Customer engagement has been a focus of a significant amount of research. Most of the prior research on customer engagement typically focused on engagement and loyalty in loyalty program context, while the impact of rewarded customer engagement on program members has largely been missed out. Additionally, no prior study yet has focused on the conceptualization of rewarded customer engagement, while exploring and comparing its significance on various digital platforms, such as loyalty programs and Metaverse. Thus, this study aims to conceptualize rewarded customer engagement while investigating its impact on loyalty program members, and whether it induces and/or encourages their engagement in brand’s Metaverse platform(s).

Despite significant research and progress in examining the effects of loyalty programs on consumer behavior and firm performance, it is still unclear the firm value implications of these programs. The main goal of this article is to investigate whether announcements related to the loyalty program introduction affect firm value. In addition, the current research examines the moderating role of program, firm, and market factors in order to present a complete picture. The authors test the hypotheses empirically by conducting an event study of 134 announcements which cover a set of firms in the United States in five industries for 17 years from 2000 to 2016. We find that on average, the introduction of a loyalty program is positively related to firm value. Findings of this study will help managers understand how and under what conditions, they should introduce a loyalty program in order to affect firm value positively.

In the last decade loyalty programs have gained popularity across various industries. They are one of the most popular marketing tools that companies use to increase retention, enhance loyalty and gather ‘big data’. The number of companies adopting loyalty programs is rapidly increasing with fashion department stores grown their loyalty program subscriptions by 70% between 2010 and 2012 (Colloquy, 2013). One of the main reasons for this growth can be attributed to the benefits fashion retailers offer to their customers. A new body of current research had directed its attention to a comprehensive set of benefits offered by loyalty programs as well as their potential to increase customer retention and profitability (Evanschitzky et al., 2012). Until recently, it was debatable if loyalty programs can be effective and appropriate in luxury retailing (Lowenstein, 2009), despite research evidence showing a positive effect of loyalty programs’ benefits on customer retention (e.g. Mimouni-Chaabane & Volle, 2010). Traditionally, luxury companies and retailers build loyalty through top-end and differentiated customer experiences. If loyalty schemes were to succeed in the luxury sector they had to deliver the kind of recognition and rewards that make luxury shoppers feel remarkable. Given the growing interest in loyalty programs and scarcity of research related to their effectiveness in the luxury fashion department stores, this study comes to examine the effectiveness of such programs. In particular, this research examines how the utilitarian, hedonic and symbolic perceived benefits from loyalty programs can influence the satisfaction and trust with the program and consequently store loyalty. These relationships are compared between high- and low-end fashion department stores and the differences in their effectiveness are reported. To test these relationships data were collected form a sample of 984 consumers from an online panel in US, using a structured questionnaire. A range of different department stores that offer loyalty programs were pre-selected through a rater procedure to represent the high- and low- fashion department stores. Using structural equation modelling and multi-group analysis, findings support that the effectiveness of loyalty programs is important to both high-and low-end fashion retailing settings but the strength of this effectiveness varies across the two settings. Specifically, hedonic and symbolic benefits derived from loyalty programs found to be more important in the high-end rather than the low-end fashion retailers. In contrast, utilitarian benefits found to be much more effective in influencing customers’ satisfaction with the program in the low-end fashion retailing. The results of this research address an important research gap and help to better understand customers' perceptions of loyalty program benefits obtained from high- and low-end fashion department stores. Finally, the findings provide clear guidelines for managers in both high- and low-end fashion retailing on how to design effectively their loyalty program rewards, by strategically allocating their resources to the benefits that are more important in their setting.

Introduction This article analyzes retail store openings of luxury fashion brands in international markets. Our aim is to point out the relevance of this market entry strategy as well as to highlight the main destination markets and different trends over the 2004-2013 period. More precisely, this article analyzes the role of the retail direct channel as a means to manage relationships with consumers in international markets. The choice to develop retail operations in international markets is considered in this article as one of the key strategies implemented by luxury manufacturing companies. However, it seems to have received minor attention in the academic literature dealing with internationalization (Guercini and Runfola, 2014). Consequently, the main aim of this article is to propose empirical evidence to support the widespread use of this strategy by luxury firms, proposing the analysis of an original database built on the retail store operations of a sample of Italian fashion luxury companies over the period 2004-2013. The retail marketing strategy is a peculiar strategy within the luxury marketing strategies. As stated by Kapferer and Bastien (2012), in fact, through retail store openings (and distribution in general), luxury companies may implement and take advantage from what has been defined by the authors the “watchword of luxury brand management” (p. 233) namely “experience”. In fact, the literature in the field of luxury retailing has pointed out the role of the point of sale from a consumer point of view to experience the value of a company. The discussion on the consumer perspective is increasing in the literature as testified by various contributions aimed at analyzing and discussing how and what kind of experiences could be transferred by the opening of retail stores and in what terms the luxury retail strategy differs from other retail marketing strategies (Dion and Arnould, 2011). The opening of retail stores from luxury companies has been considered within the stream of research on the internationalization of the company. It has been pointed out that companies with luxury positioning can differentiate their offering with respect to mass market retailers and open retail stores even in culturally distant markets (Hutchinson et al. 2009). These openings, however, are considered more as ways of promoting the brand, rather than a structural international retail development (Moore et al., 2010). In fact, it has been noticed that luxury griffes open retail stores quite exclusively in primary locations (Hutchinson et al. 2009) and that most of the internationalization literature on retail stores openings by luxury firms is referred to the opening of flagship stores (Moore et al., 2010), a specific retail store format that from its nature, is mostly related to brand promotion than to an effective and stable retail development. In fact, retailing as international market entry strategy implies significant investment both in economic and cognitive terms (Mattila el al., 2002; Guercini and Runfola, 2010). The study of retail stores opening as an entry strategy in international markets remains an understudied field of study in the academic literature, as evidenced for example by Ilonen et al. (2011) in their study on the importance of branded retail in manufacturers' international strategy. Moreover, the authors point out that among other things, this remains a topic of interest but not yet analyzed in the case of the fashion industry. Following this reasoning, our article aims to answer to the subsequent research questions: RQ1 - What is the evolution over time of the distribution investments of luxury fashion manufacturing companies? RQ2 - Is there a difference between emerging markets and advanced markets for luxury retail store openings? RQ3 - What is the role of metropolitan areas and how does this evolve over time? Methodology and discussion We investigate these research questions in the case of Italian luxury manufacturing companies. In order to study the expansion of Italian luxury companies, we have exploited the information contained in the database that we have created expressly for the purposes of this research. The database has been compiled by examining any news contained in two specialized and highly recognized national fashion-sector publications - Fashion and Pambianco Week - regarding the opening of retail outlets in foreign countries by Italian luxury firms in the decade 2004-2013. For the purpose of this research we have considered as luxury brands those brands that are members of Altagamma, a association whose members are Italian companies that operate at the highest end of the market, and those brands that are recognized globally and by academics and empirical press as luxury brands, although not being members of Altagamma. The above process has identified 594 sales points opened by 39 Italian brands in 62 countries over the period 2004-2013. The top 10 brands for number of store openings over this period are the followings: Prada (64), Salvatore Ferragamo (59), Miu Miu (51), Ermenegildo Zegna (31), Valentino (29), Armani (26), Versace (26), Gianfranco Ferrè (25), Brioni (22), Etro (22). Hereafter we try to describe some preliminary findings regarding the three research questions advanced previously. RQ1 – What is the evolution over time of the distribution investments of luxury fashion manufacturing companies? Our analysis seems to show an evolution in this growth strategy over the period 2004-2013. In fact, if during the period 2004-2008 our analysis shows the opening of 261 single-brand outlets by the enterprises of our sample, during the period 2009-2013 the number of operations became 333 stores. This seems to highlight how, even in a period of international crisis, the retail strategy for luxury companies remained fundamental for growing abroad. The year 2008 is the year with the maximum number of stores opened by our companies (95 stores, roughly 16% of the total 594 stores opened), while the year 2004 is the one with the minimum number of stores opened, only 35 stores (roughly 6%). Moreover, each year from 2009-2011 accounts for over 70 stores. RQ2- Is there a difference between emerging markets and advanced markets for luxury retail store openings? In order to distinguish between “mature”, developed countries and “emerging” ones, we considered the first 24 countries that joined firstly the OCSE as “mature”, while all the remaining countries have been considered “emerging”. Our analysis reveals during the period analyzed a growing incidence by emerging markets compared to mature markets, given that emerging markets account for 60.9% of the openings. Moreover, in each year analyzed emerging markets overcome advanced markets for number of stores opened. However, traditional mature markets for Italian luxury (such as USA or Japan) as well as new emerging markets (such as China and Russia) are within the top destinations all over the period. If we consider only the first three markets for number of retail operations we may note some differences between the two sub-periods. In fact, during the period 2004-2008 the first three markets listed for decreasing number of operations were the USA (45 retail stores opened, 17,2% of the total number of stores), China (29 stores, 11,1% of the total) and India (19 stores, 7,3% of the total). During the period 2009-2013, China increased the number of operations, becoming the leading market with 74 stores, representing 22,2% over the total, followed by the USA (46 stores, 13,2% of the total) and United Arab Emirates (15 stores, 4,5%). The rising of China in the second period, is associated with an increasing importance of other emerging markets such as Brazil and South Korea, that in the previous period were not within the top international destinations. We should however stress that other mature markets, such as France and Japan still have key roles for Italian luxury companies. RQ3 – What is the role of metropolitan areas and how does this evolve over time? Our analysis shows that the major cities world-wide are present in our database. In total the companies in our sample have opened stores in 163 cities. Over the period 2004-2013 the top 10 cities listed for decreasing number of stores are the following: Shanghai (30), Hong Kong (28), New York (25), Moscow (24), Tokyo (22), Paris (21), Dubai (20), London (20), Los Angeles (20), Beijing (20). However, as evidenced by the data, while in the period 2004-2008, the total number of cities targeted by the companies were 83, in the following period 2009-2013 the number cities targeted became 127. This data seems to highlight how, over time, the presence of luxury firms is not only concentrated in the top cities around the world neither only in luxury streets, but affects a larger number of cities and locations. Take for example the case of the new rising Chinese cities of the II, III and IV tiers. To conclude, our research points out how retail strategy implemented by luxury manufacturing companies is one of the driving strategy for relating the company with consumers in international markets. This strategy seems to represent a relevant and widespread used strategy to enter in foreign market and to develop the brand further. Some considerations are due on the limitations inherent in the present study, which can also furnish some useful indications as to future work. The empirical evidence reported here is based on secondary research in market publications. Aside from collecting further, more up-to-date information, future research should be addressed to performing a number of enterprise case studies in order to acquire a better understanding of the phenomena at play through contacts with luxury enterprise managers with whom to share the main aspects involved in establishing sales networks in foreign countries. Moreover, the considerations advanced are based on empirical evidence drawn solely from study of the Italian luxury fashion industry. In this sense, future research should aim to check if any differences exist in retail store openings between the Italian fashion system and the luxury fashion industries of other economically mature nations (e.g., France, the UK, Japan or the USA). Although, our empirical analysis has some limitations, it seems to confirm that the retail market strategy is a key strategy to relate with consumers in international markets and to let them “experience” the brand. For manufacturing companies in the luxury field this strategy should not be considered only in terms of promotion, as typically associated with the opening of flagship stores abroad. Rather, it represents an effective retail strategy with important implications from a managerial point of view. Considering this latter point, future research should be directed towards the study of the different strategic behaviors aiming at pointing out different strategic groups within our companies, for example in terms of company size or destination markets. In general terms, future research should be directed towards the study of the link between retail stores openings and customer experience in international markets. This issue has a particular relevance in the case of the Italian fashion industry, where understanding the retail strategy of luxury companies may contribute to recognize potential bandwagon effects of other companies in this sector, such as small and medium sized companies with other positioning.

Customer loyalty programs have been widely adopted for customer relationship management all over the world. The proliferation of loyalty programs causes program competition which weakens the effectiveness of loyalty programs at the end of customers. In general, existed research suggests that the increasing competition among rival programs in a single industry may cancel out the expected roles of loyalty programs (Mägi, 2003). For example, program competition is a substantial threat to customer lifetime value and share of wallet (Leenheer, van Heerde, Bijmolt, & Smidts, 2007; Meyer-Waarden, 2007). Liu and Yang (2009) find the sales impact of a single loyalty program diminishes as program competition increases. Their study also shows this negative effect is weaker in a highly expandable product category. Although previous studies have examined the suppressive effect of program competition on financial outcomes of loyalty programs, little research has explored its role on attitudinal customer loyalty formation process. This study aims to explore the differential roles of program competition on two formation processes of customer loyalty. It intends to contribute to the loyalty programs literature in two aspects. First, this study examines two routines of customer loyalty formation in the context of loyalty programs. That is, a company can leverage program offerings to build customer loyalty through increased customer satisfaction or strengthened customer identification with the company. Second, this study examines the moderating roles of program competition on those two loyalty-generating routines. Specifically, it finds customer identification is more important for building customer loyalty at the presence of program loyalty.

This study aimed to classify attendants of a wine training institute according to loyalty for wine training service program and to deduce the core managing points in a wine training program by IPA (Importance-Performance Analysis). Self-administered questionnaires were collected from 192 trainees and statistical data analysis completed using SPSS ver. 18.0. As a result of clustering analysis based on trainee loyalty from both attitude and behavioral perspectives, four classification groups were identified: a "genuine" loyalty group, a "latent" loyalty group, a "mendacious" loyalty group, and a "low" loyalty group. For the genuine loyalty group, the importance of total service quality was 4.32 on average whereas the performance was measured as 4.22; thus there was little difference between importance to quality and performance. However, for the other three groups, especially the low loyalty group, there were significant wide gaps between importance to quality and performance. According to IPA, different service quality items were posted on the 'Focus here' quadrant (a domain with high service quality importance but low performance) by group, while the other three quadrants had several common items regardless of the group. Finally, the core quality managing points were different depending on the level of trainee loyalty. Therefore, it is necessary to plan and conduct a wine training program that reflects the characteristics and needs of its students, which will lead to a differentiated management strategy according to the level of loyalty.

The purpose of this study was to understand the effect of loyalty program in family and fastfood restaurant on relationship quality (trust, commitment) and revisit intention. Based on total 394 samples obtained from empirical research, this study reviewed the reliability and fitness of a research model using the Amos program. The hypothesized relationships in the model were simultaneously tested using a structural equation model (SEM). The proposed model provided an adequate fit to the data, χ2 102.338 (df 48), GFI .959, RMR .049, NFI .970, CFI .984 SEM resulted that loyalty progam (β= .429, t=7.880, p〈 .001) showed a positive significant effect on trust, and that loyalty program (β= .455, t=9.532, p〈 .001) had a positive significant effect on commitment. Also, both trust (β= .450, t=6.595, p〈 .001) and commitment (β= .474, t=5.117, p〈 .001) had a positive significant effect on revisit intention. In addition, there were moderating effects related to restaurant type (family and fastfood restaurant) in terms of causal relationships between loyalty program, relationship quality and revisit intention. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of quality factors on value, satisfaction and loyalty in a wine training program. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: Structural verification of the wine training program loyalty model showed that the quality of the wine training program positively affected both value (p<0.001) and satisfaction (p<0.001). Further, the value of the wine training program positively affected satisfaction (p<0.01), which in turn positively influenced loyalty (p<0.001). The quality of the wine training program was presented as solicitude for students, textbook and curriculum, qualification and confidence of lecturer and staff, and training quality, whereas the value of the program was composed of sense of belonging, promotion of self-esteem, good impression on others, and improvement of social status. Therefore, the wine training institute's intensive management of the quality and value of the program could induce students' loyalty by enhancing satisfaction for the wine training program.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how users' perceived benefits of hotel F&B loyalty program affected their relationship quality(trust and satisfaction) and loyalty on hotel products and services(hotel food & beverage products/services) and how their relationship quality(trust and satisfaction) influenced their loyalty. The model was tested in the settings of five-star hotels using a sample of current members of food & beverage membership program. Empirical results confirmed that not only perceived benefits of hotel F&B loyalty program affects users' perceived relationship quality(trust and satisfaction) and loyalty on hotel products and services(hotel food & beverage products/services) but that their perceived relationship quality influences loyalty on hotel products and services(hotel food & beverage products/services). According to the results, complimentary dining coupon and food discount strongly affected relationship quality(trust and satisfaction) and loyalty on hotel products and services(hotel food & beverage products/services). Strategically, it is recommended to appeal those benefits to current and potential members to maximize the loyalty. Also, it should be considered as major factors to re-package hotel F&B loyalty program.