows: sex, age, age 20~29 years, no accompanying companions, no time of use, and time importance. The 'menu' factors were more important for men, gender, women, age 40~49 years, companion for guitar, and usage time for weekend dinner. The 'service' factors were more important in 'service' as sex, male age, age 20~29, companion family, usage time, and weekend dinner.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between conspicuous consumption tendency, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions of college students regarding eating out by limiting conspicuous consumption tendency among several psychological variables to acquire a more precise and concrete influence factor on consumption behavior to eat out. First, as for sensing other people, pursuing individuality and brand orientation among conspicuous consumption tendency of restaurant costumers had significant effects on brand attitudes, whereas the influence of status symbols and pursuing trend factor on brand attitudes was not verified. Second, as for sensing other people, pursing individuality, pursuing trends, and brand orientation factor among conspicuous consumption tendency had significant effects on purchasing intention. Otherwise, the significant effect relationship between status symbols factor and purchasing intentions was not confirmed. Third, as purchase intentions increased, brand attitudes of consumers increased according to existing research. Thus, this study suggests a more departmentalized marketing strategy method to create profits and enhance competitiveness of food service enterprises, and academic implications suggest fundamental data of relevant studies on conspicuous consumption tendency and purchasing behavior of consumers to eat out

This study contributes to the limited literature on the innovative pricing method of Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) in the context of a high-value service. PWYW is a participative pricing approach that takes away all the power from the seller allowing customers to decide what price they want to pay. As such, the customer is free to set any price (even zero) and the seller has to accept it (Kim et al., 2009). Existing research on PWYW examines the impact on customers fairness perception (Haws et al., 2006), willingness to pay (Spann et al., 2004), and purchase intentions (Chandran et al., 2005). Studies also provide insights into which factors (e.g., price or value consciousness) impact on the PWYW price people pay, and on its profitability (Kim et al., 2009). PWYW is more effective than traditional pricing approaches for services that follow an economy pricing strategy (Schons et al., 2014) but not for luxury goods (Balan, 2014). A notable omission in the literature is the lack of studies that directly compare the profitability of PWYW for potential, new, and repeat customers in a high-value priced service setting. The high-value strategy is defined as positioning a high quality service sold at a medium price (Kotler et al., 2001). Another lack in literature is the use of natural experiments to examine whether groups of customers will pay different prices in comparison to traditional price setting methods. In marketing research, natural experiments have been used to examine price-quality trade-offs with the conclusion that consumers pay more for better quality (Bertini et al., 2012). Using the natural experiment of the biggest dance festival in Europe (ImPlusTanz) where different customer groups pay different prices, the study compares the applicability and profitability of the PWYW pricing method. Specifically, the minimum, maximum, and PWYW prices are compared to traditionally set prices. Results from the secondary data analysis reveal that ImPulsTanz uses a pricing structure based on demographics mainly. Survey results show that the PWYW prices differ between three natural customer groups. Repeat customers are prepared to pay the highest prices compared to new and potential customers. Despite all customers indicating they will pay for the service generally, PWYW prices paid are lower than traditional list prices from the secondary data analysis. Findings also confirm differences between customers with diverse price perception/consciousness, perceived quality and value of the services offered.

Obesity has become a major health concern among the public, and menu labeling was mandated in many countries several years ago as an intervention to reduce obesity. Although the pursuit of healthy foods is apparent, research indicates that majority of restaurant customers do not use nutritional information for menu selection. The present study investigated customer attitudes and behaviors regarding menu labeling; specifically, the relationships among customer motivation, attitudes, menu label use, and healthy menu selection. Data were collected from a survey of 509 restaurant customers in South Korea. The findings indicated a positive effect of motivation on attitudes, menu label use, and healthy menu selection, respectively. Attitudes also positively influenced menu label use and healthy menu selection. Regarding the relationships among the variables in the proposed model, the strongest relationship was found between menu label use and healthy menu selection. In addition, attitudes serve as a mediator in the relationships between motivation and menu label use, and between motivation and healthy menu selection. Menu labeling use also mediates between attitudes and healthy menu selection. These findings can help governments or industries improve customer use of menu labels and therefore help reduce public obesity. This study is valuable in that it investigates restaurant customer use of menu labels since the menu labeling initiatives were mandated several years ago. It is academically important in that it examines various customer attitudinal and behavioral variables together regarding menu labeling.

Cross-buying refers to the customer action of buying additional products and/or services from the same provider (Valentin 2004). With the belief that cross-buying enables firms to increase profit from existing customers, firms have steadily placed greater emphasis on cross-selling strategies for profitability. To date, numerous studies show that cross-buying behavior of customers has a positive effect on firm profitability. Business reality, however, offers a different perspective; namely, that high levels of cross-buying may not always be linked to firm profitability. For example, Best Buy (an electronics retailer in the United States) has identified approximately 20% of its customers as unprofitable in spite of them purchasing multiple items (McWilliams 2004). Shah, Kumar, Qu, and Chen (2012) found that customers who persistently exhibit certain types of behavior (e.g., excessive service requests, high levels of returning products, lower levels of revenue growth, promotion maximizers) are unprofitable even though they purchased more than one product category.The aforementioned research implies that cross-buying can exert a negative impact on profitability, thereby calling for further examination of cross-buying behavior. It is conceivable that a repeated purchase propensity (contrasted with a cross-buying propensity) concentrated on a single brand is more profitable. Therefore, our primary objective in this paper is to identify a more beneficial type of customer among those who tend to patronize a limited number of brands versus those who tend to patronize a variety of brands, using a one-dimensional model (brand dispersion index). In addition, the second goal of this research is to investigate the boundary conditions where cross-buying will not lead to an increase in sales (unprofitable cross-buying conditions). As two moderating factors that weaken a customer’s crossbuying propensity and a firm’s sales (frequency and transaction size of firms), we consider (1) promotion dependency and (2) spending limiter condition. We use transaction data that include partners in various industries such as gasoline stations, convenience stores, banks, restaurants, and online shopping malls, covering forty-seven categories. Because multiple partners in many categories are available, this allows us to study whether a customer’s cross-buying level in the current period (t) affects the customer’s purchase frequency and transaction size in the subsequent period (t+1). The observation period for the data set extends over three years. Findings from this study indicate that a high level of cross-buying at period t has a positive impact on increasing customer frequencies and transaction sizes in the subsequent (t+1) period. This means that cross-buying has the potential to increase the firm’s profitability. Customers who show a high level of cross-buying propensity tend to exhibit higher levels of loyalty than customers who concentrated on limited brands. Firms should find ways to induce customers with low cross-buying propensity to increase crossbuying. Regarding moderating effects, promotion dependency and spending growth (decline vs. stagnation), spending growth has a considerable moderating effect on the relationship between cross-buying propensity and a customer’s transaction size. Specifically, the effect of cross-buying on transaction size weakens when spending is shrinking. This result makes an important contribution to cross-buying research. If customers showing a high level of cross-buying do not increase their spending level, they may be merely switching to other brands in the program under a fixed budget. So while the rate of crossbuying seems to increase, profit might not increase. The findings from this study imply that it is crucial to target and motivate customers who tend to use various brands and contribute to sales to do more cross-buying instead of suggesting cross-buying to random customers. The promotion dependency, however, turns out to not have significant moderating effects on the relationship between the customer’s propensity to cross-buying and the customer’s purchase frequency and transaction size. For marketing purposes, it is important to consider which customers are more profitable among those who tend to do cross-buying among multi-brands versus those who tend to purchase repeatedly in a limited number of brands. This research provides a solution with a one-dimensional index, the brand dispersion index. Whether cross-buying is shown to be a positive or negative impact on sales, the results are meaningful in implementing customer relationship management. Regardless of the direction in the level of crossbuying, both directions provide a solution to allocate marketing resources. For instance, if the propensity for cross-buying increases sales, the firm should implement marketing strategies to encourage people to use a variety of brands by adding new brands. If repeat purchases increase sales, the company should concentrate on certain brands that customers use most frequently. In addition, by finding the conditions that do not increase sales (e.g., spending limiter condition), it makes marketing practitioners think that cross-buying does not always bring positive results. Overall, the findings from this study are that it is crucial to motivate and target customers who tend to use various brands and contribute to sales to do crossbuying activity, instead of promoting cross-buying to random customers. Conceptual Framework Figure 1 provides an overview of our framework for the relationship between brand dispersion and visiting frequency and transaction size of customers. Specifically, we hypothesize how customer frequencies and transaction sizes in time t+1 will be influenced by customer brand dispersion levels (the extent that customer transactions occur across a broad range of brands) in time t. In addition, we examine the moderating influence of two customer specific variables: (1) degree of promotion dependency and (2) spending limits.

The development of digital technology has facilitated easier communication between people, and between people and organizations. WhatsApp, one of the most popular digital technology applications, is used not only for personal but also commercial purposes; in terms of marketing, the application has accelerated it, enabling it to be more direct and interactive. This paper will present a success story of the use of WhatsApp to support interactive marketing. In particular, this study aims to expand limited knowledge of the use of WhatsApp to support interactive marketing. A case study approach is employed to achieve this purpose, and the data analysed using the content analysis method. Several novelties that contribute to existing knowledge will also be presented, as well as trajectories for future research

Engagement has aroused tremendous interest in the marketing community, but studies examining engagement with luxury brands are absent. This study investigates whether luxury stores can use food to drive engagement with different customer segments. The results have important managerial implications and further our understanding of the behavioral drivers of (dis)engagement. The old marketing reality in which brands communicate with customers through one-way advertising messages is long gone (Campbell, Parent, Berthon, 2011). Now, it is not only brands that broadcast messages to customers, but customers can initiate or actively participate in conversations with brands. This customers’ participation in conversations with brands can have an effect on their and other customers’ purchase decisions. Therefore, brands are now focusing on using advertising to get customers engaged with them. Customer engagement has become a new way of describing brands’ relationships with customers. Scholars have offered many definitions of engagement. Some of them emphasize the psychological aspects of engagement (e.g., Calder Malthouse, and Schaedel, 2009; Mollen and Wilson, 2010), while others describe engagement in behavioral terms (e.g., Van Doorn et al., 2010; Verhoef et al., 2010). The most comprehensive definition of customer engagement was offered by Brodie et al. (2011: p. 790) who describe customer engagement as “a psychological state that occurs by virtue of interactive, co-creative customer experiences with a focal agent/object (e.g., a brand) in specific service relationships. It occurs under a specific set of context-dependent conditions generating differing customer engagement levels; and exists as a dynamic, iterative process within service relationships that co-creates value. Customer engagement plays a central role in a nomological network governing theoretical relationships in which other relational concepts (e.g., involvement, loyalty) are antecedents and/or consequences of iterative customer engagement processes. It is a multidimensional concept subject to a context- and/or stakeholder-specific expression of relevant cognitive, emotional and/or behavioral dimensions.” As both this definition and other definitions in the extant literature (e.g., Calder et al., 2009; O’Brien & Toms 2010).

As well as all other branches of trade, so retail trade itself undergoes various changes and trends with regard to the development of information and communication technologies which affect not only traders themselves but also their customers. It is the retail store environment itself which is one of the decisive aspects of purchase because more than 70% of consumer decisions take place directly at the point of sale. It is the last place which can reverse the purchasing decision. A final customers´ decision is influenced not only by price, quality but also by in-store communication and visual aspects of each store. That is the reason for continuous gathering of feedback on the effectiveness and efficiency of these means of communication in real environment. Besides traditional research techniques there are situations which require the involvement of relatively new research methods. Thanks to the innovative interdisciplinary approach with the use of neuromarketing, it is possible to create effective marketing strategies and thus stimulate the customer attention and emotions. By these emotions, it is possible to achieve better motivation toward purchase and an increase in the number of sales and subsequent raise in income. The paper deals with a complex, interdisciplinary examination of the in-store communication impact on customer visual attention, emotions and related spatial behaviour of customers in grocery stores. Research integrates measurements of mobile eye camera (Eye tracker), mobile electroencephalograph (EEG), face reading technology (FA) and internal position system in real conditions of retail store. The purpose of this research is to recognise the attention, emotional response and spatial customer preferences by means of selected in-store communication tools. At the end of the paper we explain how the neuromarketing methods can be used for better understanding of consumer behaviour at the point of sale.

One of the most significant challenges of modern strategic marketers refers to the ability of expressing the authentic value of fashion brand. This is particularly important for luxury goods, which are able to effectively impact on customers’ social attitude and behavior. Hence, pertinent literature is progressively focusing on the role of authenticity as a strategic element for marketing theory. Specifically, three elements have been associated with brand’s authenticity, namely quality commitment, heritage, and sincerity. In the present research we apply a validated empirical instrument concerning brand authenticity and its aforementioned three elements. Precisely, we will present and discuss the results of a survey implemented in the Tuscany region (Italy), thus aiming at investigating possible differences and/or similarities characterizing Tuscan customers’ perception of luxury brand authenticity. A structural equation model will be conceptualized and assessed in order to analyze the existing relationships between brand’s authenticity elements, namely quality commitment, heritage, and sincerity. The results confirm the hypothesized significance of these relationships among variables. Further, we will introduce the notion of mythopoiesis, which will be interpreted as a strategic vehicle able to appropriately communicate the traditional values, culture, and historical symbolic meanings of luxury fashion brand. Actually, marketing mythopoiesis results in being an effective element for translating a historical ‘stock’ of heritage into a strategic ‘flow’ of narrative capabilities by marketing managers.