As a result of the growing abandon of traditional advertising approaches, luxury brands are strategically focusing on social media marketing influencers for product and services’ endorsement through daily narratives (Abidin, 2016; De Veirman et al, 2017). Nowadays, social media are an integral part of marketing and advertising. The use of social media sites as twitter, facebook, instagram etc has started to be a part of the luxury fashion brands « advertising » campaign and has shown a valuable opportunity for luxury fashion brands to position themselves in new markets. Social media, in their being a two-way platforms for communication by allowing users to interact with each other (Kim and Ko, 2010) and share information but also with influencers, may represent a fundamental tool to increase customer awareness and improve customer relationship in particular in China. This study aims at exploring and analysing how a Chinese social media became the main trend setter for luxury fashion brands in China and how its influencers played a key role in reinforcing customer relationship for the luxury fashion market in China. The study focus will be on the main Chinese social media platform for luxury fashion, Wechat, and the role of influencers in increasing Chinese luxury customers’ brand awareness and relationship. Through the study of the social platform and its SMM – social media marketing – influencers’ and advertising followers, the article will analyse and provide the success factors for Wechat social media platform in positioning itself as the most influential SMM platform for luxury fashion brands in China.

In the current digital word, social media represent a relevant tool for marketing and communications strategies, which create new opportunities for firms to engage with their customers (Leeflang, Verhoef, Dahlström, & Freundt, 2013; Lemon & Verhoef, 2016; Libai et al., 2010). Among the sectors that leverage on social media in their communications, the luxury industry represents a main one. As previous research has mainly analyzed the consumer-side (Godey et al., 2016; Jin, 2012; Kim & Ko, 2012) overlooking the firm-side, the aim of this study is to investigate the cross-cultural issues faced by foreign luxury brands in implementing their social media strategies in China by carrying out a qualitative inquiry. China is the setting of analysis as it represents an increasingly relevant luxury market, characterized by the role of digital media as main communications and sales channel. Data collected consist of semistructured interviews with managers from foreign luxury brands operating in China in order to understand the issues faced and the strategies implemented. Moreover, an analysis of their social media presence on Chinese platforms such as WeChat and Weibo is conducted by considering the type of response activated among users. As pointed out by Belk (2017), qualitative advertising research can provide a better understanding of consumer response to advertising also in the rapidly growing field of social media, which have been mainly unexplored by qualitative approaches (Hadija, Barnes, & Hair, 2012). Moreover, an analysis on the firm-side will fill a gap in the existing literature and provide relevant managerial implications for international firms that operate in China.

The economic growth that East Asian countries (in particular China) experience led to a dramatic increase in the demand for luxury products. The widespread use of them has eliminated to an extent the scarcity effect that distinguishes luxury products from ordinary goods. Yet, these products are largely desired, sought after and distributed with a high price tag, thereupon establishing the new class of neo-luxury products. The current body of knowledge regarding the consumption of luxury products is mostly based on economic and marketing research. There is little reference to the design of luxury goods and even less reference to the effects of design on the perception of luxury goods. Often, marketing research uses terms such as authenticity and aesthetics when defining and describing luxury brands and goods. Nonetheless, “design” is almost completely overlooked in these analyses. Rather, there is an assumption that design is automatically considered an embedded part of luxury creation through words such as “authentic”, “aesthetic” and “heritage.” Nonetheless, looking at the heritage aspects of luxurious products design, one may identify the building blocks that have been present in this market for centuries to create successful brands and products and, during the recent global economic changes, have transform into the new category of "mass luxury". This new product category of neo-luxury products should be looked at and analysed as a class of its own, distinct from luxury goods. In this respect, the luxury segment of the Chinese market is particularly interesting, since it had not experienced this genre of consumerism during most of the contemporary history of the western luxury industry post WWII. Thereupon, the new luxury design that addresses this rapidly growing and relatively immature market does it by harnessing the heritage and the conventional framework of luxury and luxury goods in new ways that can referred to as neo-luxury. The role and position of luxury goods are somewhat questioned in today's mass market: Often, in past times, luxury was associated with rarity (or, at least, with singling out an individual user from the masses of consumers of a similar category product). The paper aims at identifying the attributes of the new, rising class of neo-luxury products that distinguish themselves from the “conventional” luxury goods by utilizing qualitative materials and design. In this respect, aspects of heritage play a major role in the strategic design of these products. Further, they assist in establishing, promoting and