With consumption increasingly shifting to online and mobile, the physical retail environment has been called into question. However, not all facets of a physical experience can be substituted virtually (Anderson & Eckstein, 2013; Johnson, Kim, Mun & Lee, 2014, Piotrowicz & Cuthbertson 2014, Verhoef, Kannan, & Inman, 2015). The enduring quest for real, tangible experiences with real people and in real environments is one reason for the acknowledgement of the importance of architectural branding 1 , enabling memorable experiences (Raffelt, 2012). Here, architectural branding plays a key role at the intersection of consumer behavior, marketing management, and design. Furthermore, one can also observe the trend of forward brand verticalization in retail: with brands increasingly strive towards direct distribution, they open and manage more retail stores themselves (Kahn, Inman & Verhoef, 2016, Nierobisch et al. 2017, Teufel & Zimmermann, 2015, Tischer, 2014). This is especially true for the luxury industry, where brands are looking for ways to attain more control over the brand in order to steer highend customer experiences (Wiedmann & Hennings, 2013, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, 2015). Therefore, demand to develop good architectural branding in retail and to improve retail design strategies for current and future challenges is crucial. During the last five years, marketing scholars, renowned management consulting firms, and the popular press have examined the role of brick and mortar as one aspect of an omnichannel strategy in a world of increasing digitalization (Anderson & Eckstein, 2013; Bauer, Beil, & Wege, 2014; Piotrowicz & Cuthbertson 2014; Worden, 2013; Verhoef, Kannan, & Inman, 2015). The importance of architecture in general and retail design as a specialization thereof in marketing strategy has been broadly acknowledged (e.g. Kotler, 1973; Kotler & Rath, 1984; Martineau, 1958; Münster & Haug, 2017). Although, there is only little research focused on architectural branding (Raffelt, Littich & Meyer, 2011; Raffelt, Schmitt & Meyer, 2013). This is likely caused by its position at the intersection of the research fields on retail stores (e.g Kent & Stone, 2007; Kirby & Kent, 2010; Borghini, Diamand, Kazinets, Mccrath, Muiz, JR., & Sherry, JR., 2009; Hiss; 1987; Kozinets, Sherry, DeBerry-Spence, Duhachek, Nuttavuthisit, & Storm, 2002), brand experience (e.g. Brakus, Schmitt & Zarantonello, 2009; Pine & Gilmore, 1998; Schmitt 1999), and atmospherics (e.g. Kotler, 1973; Donovan & Rossiter, 1982; Rayburn & Voss, 2013; Spence, Puccinelli, Grewal, & Roggeveen, 2014). Here, articles primarily focused on store design in general (e.g; Kent & Sone, 2007; Kirby & Kent, 2010; Meyers-Levy & Zhu, 2008),flagship store design (e.g. Borghini et al., 2009; Hiss; 1987; Kozinets et al., 2002), or were primarily published in retail management journals. However, in marketing and management research, there are limited journal publications about the role of physical stores in the luxury industry in times of digitalization. Dion & Borraz (2015) stated that luxury brands recently followed the strategy to build very costly and unique boutiques with star architects, which have become sacred places. The role of store design in the luxury industry is even scarcer. In two case studies, Jiang, Nagasawa, & Watada (2014) investigated the role of store design for the brands Bally and Tod's in Japan. Thus, this research project aims to fill this research gap and extend the research in the field of architectural branding in the luxury industry, investigating role of physical stores in an omnichannel construct and to gain a deeper knowledge on how to sustainably tangibilize brands in modern and future luxury retail environments, answering the following question: What is the role of store design for luxury monobrand stores in a digital economy? This research project will apply an inductive and exploratory research method, implying a qualitative research design. It will build upon existing literature in the mass market and draw from two studies using in-depth interviews with academics and practitioners from the field of marketing and retail primarily working in the luxury industry to gain more insights about the role of physical stores in this specific industry. One study will focus on ways to make brands tangible in store. The other study will lay its focus on how a omnichannel strategy supports luxury brands in offering a superior in-store experience. Furthermore, results from a workshop with executives from brands with high-end positioning will be taken into account as well as expert interviews about the role of store design in general. These four studies will be presented in an aggregated manner during the conference. The overall contribution of this project is to provide insights about the role of brick and mortar retail design in the luxury industry and thereby extend research in the field or architectural branding in retail.

Recent years have brought along a significant increase of possibilities to get in touch and interact with potential and current customers (Neslin et al., 2006; Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). Especially the rise of digital media as well as sales channels has added new challenges and general complexity to the management of customer interactions (Brynjolfsson, Hu, and Rahman, 2013; Lamberton & Stephen, 2016). At the same time, consumers’ preferences regarding how, where, and when to get in touch with brands, be approached by, and interact with them are changing (Edelmann, 2010; Batra & Keller, 2016; Sherman, 2017). At the forefront of this trend are consumers of the millennial generation, who are stereotyped to be much more connected, social media present, and impatient than previous generations (Fromm & Garton, 2013; Goldman Sachs, 2016). For luxury brands the challenge is particularly difficult. They want to provide the best experience to their consumers to underpin their exclusiveness (Atwal & Williams, 2009; Kapferer, 1996; Kapferer, 2014) at the same time they are facing a high risk of inconsistency across touchpoints. Their limited experience with digital touchpoints reinforce the challenging task even further (Okonkwo, 2009; Heine & Berghaus, 2014). Not reacting does not seem to be an option in light of the market developments. Following every trend and being present in every possible channel does not appear to be the most compelling strategy either. It raises the risk of inconsistency and badly managed interactions. Rather, companies need to define goals along the customer journey, pick the right touchpoints and manage them in a way to reach those goals, and deduct strategies to provide an integrated customer experience. The question arises how can brands successfully exploit touchpoint strategies to engage Millennials in the luxury market? Most published studies focus on specific groups of touchpoints and conclude that a more holistic understanding of customer interactions is needed (Baxendale, Macdonald & Wilson, 2015; Verhoef & Lemon, 2016). Also in the luxury segment, research has mainly explored the new digital touchpoints or the retail channel in particular, but not taken a holistic view discussing overall touchpoint strategies (e.g. Kim & Ko, 2012; Heine & Berghaus, 2014; Lee & Watkins, 2016). We aim to close this gap by taking a strategic view on touchpoint management and its goals focusing on the luxury industry and Millennial consumers as a customer group to secure a forward-looking perspective. Based on Baxendale et al. (2015) we define a touchpoint as each direct or indirect interaction of a consumer with a brand. This means that brand to consumer as well as consumer to consumer and third party to consumer interactions are included in our understanding, which appears to be highly relevant in light of the high importance of word of mouth referrals for luxury brands and the increasing relevance of bloggers and influencers. To understand which touchpoints should and can be used for which purposes, we first want to understand what goals companies pursue along the customer journey and then deduct which touchpoints can help them accomplish those goals. Is a brand website for example a tool that should convert customers to buy or is it rather an information tool that nurtures awareness in the pre-purchase phase? Depending on the answer, the content and website design as well as the definition what constitutes success for the website presence need to be fundamentally different. If the goal has not been defined in advance, the management of the website may appear difficult as different directions may be pursued. To shed light on these challenges, we use a literature review to develop a semi-structured interview guide. We then speak to industry experts to learn more about the goals they pursue in each phase of interaction with consumers along the customer journey. We deduct the types of interactions that are the most fruitful to successfully perform these interactions. This way, we aim to deduct first insights into the management of touchpoints. These can later on be further deepened.