Context – The luxury market has, in recent years, continued to grow substantially and has been helped by the boost and growing appetite of emerging economies. Indeed Luxury is one of the fastest-growing brand sectors (Berthon et al., 2009). Due to the high supply and vast choice available in the various segments including luxury goods, consumers nowadays are no longer loyal to one single brand but they prefer to choose and have a demanding and critical attitude towards exactly what they want to purchase (Okonkwo, 2007). By looking at the recent transformations in the globalised and ever more connected world, we can see that the luxury market has expanded, from a limited availability to a select group of consumers (the few who could afford the price), to a market with more people of moderate means having access to the product and all its inherent passion (Okonkwo, 2009, Silverstein and Fiske, 2003). However, the concept of luxury, although defined widely (Dubois et al., 2001 and Vickers and Renand, 2003, among the most popular definitions), does not appear to have a consensus on the definition (Choi, 2003; Wiedmann, Hennigs and Siebels, 2009). It is crucial to understand the reasons why consumers buy luxury (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009; Keller, 2009) and the perception process (Tynan, McKechnie and Chhuon, 2010; Wiedmann, Hennigs and Siebels, 2007). Learning how consumers process their knowledge from the attributes of a luxury brand and attribute them a meaning (perception process) followed by a certain conditioned response (learning process experienced due to culture or brand’s marketing strategy), appears relevant to unveil the effectiveness of luxury brands across European consumers. Moreover this understanding should be framed in a cross-cultural context in order to be relevant for the sector (Dubois, Czellar and Laurent, 2005; Shukla, Shkula and Sharma, 2009). Purpose – The aim of this study is to measure the effectiveness of luxury brands strategies, through a cross-cultural comparison. By doing so, the authors attempt to develop a framework that intends to measure the perception process alongside purchase intentions, mapping it with the marketing strategies that have been proposed by brands at different segments. Design/methodology/approach – The methodological approach followed in this paper was to systematically review the academic literature on luxury brands and identify the different concepts of luxury as well as provide an overview of the segment from a European perspective. Through the analysis of the brand strategies used by different typologies of luxury brands (inaccessible, intermediate and accessible), the researchers intended to clarify the learning process and meaning transfer that takes place in the studied markets: UK, Spain, Germany and Italy. Motivations for buying luxury were also measured from a transnational perspective to fully understand matchability in the perception process and purchase intentions. This research has used existing theories based on the areas mentioned above to create hypotheses that were statistically tested using SPSS, evaluating if hypotheses raised can be supported or not. By deductive reasoning, established theories were used to develop and examine hypotheses in contemplation of the explanation of laws (Bryman and Bell, 2011), using a deductive research approach. Through quota sampling the results can be generalized to a larger population. Originality/value – Several authors have pointed out the need for further analysis on luxury value perception (Shukla and Purani, 2012; Tynan, McKechnie and Chuon, 2010; Christodouilides, Michaelidou, N. and Li, 2009; Vigneron and Johnson, 2004; Wiedmann, Hennings and Siebels, 2009) The knowledge on consumers’ perception of luxury should be enlarged and better methodologically oriented, making a transnational research project like this of greater importance. With this in mind, the findings provide valuable strategic insights for luxury brands to use across the different EU markets. Findings –We are running the research so to have the results and provide the expected contribution with this paper.