This study was designed to investigate luxury brand co-value creation. A mixed method approach was used to 1) identify encounter attributes of value co-creation, consumer value and brand value and 2) examine the relationships among encounter attributes, consumer value, brand value, and purchase intention to explain the process of value co-creation.

This study aims to investigate the effects of price promotions on the perception of a brand in the mind of consumer in luxury market. This study extends the previous literature on price promotional strategy and brand equity (brand awareness, brand image, and brand loyalty) by focusing on how a consumer perceives functional value and psychological value to create brand equity in luxury products.

There is relatively little evidence on how social media marketing activities influence brand equity creation and consumers’ behavior towards the brand. We explore these relationships by analyzing pioneering brands in the luxury sector (Burberry, Dior, Gucci, Hermès, and Louis Vuitton). Based on a survey of 845 luxury brand consumers (Chinese, French, Indian and Italian) who follow the five brands studied on social media, we developed a structural equation model that helps to address gaps in prior social media branding literature. Specifically, our study demonstrates the links between social media marketing efforts – measured as a holistic concept incorporating five aspects (entertainment, interaction, trendiness, customization and word of mouth) and their consequences (brand preference, price premium and loyalty).

As luxury brands have become a globalised phenomenon, marked with the appearance of recognizable and standardized platforms worldwide, we ask how their consumption and meanings are shaped by divergent cultural beliefs that permeate contemporary multicultural marketplaces. Cross-cultural luxury branding literature advises luxury brand managers to cultivate coherent brand identities tied to their internal ‘brand DNA’, with the aim to translate this identity into a consistent global brand image. However, this managerial commitment to a standardized approach in international marketing has meant that brand researchers often adopt an ethnocentric perspective on branding, characterized with the tendency to assess marketplaces in terms of their various degrees of ‘glocalization’. Consequently, the literature on cross-cultural luxury branding has largely focused on the effects of global positioning and local cultural influences, paying little attention to the influences of other foreign cultures that may operate within a multicultural marketplace. This paper is concerned with advancing our knowledge about how complex multicultural influences shape luxury brand markets. In particular, focusing on the interplay between local and foreign cultural meanings in a single national market, we demonstrate how the consumption of luxury brands is influenced by multiple, and at times conflicting, cultural beliefs. Luxury brands and cultural meanings are thoroughly intertwined. Throughout history, the idea of luxury has been influenced by various ideological beliefs, providing an “illuminating entrée into a basic political issue, namely, the nature of social order” (Berry, 1994: 6). For instance, since ancient civilisations, such as the Egyptians and Amerindians, luxury goods have been used as the symbol of status and power (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). In the days of Plato and early Christianity, luxury was also perceived in a pejorative form that signified the corruption of a virtuous manly life; and with the works of Adam Smith, the idea of luxury has become a vindication of commercial society (Berry, 1994). Over the last two decades, we have witnessed unprecedented demand for luxury brands by international consumers in Japan, in East Asia, and now in the BRIC (i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and CIVETS countries (i.e., Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, and South Africa) (Kapferer, 2012). Due to the accelerated flows of consumption meanings, ideologies, and people resulting from global economic forces (Appadurai, 1997), many of these emerging marketplaces are characterized by cross-cutting cultural flows, exhibiting a high degree of inner differentiation and complexity (Craig and Douglas, 2006), mutual entanglement (Robertson, 1992; Welsh, 1999), and interpenetration (Andreasen, 1990). Consequently, there is a growing need to advance our understanding of how increasing multicultural influences shape luxury brand markets. Informed by a cultural branding approach (Bengtsson et al., 2010) and research on multicultural marketplaces (Craig and Douglas, 2006), we address this issue in cross-cultural luxury branding by offering a qualitative inquiry into luxury brand consumption in New Zealand, uncovering the interplay between two distinct cultural beliefs permeating this multicultural market – the local Kiwi ‘tall poppy syndrome’ and the foreign ‘face-saving’ orientation originating from East Asian immigrant cultures. The Kiwi tall poppy syndrome conveys a negative social attitude towards people (the ‘tall poppies’) who are conspicuously successful and whose distinction, rank, or wealth attracts envious notice or hostility (Mouly and Sankaran, 2002). Conversely, the East Asian ‘face-saving’ orientation is concerned with the social image of success that an individual projects in society (Le Monkhouse et al., 2012). We found that not only did these two local and foreign cultural beliefs convey oppositional meanings about luxury brands in New Zealand, but they also prompted consumers to adopt different luxury brand consumption styles. Furthermore, despite being oppositional in nature, our findings suggest that these beliefs could jointly influence individual consumers, adding yet increased complexity to how these individuals consumed luxury brands. In particular, we demonstrate that luxury brand consumers in New Zealand are able to hold multiple and conflicting local and foreign cultural beliefs in tension, emerging as contextual cultural shifters. While the literature on cross-national luxury branding conventionally privileges cross-national methods which tend to de-emphasise the heterogeneity within national luxury markets (Wiedmann et al., 2007), the results of our study suggest the need to consider intercultural diversity at the intra-national level. Indeed, Brewer and Venaik (2012) decry the danger of applying culture-level constructs to the level of the individual. Brubaker (2004) calls this the fallacy of groupism, where we treat ethnic groups as concrete entities instead of seeing group-making as an on-going project. This is echoed by Calhoun (2003: 547) who encourages “avoiding the illusion that plagued much earlier thoughts of ethnicity and nationalism – that there was one basic identity common to all members of a group.” Essentially, when an individual’s cultural identity is reduced to the nationality or the ethnicity that he or she declares on a survey, not only does this overlook the multidimensionality and complexity of cultural influences which shape how they consume luxury brands, but this also misses further opportunities to engage with luxury brand consumers. While some cross-national luxury consumption studies have accommodated a degree of complexity with the consideration of differences between global and local cultures (e.g., Park et al., 2008; Shukla and Purani, 2012), the results of our study show that, within multicultural marketplaces, the level of cultural complexity goes beyond the global-local dichotomy. Rather, the consumption of luxury brands is transculturally constituted and derived from multiple forms of belonging (Calhoun, 2003). In these markets, consumers find themselves negotiating the meanings and consumption styles of luxury brands at the confluence of multiple cultural beliefs. For marketers operating within multicultural markets, this means that nationality, ethnicity, and degree of glocalisation may be less useful bases for segmentation, prompting the consideration of other ways in which to understand and use cultural influences in segmenting, targeting, and positioning luxury brands. In our study, two distinct cultural belief systems, one local and one foreign, shaped luxury brand consumption in New Zealand. Furthermore, these cultural beliefs were not necessarily tied to an individual consumer’s ethnicity. Given these complexities, it may be more useful to consider other bases of segmentation such as the influence of situational factors (Douglas and Craig, 2011) and the relative salience among multiple cultural beliefs. Furthermore, this is the first study to empirically demonstrate the impact of multiculturalism on luxury brand markets, where consumers emerge as contextual cultural shifters. Our findings illustrate that contextual factors in a multicultural marketplace, like a filter, shaped which cultural influences were appropriated by individual consumers in a given consumption situation. Thus, underlying any given luxury brand consumption situation is a complex interplay between multicultural influences, situational norms, and individual factors. This prompts multiple considerations for luxury brand managers. Might it be possible to go a step further and encourage consumers to adopt culturally-constituted consumption styles which fit better with one’s brand positioning? More specifically, by questioning which cultural influences underpinning luxury brands are more dominant for them, consumers could be encouraged to reconsider their personal uses and attitudes towards luxury brands. Further research is required to find out what contexts are likely to tilt consumers’ consideration in favour of one cultural influence over another. If a luxury brand is a status symbol, might it be possible to prime both Western and Asian consumers to switch to status-conspicuous beliefs? For example, what cues and appeals might marketers present to encourage consumers to think in a more face-saving way? If a brand is understated, might it be possible to prime consumers to adhere to cultural beliefs which encourage more discreet styles of consumption? For example, what cues and appeals might marketers present to encourage consumers to consider the tall poppy syndrome? Such research would be particularly useful for marketers who have little room for repositioning their luxury brand image. Finally, rather than a glocal branding approach, which involves cultivating brand identity within the organisation and overcoming local brand image inconsistencies (Matthiesen and Phau, 2005), we posit that managers need to adopt a multicultural branding approach. We envision that such an approach would involve identifying and pursuing opportunities for the development of dynamic brand identities (da Silveira et al., 2011), where luxury brand managers can assume the role of proactive architects of luxury brand cultures which support diverse modes of luxury brand consumption. This carries implications for cross-cultural luxury branding on three levels. At the basic level, a multicultural branding approach involves paying closer attention to the contextual topography of a given marketplace and consumer receptivity to global, local, and foreign cultural beliefs. As our study showed, a luxury brand entering an emergent multicultural market like New Zealand will invariably face consumer resistance due to the influence of the dominant Kiwi ‘tall poppy’ syndrome. However, this is by no means a monolithic discourse; its influence is uneven. Because of greater diversity and intercultural exchange, consumers in cosmopolitan centres such as Auckland are more likely to be receptive to other cultural influences. As such, it would be a logical point of entry for a global luxury brand. This also suggests that, rather than cross-national differences, segmentation based on the prevalence of multiple cultural beliefs and consumption styles in major cities could be a more appropriate strategy for luxury branding. At a more advanced level, luxury brand managers can not only select, but also focus on proactively cultivating the most conducive contexts, where consumers would feel more empowered to appropriate their desired luxury brand consumption styles within a multicultural marketplace. In doing so, marketers will be able to both target the increasing buying power of ethnic consumers by appealing to their foreign consumption styles (Lisanti, 2010), as well as to find a better positioning to the mainstream consumers who are receptive to cultural shifting. For instance, several respondents in our study presented an interesting dynamic between the two cultural influences: on one hand, they have a desire to consume luxury brands in a more conspicuous way due to the influence of face-saving beliefs, but on the other hand, they feel that they must suppress this desire due to the influence of the Kiwi ‘tall poppy’ syndrome. To unlock this hidden market potential, luxury brand marketers would do well to design liminal spaces and retail spectacles (Kozinets et al., 2004). In the same way that the “Coca-Cola Telenovela Club” provided a liminal space in which Latina moms in the US could explore and perform their love of telenovelas (Lisanti 2010), luxury brand managers might design similar liminal spaces and retail spectacles where could safely circumvent the influence of the local tall poppy syndrome. In contrast to the social sanctions on conspicuous consumption in their everyday lives, liminal spaces can provide an immersive space where foreign styles of brand consumption can be affirmed and cultivated. In other words, luxury brand managers can empower consumers to appropriate their desired culturally-constituted meanings and, therefore, to endorse the particular styles of luxury brand consumption within a multicultural marketplace. Finally, at the broader strategic level, rather than cultivating brand identity entirely within the organisation and then communicating this identity to consumers, luxury brand managers can aim to collaborate with the diverse range of consumers in developing a dynamic multicultural brand identity. This strategy would involve incorporating a wider range of cultural meanings and developing the most appropriate brand positioning(s), thereby addressing tensions around the conflicting luxury brand consumption styles within a multicultural marketplace. In line with the cultural branding (Bengtsson et al., 2010) and dynamic brand identity (da Silveira et al., 2013: 31) approaches, the multicultural branding approach should view brand identity as developing over time through “mutually influencing inputs from several social constituents” that include both brand managers and consumers. Moreover, it should focus on more proactively and thoroughly intertwining the on-going social construction of brand meaning with the on-going evolution of multiculturally-informed consumption styles of luxury branding that emerge within a marketplace. In short, by assuming the role of cultural architects, luxury brand marketers must become more aware of the varying sensitivities of consumers to multiple cultural beliefs and practices across a range of contexts, proactively cultivate contexts which enhance their brand receptiveness, and strive to construct multiculturally-informed dynamic brand identities that embed the brand image more deeply within a marketplace and assist consumers in coping with dynamic cultural change.

Consumers today are not passive recipients of a constructed brand identity that is communicated towards them. Instead research suggests that the consumer is in fact an active part in constructing brand meaning. Salzer-Mörling and Strannegård (2004) held that brand managers are confronted with the fact that they are not the owners of the brand who can actively manipulate brand images in the minds of passive consumers. The importance of consumption activities and how these play a part in the development of meaning has been demonstrated by authors such as Wallendorf and Arnould (1991), who interpreted the consumption rituals of Thanksgiving and explored the linkages and cleavages between consumer ideology and consumer practice. Arnould and Price (1993) investigated the relationship between client expectations and satisfaction and concluded that the narrative of the rafting experience (multiday river rafting trips in the Colorado River basin was the empirical context for their article) rather than relationships between expectations and outcomes was central to its evaluation. Belk and Costa (1998) showed the creation of fantasy consumption enclaves through processes of inventing and mythologizing tradition, and Peñaloza (2001) investigated consumers‘ cultural production processes at different levels and concluded that consumers negotiate meanings and that business activities and specific references are significant for consumers in providing authenticity. In later research it is argued that brands belong to and are created within groups, communities or tribes (e.g. Brown, Kozinets and Sherry Jr., 2003), or that consumers are actively creating brandscapes (Thompson and Arsel, 2004) neo-tribes (Cova and Cova, 2002), the concept of brand communities (Muniz and O‘Guinn, 2001; McAlexander, Schouten and Koenig, 2002; Muniz and Schau, 2005; Algesheimer, Dholakia and Herrmann, 2005), subcultures of consumption (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995), and brand cultures (Schroeder and Salzer-Mörling, 2006). Muniz and O‘Guinn (2001) emphasized the triangular relationship between consumers and the brand and consumer relationships. McAlexander, Schouten and Koenig (2002) broadened this perspective by studying customers´ relationships with a branded product and related marketing agents, institutions as well as other customers. In their view, consumers socialize around brands, which are defined as brand objects, but they still consider brand meaning as being developed first by marketers. Related to the brand community is the concept of ‘neo-tribes‘, examined by Cova and Cova (2002), who hold that a tribe is not necessarily a brand community, since brand communities are explicitly commercial, whereas tribes are not. However, when a tribe is organized around a same passion of a cult-object it exhibits many similarities with a brand community (p. 603). Alongside the concept of brand community research has viewed the consumer-producer dichotomy in new ways of co-production: the customer as co-producer (Wikström, 1996; Vargo and Lusch, 2004), the reversal of consumption and production (Firath and Venkatesh, 1993), the consumer role in production and consumption (Firath and Venkatesh, 1995), consumers as customizers and producers (Firath, Dholakia and Venkatesh, 1995), customers as active co-creators of experience (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2000), the concept of customerization (Wind and Rangaswamy, 2000). Bendapudi and Leone (2003) viewed customer co-production in the construction of goods and ser-vices and claimed that consumer co-production extends to meanings as well and that consumers are not ―just passive receptacles of brand identity projected by marketers; they are active co-producers of brand meanings (p.26). They called for more attention to the implications of consumer co-produced marketing images given the empowerment of consumers through the Internet. Kozinets et al. further (2004) introduced the notion of ―interagency where consumer and producer interests are embedded in one another. Quinton and Harridge-March (2010) investigated relationships in online communities and the potential influence of consumer generated communication in online discussion fora on wine. This paper views consumer generated communication on luxury brands online and its impact on luxury brand image. With the growth of the Internet and brands’ use of it so has consumer initiated sites grown. Consumer communities and brand communities are today an active participant in the creation of brand value and brand meaning. However there is still a gap in the empirical research on consumer-generated communication and how this type of communication impacts brand image. A conceptual framework for consumer community communication is presented and three empirical examples of consumer-generated communication and its impact on brand image are presented. The approach is a qualitative online study. Consumer community sites show clear examples of information, distribution and conversation aspects. This study shows that information seeking is the most prevalent in the impact on brand image. The strength of this research lies in its qualitative nature with consumer interviews and online observations of consumer-generated brand communication. Given the exploratory nature of this research the online material had to be systematized during the course of the work and could not be chosen based on a set of criteria or evaluation methods already established.

Luxury industry is one of the fastest growing fields in marketing research in which many studies have examined how consumers' background affects their preference for luxury products and luxury brands. Classical theories focused on the affluent social classes and their tendency to consume luxury products to consciously or unconsciously signal their wealth. Other studies argued that the internalised culture developed during the socialisation years may influence one’s tastes and preferences for luxuries. Whereas, “costly signal theory” and “affirmation resource theory” suggest that luxury consumption extends beyond the traditional symbolic value of luxury brands and the habituated taste consumption drivers. Despite the wealth of current theoretical approaches, there is little research on the context of status rankings of luxuries and luxury brands. Thus, main objective of the present study is to develop and empirically test a conceptual framework that links consumption of at different rungs of the luxury brand ladder to a number of variables that may act as moderators which will be defined below. The key predictors are economic resources, cultural capital, perceived social status and desired status. The dependent variable is consumption of luxury brands at different rungs in the luxury ladder. A number of hypotheses are proposed and empirically tested. The dependent variable was measured by survey data collected from a sample of US consumers. The results confirm that the frequency of luxury brand purchases is significantly and positively related to consumers’ economic resources and desire for status. The hierarchy of luxury brands consumed is driven by consumers’ economic resources, cultural capital and desire for social status. Regardless of economic resources and perceived social status, consumers with high desire for social status are more likely to buy brands which represent high level of luxury. Likewise, people with higher cultural capital would buy higher luxury grading brands regardless of their economic capabilities. Moreover, results showed that perceived social status is negatively correlated with preferences for higher tier luxury brands of cars. In particular, desire for social status seems to moderates the effect of perceived social status on the hierarchy of brand of luxury car preferences. Desire for status combined with high perceived social status leads to higher preference for higher tier luxury products. It can be concluded that economic resources are responsible for the frequency people buy luxury brands, whereas cultural capital is responsible for the luxury hierarchy of the consumed brands. Frequent consumption of luxury brands reflects one’s economic status whereas the grade of luxury brands his/her cultural status. However, desire for status seems to be a key variable as it affects both frequency and the ranks of luxury brands purchased. This is an important variable as desire for status is not related with neither the actual social status (i.e., economic resources and cultural capital) nor perceived social status.

This paper attempts to develop a new more representative typology exclusively for luxury brand personalities addressing the conceptual and methodological limitations of previous works. Existing brand personality measures (e.g. Aaker, 1997; Geuens, Weijters, & Wulf, 2009; Sweeney & Brandon, 2006) are grounded on human personality taxonomies, thereby rendering their ability to accurately capture the essence of luxury brand personality doubtful. They also inherit some of the conceptual and methodological issues from Aaker’s (1997) work, for which it has been recently criticised. This evidence points towards the need for a new measurement tool for luxury brands developed from scratch. Recognising the need to provide solid foundations of the luxury brand personality traits, the present paper uses lexical approach similar to the way it was used in the human personality scale development research (Cattell, 1943; Goldberg, 1982; John, Angleitner, & Ostendorf, 1988). The main reason for using natural language as a source of luxury brand personality attributes is based on the key assumption behind the lexical approach that most important individual differences will be encrypted into the language in the course of time (John et al., 1988). Embracing this assumption, we believe that the use of luxury brand personality descriptors in the natural language will determine their importance. The first step involved doing online text mining to learn how consumers describe various luxury brands, thereby generating a pool of items. Also, in-depth interviews were undertaken with frequent luxury buyers using Kelly’s repertory grid technique to facilitate construct elicitation. Next, the list of characteristics was screened against Norman’s (1967) comprehensive list of personality traits to ensure that only personality traits were retained in the pool. Finally, a new framework was developed by means of assigning items into different dimensions based on semantic similarities of traits and was juxtaposed with existing brand personality measures. Luxury brand personality appears to comprise twelve salient personality dimensions that cannot be directly matched with existing personality measures. The new typology reveals some unique traits and dimensions that could improve the construct’s content validity and facilitate marketers’ branding decisions. Comparisons with other frameworks support the view that luxury brand personalities are different in consumers’ common parlance and require a separate measure. Some concerns related to the consistency and also content and construct validity are highlighted in this work and call for further examination.

The purpose of this study is to examine the brand image and county of manufacture(COM) effect on brand luxury index, especially when the acquirer brand is afflicted by a low brand image and the acquired brand enjoys a high brand image. There were 248 responses in Taiwan (low image differences were gathered from 119 respondents and high image differences were gathered from 129 respondents). The results indicate that brand image have a positive influence on every dimension of brand luxury, while the better the luxury brand image acquired by one with an inferior image, the more the brand luxury will increase. Regarding the COM effect, the better COM image the acquirer move to, the more the brand luxury will increase. In addition, brand image and COM have interactive effect.

This study explores relationship between social responsibility in advertising and brand attitude in luxury products. This study investgates how psychological constructs of attitude towards advertising affect brand attitude and purchase intention of luxury brand consumer and how it can lead the sustainable development of luxury products. Consumers no longer purchase products only but depend on quality and price of product. With globalization and rapid growth, corporate social responsibility becomes important issue. And the advertising represents corporate image and management concept. More recently, and coinciding with some major corporate ethical disasters, many companies have been including sections on governance, ethical practice, and social responsibility (David S. Waller & Roman Lanis, 2009). According to David S. Waller & Roman Lanis (2009), Corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure has been the subject of substantial academic accounting research (Farook and Lanis 2005; Gray, Owen, and Maunders 1987). Advertising is one of the typical means that can represent a corporate image. As defined by Lutz (1985, p. 53), attitude toward advertising in general is “a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner to advertising in general.” In his framework, Lutz viewed attitude toward advertising in general as being directly influenced by general perceptions of advertising (Srinivas Durvasula et al., 1993). Authors would like to study following issues in this research. (1) How perceived social responsibility influences Attitude toward advertising. (2) How fashion consumer behavior influences Attitude toward advertising. (3) How attitude toward advertising affects brand attitude and purchase intention. (4) How proximity plays a moderating role among perceived social responsibility, attitude toward advertising and brand attitude.

This paper considers the standardisation-localisation debate and analyses qualitative data from 22 luxury fashion retailers to reveal the decision-making process for marketing strategies that support entry into China, in terms of balancing the ‘global-local dilemma’ in an emerging marketplace alongside the need to maintain exclusivity of brand image across markets.

Based on research on human personality perception, we propose that endorsers in advertisements transfer metaphoric meaning of their body postures to customers’ brand perceptions and discuss them as a neglected antecedent of brand personality. Our findings suggest that the body posture of endorsers generally enforces brand personality perceptions.

The luxury market is surely one of the most affected areas by the counterfeiting phenomenon. The presence of fake goods means very often a financial loss for companies, both in terms of reduced turnover, but also in terms of intangible losses (i.e. brand value reduction). This phenomenon has led companies, in the last years, to ask their New Product Development (NPD) division if and how it was possible to develop unique products, difficult or even impossible to replicate, and how to help customers in the identification of authentic goods versus fake ones. The authors propose a model to support fashion companies for developing anti-counterfeiting solutions since the NPD phases in order to deal with the effect of black and grey market and preserve their brand and products values.

The objective of this paper is to understand consumers’ responses (attitude, perception of quality and luxury) to production delocalization in the luxury industry, based on brand origin matching consumers’ origin or not, in order to understand the interaction brand origin and consumer ethnocentrism on those responses.Two experiments were conducted. Study 1 exposes 166 respondents (French, Italian and other European) to a message of delocalization of either a French or Italian brand supposed to delocalize production to China. Study 2 assesses, among 62 French women, the implicit preference toward French luxury brands (through the Implicit Association Test, Greenwald et al. 1998) and the level of consumer ethnocentrism (through CETSCALE, Sharma et al. 1995). Then, the group is exposed between subjects to 2 delocalization messages X 2 country of delocalization (China, Poland EU) Although brand origin is not salient when consumers evaluate brands (no explicit preference for French brands over Italian brands across studies), it is nonetheless present below awareness, as part of the brand heritage and the brand identity (measured through an implicit preference for French brands over Italian brands among our French respondents). It manifests in context of brands delocalizing out of the home country. Across studies, the attitude toward the brand, the perception of quality and perception of luxury is affected negatively post-exposure to a message of delocalization. Yet, this result is moderated by consumer ethnocentrism and message framing. When the message induces positive consequences for the brand and for the national economy, French respondents (and Italian respondents in study 1) are less affected by the delocalization of their home brands than other respondents. In turn, when the message highlights a loss in national employment, respondents judge the brand more negatively. The effect is stronger for respondents higher in ethnocentrism. The country of delocalization does not influence those results. There is scarcity of papers investigating the CoO effect for luxury brands, although the luxury business model and luxury brand identity are rooted into brand origin. This paper is the first to our knowledge to investigate the effect of brand origin and consumer ethnocentrism on brand delocalization.

The Brazilian luxury market has been rising since 2006, between 2010 and 2011 the growth rate was 33%. The stabilization of the currency, opening to imports and improving the population's purchasing power has given impetus to the growing demand for luxury brands that has grown steadily over the past 10 years with a rate of 10% per year. This growth is important indicator of the future of this market still represents only 0.7% of the demand for luxury items. (Brazil, 2010) Major luxury brands belonging to multinational corporations have already opened their own stores in Brazil. Some Brazilian luxury brands like H. Stern (jewelry) have operations in another countries. Other luxury companies are Fasano (hotel and food service), Osklen (fashion), Francesca Romana (jewelry) and Carmen Steffens (fashion). The company Trousseau focuses on homeware and differentiates the uniqueness of their products, enhancing the quality of fabrics and finishes. It has 21 stores and is present in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia and Salvador, and the virtual store (www.trousseau.com.br). The chocolate company Chocolat du Jour exists since 1987 underscores the high quality raw material and care in the preparation (http://www.chocolatdujour.com.br/) The “Les Lis Blanc” is a very expressive brand in this market, which has started with women wear and currently is a corporate group with the brands “Noir” (male wear), “Les Lis Blanc Beauté”, “John John” (casual wear), “Bobo” (fashion). Until the 1990s, some traditional luxury brands were operating in Brazil with a limited number of product lines and only through representatives. The decision to change the mode of operation in Brazil coincided with some factors of the national and global context. Locally, there was the opening of importation and stabilization of the economy, which until then had high inflation rates: between 1990 and 1994 the average rate of inflation was 764% a year (http://www.brasil.gov.br/sobre/ economic / financial market / inflation). In addition, there was an increase in the purchasing power of the population. In the external environment, the low rates of growth in the European market and the terrorist attacks that have diminished the flow of tourists in Europe and negatively affected the market at the beginning of the XXI century. The first flagship stores of international luxury brands in Brazil came to the city of São Paulo in the neighborhood of Jardins. The first street to get luxury brands was the Oscar Freire road (in São Paulo) and surroundings where these stores were concentrated in the first time. Even today, this region has a large number of stores of luxury brands. However, there was a migration of them to the shopping malls or malls - businesses closed as high street stores are considered less safe for the majority of the population. Nowadays the concentration of new luxury stores is in malls of the main capitals. In the state of São Paulo there is the “Shopping Iguatemi”, “Cidade Jardim”, “JK Iguatemi”. In Rio de Janeiro luxury points of sale are at “Fashion Mall”, “Shopping Leblon”, “Village Mall”. In Brasília (the capital) most important ones are “Iguatemi” and “Magrella”. The first Mall in Brazil was opened in 1966: "Iguatemi" in São Paulo. It was soon seen as the natural successor of the specialized street and the first to receive international luxury brands. It is part of a large business group called Jereissati, which one area of activity is called Premium malls, facing socioeconomic classes A and B. In 2012 the group released another shopping mall called JK Iguatemi (related to its location on Juscelino Kubitschek Avenue) although it calls itself Premium several luxury brands are present: Chanel, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Carolina Herrera, Christian Louboutin, Chanel, Goyard, Longchamp, Miu Mil, Prada, Rimowa, Tod's, Tory Burch. Also in Sao Paulo in May 2008 another mall was opened “Shopping Cidade Jardim”, positioned as an upscale mall it is part of the venture group JHSF. The origin of the company is in construction sector and has other shopping centers in Brazil, but not using luxury concepts. The interior and exterior architecture can be seen in the design presenting natural lighting and gardens. The stores mix combines brands Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Red Valentino, Cartier, La Martina, Canali, Prada, Gucci the biggest of Latin America, Tag Heuer, Dior and Miu Miu, Fendi, Tod's and Repetto. These malls play an important role in the luxury market in Brazil. They are poles of attraction for international brands by offering an atmosphere consistent with their image and also pulling a large flow of consumers looking for a safer environment, greater convenience and glamour for their shopping. Before the emergence of these poles of luxury, the distribution of luxury goods in Brazil relied mostly on multi-brand stores, amongst which was the pioneer Daslu. Currently been supplanted by other projects of the same type as the Magrella Brasilia and NKStore. NK store is a clothing store that also has multi own brands (Talienk, Nk and Nkfitness) located in the Jardins neighborhood of São Paulo. Founded in 1997 by Natalie Klein daughter of a great Brazilian business, the shop features international brands: Stella Mccartney, Marc Jacobs, Marc By Marc Jacobs, Lanvin, Balmain, Givenchy, Issa, Alaïa, Catherine Malandrino, Malandrino, Blumarine, Celine, Pucci , Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang, Isabel Marant, Maison Michael, Aurélie Bidermann, Fiona Paxton and Moncler. Lim, Alexander Wang, Isabel Marant, Maison Michael, Aurélie Bidermann, Fiona Paxton e Moncler. There is one Brazilian Association of Luxury (ABRAEL), recently created. The aim is to gather participants operating in Brazil and to support the development of activities related luxury. (http://www.abrael.org.br/abrael.php). Audi, A | X Armani Exchange, Breitling, Cartier, Chanel, Estee Lauder, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany & Co. and Swarovski are associated and also Brazilian brands are present in the premium segments of fashion, homeware and services. Not all luxury brands are part of the Brazilian Association. Challenges Luxury companies established in Brazil have many challenges. The major challenge is to deal with the fluctuation of the exchange rate, the dollar trade is strongly linked to the situation in the Eurozone. (Cenarios FGV, 2013). Euros and Dollars can be freely purchased in exchange offices, banks or from individuals, the price depends on the market. Upper classes use to travel and make price and product comparisons, aware of product characteristics and prices levels outside the country these consumers need to fell advantages when purchasing in Brazil. Another challenge to be faced is the inefficiency of the infrastructure. The transport of cargo is mainly done by road transport. With dimension of 8,515,767.049 km ² (IBGE, Nov/2012) Brazil has only 96,353 km of paved roads (Portal Brazil, 2013). Ocean Ports are one bottleneck in international trade and the delivery of imported goods is undermined. Imported products must present legal wording on the packaging as the registration number of the legal entity (one number per company), and depending on their nature should get a registered number with the Ministry of Health or Agriculture. The complex taxation system is based on triggering events, such as the physical entry of a product in Brazil. There are taxes that belong to the federal government, others to the State or County. The Free-on-bord price (FOB) of the product might increase between 30 and 150% depending on the category and, moreover, the taxes overlap each other in what is called cascading effect. On average, there is a charge of 20% above FOB prices called Import Tax (II), 12% on the movement of goods and services (ICMS), 7% Tax industrialization of products, and other fees with lower tax rates, called by the acronyms COFINS PIS, PASEP. Besides the heavy tax structure and insufficient infrastructure, businessmen from luxury companies in Brazil complain about the difficulty in hiring skilled employees, especially to work in retail outlets. There is a lack of sellers with good training and general culture. Brazilian brands have an extra disadvantage comparing to foreign brands because Brazilian consumers tend to put more value on imported brands. This is rooted in the colonialist period, immigration and the prohibition of imports during the dictatorship. Luxury business in Brazil should continue to grow in coming years. The Brazilian consumer would increase his knowledge about luxury brands concepts and become more demanding and comparative in their consumption choices. Luxury retailing is expanding from the original points of sale which might affect the luxury perception of some brands.

본 연구는 중국 소비자를 대상으로 명품 브랜드 확장 시 영향의 요인을 살펴보기 위해 모브랜드의 특성 및 확장제품 간의 관계를 통합적으로 고찰하였다. 첫째, 모브랜드의 특성으로는 브랜드의 명품성 정도에 따라 명품 브랜드와 비명품 브랜드를 선정하여 브랜드 명품성이 브랜드 확장에 미치는 영향을 살펴보았다. 실증 연구 결과 소비자들은 명품 브랜드의 확장제품에 대해 비명품 브랜드의 확장제품보다 브랜드 확장에 대해 긍정적으로 평가하였다. 둘째, 확장제품의 일치성이 브랜드 확장에 미치는 영향을 알아보고자 하였다. 실증연구 결과 소비자들은 일치, 극도로 불일치한 확장제품보다 적당히 불일치한 확장제품을 더 긍정적으로 평가하였다. 또한 명품 브랜드, 비명품 브랜드에 적용하여 본 결과에서도 적당히 불일치한 브랜드 확장에 더 높은 호감도를 보였다. 마지막으로 브랜드의 명품성과 확장제품 일치성의 상호작용에 따른 브랜드 확장 평가에 미치는 영향에 대해 살펴보았는데 중국소비자들을 대상으로 실증연구한 결과 브랜드의 명품성과 확장제품의 일치성 정도는 브랜드 확장 평가에 상호작용을 나타내었다. 이러한 결과는 중국 소비자들에게 어필하기 위해서는 ‘브랜드의 명품성’과 ‘확장제품의 일치성’이라는 변인을 접목시켜 브랜드 확장 전략을 사용해야 됨을 실증한 결과이다. 따라서 두 변인 간의 연결 고리를 확고히 하고, 브랜드 확장을 통해 중국 소비자들과의 긴밀한 관계를 형성하는 것이 효과적으로 자사의 브랜드 확장 제품을 인식시킬 수 있다는 시사점을 제공해 준다.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the brand awareness, attributes and purchase behaviors for luxury products in the age of mcluxury. In-depth interviews were conducted to 18 consumers(10 singles, 8 married) in the age range of 20～49 and having purchased luxury products twice in last 1 year. The interviews were directed by a trained mediator according to the interview guidelines and recorded. Interviewees were asked to talk freely and protocols were made for data analysis. Similarities were found regarding the salient attributes, brand awareness of luxury products as known in general; however, the perceived importance of each attribute of luxury products seemed to be changed as mcLuxury has continued. Moreover, the consumers' attitudes toward the luxury products consumption tended to become favorable than before, and the motives to buy luxury products were more valueoriented and self fulfillment rather than display one's wealth. The buying behaviors of luxury products vary among different age groups. However, most of them tended to purchase luxury products at duty-free shops and premium outlets while traveling abroad, or bought them on sale at domestic department stores.

The purpose of this study were to examine the effect of consumer-brand relationship of fashion luxury product on brand loyalty and the mediating effect of consumer satisfaction. The questionnaire developed through the literature search and a survey was conducted both in on-line and off-line questionnaire simultaneously. Finally 227 data from women who had a buying experience of fashion luxury products were analyzed using frequency, factor analysis, ANOVA, t-test, regression analysis by SPSS for WIN program. The results were as follows. First, the consumers' brand identification was composed of three factors; self-connection, interdependence, attachment. Second, the consumer- brand relationship significantly influenced on the brand loyalty. Third, the consumer-brand relationship significantly influenced on the consumer satisfaction. Fourth, the consumer satisfaction significantly influenced on the brand loyalty. Fifth, the consumer-brand relationship had both direct and indirect effects on brand loyalty mediated by consumer satisfaction. The results indicated that causal relationship was existed among these three variables.