The market for counterfeit luxury goods is growing rapidly, with estimates suggesting that counterfeit trades are valued at around $4.5 trillion globally, with 60% to 70% of this being made up of counterfeit luxury goods. Research has shown that counterfeits dilute the perceived quality of luxury brands and reduce consumers' purchase intentions. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a form of ownership record that is linked and stored on a blockchain.

In this study, we theorize that the way consumers communicate on social media (“liking”2 vs. posting) leads to consequential preferences for luxury products. Specifically, for light users, who spend less than one hour on social media, “liking” (vs. posting) strengthens (vs. weakens) preference for social value-framed luxury products (i.e., creates a good impression to others) compared to functional value-framed products (i.e., superior quality). This contrasts with heavy users, who spend more than two hours on social media, where posting (vs. “liking”) strengthens (vs. weakens) preference for social value-framed luxury products compared to functional value-framed products. Thus, the relationship between social media interaction (“liking” vs. posting) and preference for luxury products is conditionally mediated by communication expectation with others. Both the direct effect and indirect effect are moderated by the time spent on social media and luxury value type.

This works aims to analyze pricing strategies among various luxury sectors as well as to identify latent structures between brands and categories. Unlike previous works, we investigated the firms’ perspective and worth instead of customers’ perceptions. For this purpose, we web scraped market-data from numerous luxury houses such as woman shoes, luxury cars, haute couture and men’s watches (own online shop/ foreign platforms). the results argue for a positive correlation between brand value and prestige pricing. Accordingly, Mercedes-Benz and Louis Vuitton build the most valuable brands in their industries. In Fashion, we found that LV is a feminine brand. Besides, in some categories, a thoughtful competition is coming from lower-scaled companies (premium) which poses real challenges for established high-end manufacturers. A hierarchical cluster analysis shows a significant gender effect in defining luxury categories. Unlike what many would think, men’s luxury items (e.g. shoes and watches) are significantly more expensive than female products.

Many countries have been reducing trade barriers to enhance movements of products across borders. This moderation of trade policies combined with the enormous growth in cross-border e-commerce has provided consumers with more foreign product choices than ever before. Accordingly, the attitudes toward foreign products have been of great interest to international business and consumer behaviour scholars in the last few years. Previous studies on the effect of country of origin (COO) on product evaluations show that consumers in developed countries prefer domestic over foreign goods for several reasons, ranging from a risk-reducing prejudice to a nationalistic bias against foreign products (Bilkey & Nes, 1982; Wang & Chen, 2004). However, the rising role of emerging markets as valuable demand markets calls for more insights into the psychological, socio-economic and cultural factors that may determine differences in attitudes toward foreign products (Batra, 1997). The study examines the impact of bandwagon luxury consumption behaviour on cultural dimensions - related to consumer ethnocentrism and materialism - and, at the same, verifies the influences exerted by their interactions on attitudes toward luxury goods (brand consciousness, product beliefs, intentions to buy online). It develops and empirically tests a conceptual model of bandwagon luxury consumption on a sample of Chinese consumers.

China, with its rapid growing wealthy consumers, is increasingly becoming a major market for luxury brands and products. It is believed that the growing consumption of wildlife products in China is one of the key factors in the acceleration of global extinction of endangered species. It is certainly not an easy task to reveal consumers’ true motivations behind their purchase, but is even tougher to change their behavior. In the field of wildlife conservation, despite many efforts so far have been made to de-market the consumption, the results are not encouraging. This study is designed to fill the research gap by treating ivory purchase as a type of luxury product purchase in China. Through studying the behavior and its underlying values and motivations, this research is aimed to identify effective communication strategies to curve the ivory consumption in China. Pretest among small groups was first conducted for the purpose of scale validity evaluation. A random stratified sample was obtained from an online panel in China in January 2018. Total 600 usable samples were obtained. The data analysis showed a strong and positive relationship between power distance and materialism; power distance and negative attitude toward social media. Materialism/collectivism is found a strong predicator of positive attitude toward social media and social media usage. While ivory likely buyers associate uncertainty avoidance with materialism and positive attitude toward social network, ivory purchase rejecters demonstrate a positive relationship between long term orientation and materialism; long term orientation and positive attitude toward social media. Based on the strong relationships between materialism and social media usage we found form this study, it is recommended to design a social media campaign to dissociate ivory products from social status; and to associate social status with healthier, greener alternatives (e.g., Tesla car). Advocating desired behavior (e.g., charitable works to save elephants in Africa) in social media and de-advocating the undesired behaviors by celebrities on TV (e.g., ‘No Trading - No Killing’ campaign by YaoMing) is likely to work for likely ivory buyers.

While extant research examines the consumption of luxury products, the disposal behaviors of such products and business’ means for promoting this behavior through social media has yet to be examined. This research builds on belief congruence theory and the anticonsumption literature to understand how religiosity (with prescriptions against material possessions and performing actions just for show) influences disposal method of luxury goods and disposal behavior on social media. Specifically, findings show that extrinsically (intrinsically) religious consumers are more likely to throw away (donate) luxury products after use. The moderating influence of emotions is also explored to show that intrinsically (extrinsically) religious consumers are more (less) likely to use sustainable methods of product disposal for luxury and non-luxury products alike after being primed to feel shame/guilt in comparison to a control condition. A separate study manipulates product type (luxury vs. non-luxury) and product state (used vs. new), showing that extrinsically religious consumers are most (least) likely to use sustainable disposal methods when a product is used (new) and non-luxury (luxury). Additionally, findings show that identity mediates this relationship and has clear outcomes on social media behavior regarding product disposal and end-consumption behavior with luxury products. Implications for belief congruence theory and advertising practitioners are provided (with a specific emphasis on advertisers of luxury products using social media).

Recent research has shown that many companies in the fashion industry are increasingly weaving close relationships with the art world, to appropriate art values and meanings to be associated with their own products and brands (Hagdtvedt & Patrick, 2008a; 2008b). Businesses related to the fashion luxury sector have been especially prone to using such strategies to transform their products into true artworks to address the issue of commodification resulting from high production volumes (Dion and Arnoult, 2011; Riot, Chameret & Rigaud, 2013). Over the past two decades, the luxury market has undergone huge structural changes through mergers and acquisitions that have transformed an industry made up of small, family businesses into major financial conglomerates and brand owners (Roux & Floch, 1996; Crane 2012). Secondly, globalization and openness to new fast-growing markets such as Asia, have led these luxury conglomerates to increase sales volumes, failing in one of the basic characteristics of such goods: rarity. But if the real rarity of luxury products is a promise that companies can no longer guarantee their own consumers, the elitism of these products can be ensured through an artificial rarity. Jean-Noël Kapferer used the neologism artification recently introduced by French sociologists Nathalie Heinich and Roberta Shapiro and applied it to the analysis of luxury goods (Kapferer, 2012; 2014; Heinich and Shapiro, 2012; Shapiro and Heinich, 2012). He stressed that a strategy based on art implemented by luxury companies is useful mainly to support the perception of rarity by the final consumer. Artification is based on the notion that art –related objects or persons are associated with positive values. Enhancing a corporate image in the consumer’s mind means building positive ties to the brand that will initiate a form of benevolence towards the brand, providing the legitimization of corporate actions and, in some cases, resulting in the purchase of goods and services produced and distributed by the company (Keller, 1993; Aaker, 1996; Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 2000; Keller, 2003). We decided to analyse the effect of Artification on brand value by focusing on the four dimensions of Awareness, Image, Quality and Loyalty by using the same CbBE ( Customer-based Brand Equity) structure previous authors tested on country of origin effect on consumers, based on the main hypotheses further explained (Pappu, Quester & Cooksey, 2006). The first hypothesis relates to the dimension of Awareness and aims to test the level of brand recognition in final consumers when the logo is modified by an artist. • H1 – Consumers’ awareness remains strong when the brand is ‘artified’. We analyze then the Image, as the second dimension of CbBE. Due to the complexity of this dimension, we posited two hypotheses connected to it: • H2a – Consumers’ free associations to the brand are connected to the artworld when the brand is ‘artified’ (e.g. consumers indicate words as art, contemporary art or the name of the artist). • H2b – Consumers’ evaluation of the brand image points to stronger positive associations when the brand is ‘artified’ The last two hypotheses we mention are connected to the dimensions of Quality and Loyalty: • H3 – Consumers’ evaluation of Quality increases when the brand is ‘artified’.  H4 – Consumers’ Loyalty to the brand increases when the brand is ‘artified’. • The analysis was conducted through a between-subjects randomized experiment and manipulated art presence (with art versus without art). Starting from the same panel, two groups were created: one including the treatment (visual arts) and one including no treatment at all. Furthermore, we limited ourselves in this experiment to images of products and pattern created by Louis Vuitton that are actually on the market, associating them randomly to the research units in order to obtain two statistically consistent groups subjected to the different treatment (with art or without art)4. The two groups were labelled ‘artified’ group and control group, the first grouping the respondents to the questionnaire containing images of Louis Vuitton Logo, pattern and product modified by art collaboration with Yayoi Kusama; and the second grouping the respondents to the questionnaire containing images of Louis Vuitton Logo, pattern and product in its standard design. The questionnaire was distributed between the months of May and June 2015 via Qualtrics survey software. It was divided into four distinct blocks: the first concerned the presentation of the survey, the declaration of authorization signed by the participants and the demographic information; the second and the third blocks of questions were identical, with the same series of questions but based on different images used. There were 880 respondents, 825 of whom correctly filled the questionnaire we submitted to them. The control group was made of 413 respondents, 73.13 % of whom were female and 26.87 % male. The ‘artified’ group was made of 71.60 % female and 28.40 % male. We analyzed the four dimensions of Awareness, Image, Quality and Loyalty individually and in a comparative manner between the control and ‘artified’ groups. In the CbBE model, dimensions are analyzed individually since Awareness and brand Image measures are not comparable because they are collected through different measure methods, respectively through multiple choice and open-ended questions. Such dimensions as Image, Quality and Loyalty which were raised through Likert scales were then subjected to mono multivariate statistical analysis. The main results are shown in table 1. By reading the results for CbBE, Hypothesis H1 [Consumers’ awareness remain strong when the brand is ‘artified’] has been confirmed. The aided brand awareness shows no important differences between the two groups, so visual artists may modify logos or the appearance of luxury products without the fear of compromising brand awareness in the final consumers. Hypothesis H2a [Consumers’ free associations to the brand are connected to the arts when the brand is ‘artified’ (e.g. the word art, contemporary art or the name of the artist)] was not confirmed. Hypothesis H2b was partially confirmed as Generic Associations and Brand Personality were impacted by the use of the visual arts, while Organizational Associations were not. Brand loyalty and Perceived Quality were not impacted by the Visual Arts either, so Hypothesis H3 and H4 were not confirmed. As a main result for CbBE analysis, the Visual Arts have an impact on Customer-based Brand Equity, limited to Brand Image dimensions. The fact that Brand Image is one of the most complex dimensions of brand value opens the way to the development of future analysis and research in the visual arts as external source for brand equity, especially for Brand Personality. The main results of our research show that an artification effect is visible especially at the level of brand image and brand personality, two complex and valuable components of Brand Value from a consumer perspective. This opens to further in-depth analysis of these two components for future research. Large luxury groups (such as Cartier and Prada) have long used an art-based strategy to increase the value of their products, avoiding the risk of a loss of prestige perceived by the final consumer who would no longer recognize the exclusivity of a product that seems to be increasingly more industrial than handmade. Art can therefore contribute to alter and rework the image and market position of a specific brand or an entire product line, ensuring the transition from an ordinary image to a prestigious one, or strengthening the existing prestigious perception (Hetsroni & Tukachinsky, 2005; Lee et Al., 2015). We believe that a strategy based on art implemented by luxury companies is beneficial mainly to support the perception of rarity by the final consumer. Luxury goods would have to be unique or at least not produced in too high volumes precisely because of their craftsmanship and the care with which they are made. Rarity is not compatible with the increase in sales volumes required by the financial holdings that own the same luxury brands (Roux and Lipovetsky, 2003; Kapferer, 2012; 2014; 2015). The artification process we researched would have exactly the dual purpose of improving the brand image of companies that apply it, while increasing the perception of luxury in end consumers. What is more, we believe that the luxury brands from the industry sector that belong to large financial conglomerates now have the strength to simultaneously apply all the components in the artification process, by sustaining activities of sponsorship, philanthropy or generic collaboration with artists. The fact that luxury products are an integral part of the world of visual arts combined with the fact luxury brands have now the strong support base of large financial conglomerates can ensure the right economic and cultural support needed for the application of such a strategy. In the case of fashion companies, we believe artification is a process in itinere. In our experiment free associations to the brand show that only 2 consumers out of 880 remembered or knew the name of the artist (Yayoi Kusama) and 10 people indicated the substantive ‘art’ or ‘contemporary arts’ as free associations in the ‘artified group’ (only 2 in the control group). This shows that luxury brands ‘art-based strategy cannot only concentrate on temporary collaborations with artists. Luxury brands as Louis Vuitton must act as art institutions able to display arts collections to the widest public and bestow art status and global recognition to collaborating artists (Masè and Cedrola, 2017). This strategy relies on LV ability to raise consumers’ awareness of the arts. While the art-oriented public recognizes artistic collaborations, the larger public does not yet is still very much aware of new designs. Novelty is equally perceived by both, but is partially decoded by one category of consumers.

This conceptual paper discusses the influence of brand knowledge through various components of personal luxury products’ towards the purchase intention. Rapid shifts in luxury consumers’ behaviours is one of the predominant drivers contributing to the growth of the modern luxury market. In response to this, luxury consumers’ characteristics and profiles need to be reexamined. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in global luxury consumption with the rise in number of luxury consumers from 140 million to 350 million globally (Bain & Company, 2015). Such a phenomenal growth in the luxury market leads to a widely increased interests among researchers across all disciplines (Truong et al., 2008; 2009, Tynan et al., 2010; Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2016). In particular, personal luxury goods market is forecast to continue to grow between 2-3 percent through 2020 (Bain & Company, 2016). Despite the fact that personal luxury goods is a major driver of the entire market, there is a limited research in this product category. Two factors of this fast-growing trend stimulate the need for additional research into consumers’ behaviours. First, there has been a shift in luxury consumers’ profile (Hanna, 2004; Fionda & Moore, 2009) and purchasing patterns (Bain & Company, 2015; 2016) where social influences (Dubois et al., 2001; Berthon et al., 2009; Cheah et al., 2015; Yang and Mattila, 2014; Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2016) and people’s needs for materialism, appearances to enhance their ego and self-concept (Phau & Prendergast, 2000; Kapferer, 2006) are having greater impact on how consumers make their luxury purchase decisions. Second, it appears that the characteristics of the traditional luxury consumers as well as old marketing models from many decades ago need to be redefined (Bain & Company, 2015). Danziger (2005) indicates that the changes in luxury consumers’ purchase decision has created a dramatic shift in the purchase behaviour as a whole, making it difficult for luxury marketers to recognise the trend. To date, existing literature on luxury purchase intention focuses mainly from the cultural, economic, psychological perspectives (Leibenstein, 1950; Veblen, 1899; Bian & Forsythe, 2012; Liu et al., 2012; Wong & Ahuvia, 1998; Vigneron & Johnson, 2004; Shukla, 2012; Cheah et al., 2015) but remains limited on investigating luxury consumers’ behaviours through the integration of brand knowledge domain. Major works from marketing scholars on luxury value perceptions (Wiedmann et al., 2007 and 2009; Vigneron & Johnson, 2004; Shukla, 2012; Shukla & Purani, 2013; De Barnier et al., 2006; Hennigs et al., 2012 and 2013) suggest that they are important in explaining the whole picture of luxury consumption but insufficient in explaining purchase intentions (Shukla, 2012). Kapferer (2006) discusses that it is typical for consumers to identify which brand belongs to the luxury category, however, it could be more complex for the precise definition of luxury to be identified and understood. Therefore, this study seeks to incorporate the branding aspects into the investigation on the significance of brand knowledge towards the intention to purchase personal luxury products. Literature Review The concept of luxury is first explained by Veblen (1899) that the consumption of luxury goods is primarily considered by the affluent consumers with the desire to display their wealth to the relevant significant others. Even though the concept of luxury remains obscure, the clearer definition of luxury is given by Nueno & Quelch (1998) as the “ratio of functional utility to price is low while the ratio of intangible and situational utility to price is high” and that luxury products are beyond an ordinary expensive goods but “an ephemeral status symbol”. Shukla (2010) also defines luxury as the consumption that is not for just oneself but a socially-oriented type of consumption that fulfils the consumers’ own indulgence as well as to serve the “socially directed motives”. The aforementioned definitions of luxury show it is an “elusive concept” (Kapferer, 1998) with “fuzzy frontiers” (Kapferer, 2006). The luxury concept is describes as “incredibly fluid, and changes dramatically” over time and varied among different cultures (Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie 2006). As consumers become richer (Fionda & Moore, 2009) and are able to afford more luxury brands (Nueno & Quelch, 1998), luxury is no longer reserved for the rich but also includes the rising number of aspiring middle-class consumers (Shukla, 2012) who enjoy material comfort (Yeoman & McMahon-Beattie, 2006; Yeoman, 2011: Granot et al., 2013). This change makes the term luxury even more difficult to define (Shukla, 2010) and will continue as an ongoing debate among research scholars (Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2016). Dubois & Paternault (1995) mention that “luxury items are bought for what they mean, beyond what they are”, this statement defines the nature of luxury brands where consumers often purchase luxury products not merely because of their outstanding quality but because of the name and the symbolic identity the brand provides. Kapferer (1998) recognises the importance in exploring the perception of luxury brands from the end-users themselves because they know best. This also adds to the ongoing complexity and difficulties in giving luxury a discreet definition (Kapferer, 1997 and 1998). The work of Grotts & Johnson (2013) investigates the status consumption of millennial consumers and indicates that it is highly possible that the consumers may not express any interest on the quality of the products but are placing greater emphasis on the ability of the handbags to be recognised and generate attention from their reference groups. With regard to marketing strategy, luxury marketers react to the rapid increase in demand to maintain their position of exclusivity by increasing the price every year in order to secure their clientele (Kapferer, 2015b). Louis Vuitton, Rolex, and Christian Dior increase the price of their products every year to sustain the dream value of the consumers (Kapferer, 2015a; 2015b). It is apparent that most luxury companies are managing the dilemma of maintaining the exclusivity of its products while increasing brand awareness as well as focusing on securing more market share and revenue (Kastanakis & Balabanis, 2012; Berthon et al., 2009). Despite the recognisable shifts in luxury consumption pattern, the sector will continue to grow with the majority of affluent consumers as discussed by Steve Kraus of Ipsos (King, 2015). The most recognisable shift in luxury marketing strategy is on the increasing number of luxury companies offering lower-price products in response to the rising level of demand for luxury consumption by the enthusiastic middle class consumers (Truong et al., 2008; Kastanakis & Balabanis, 2012). Luxury was once reserved for the “happy few” (Veblen, 1899) but this notion is no longer practical for today’s luxury environment where luxury products are “consumed by a larger aspirational segment” (Granot et al., 2013). Democratisation of luxury refers to when luxury brands create a lower-priced accessory items in order to appeal to the broader market, making luxury accessible to those “who could never afford to purchase the principal items in the line” (Nueno & Quelch, 1998) or the new luxury consumers who seeks recognition from luxury purchase. Han et al. (2010) discusses that different classes of consumers can now be distinguished by the brands of purses, watches, or shoes that they own. They let the brands speak for them, whether they prefer the loud Gucci logo or displaying the consumption of a “‘no logo’ strategy” by carrying a Bottega Veneta bag (Han et al., 2010). As Husic & Cicic (2009) state, an important question on today’s luxury consumption that if it is possible for everyone to obtain luxury items, are the brands still considered luxury? This is one of the important agendas concerning luxury consumption that prompts researchers to investigate this changing behaviours and perceptions of luxury consumers. It is also significance to note that the increase in global demand in luxury market is not necessarily positive but could be negative if the demand is not being managed efficiently (Hennigs et al., 2015). Despite frequent changes in luxury consumption patterns, Kapferer & Valette-Florence (2016) argues that it is vital to understand how consumers behave in order for the brands to create and maintain trust and reputation among its consumers. Danziger (2005) argues that the notion of “past behaviour predicts future behavior” may not be applicable to the luxury market. However, the foundation remains where the marketers need to understand the basics about the past and present behaviours in order to offer the products and services at the price that luxury consumers are willing to pay. It is partly due to the minimisation of the possible risks that might occur in purchasing luxury products as stated by Kapferer & Valette-Florence (2016) that “in luxury, no one wants to buy the wrong brand”. In light of these changes in the demand and strategies, a new framework of luxury purchase intention will be presented. This framework integrates brand knowledge in order to accommodate the traditional consumer, who appreciates the brand and its exclusivity, as well as the new buyer who wants recognition. This attempt in merging the two groups of luxury consumers together will highlights how traditional and new luxury consumers make their purchase decisions based on different components of luxury product characteristics as well as different value perception, or that is to say, based on a different levels of brand knowledge. Conceptual Framework Over several decades scholars attempted to agree on a single comprehensive definition for the term ‘luxury’ but have not yet reached that goal because the concept of luxury is highly individual and the market itself is heterogeneous (Hennigs et al., 2013). The definition of luxury, therefore, is very complex to define (Vigneron & Johnson, 1999; Dubois & Duquesne, 1993) due to its “subjective character” (De Barnier et al., 2012) with many diverse facets (Phau & Prendergast, 2000). This study provides a new perspective by looking at the factors that influence luxury purchase intention. Based on the original work of Keller (1993), it is important to understand the structure and content of brand knowledge because these dictate what comes into the consumer’s mind when they think about a brand and what they know about the brand (Keller, 2003). Consumer brand knowledge is defined as the “personal meaning about a brand stored in consumer memory, that is, all descriptive and evaluative brand-related information” (Keller, 2003). Strong, unique, and favorable brand associations must be created with consumers (Kotler & Keller, 2012 and 2016). In luxury consumption, different consumers seek different emotional and functional benefits from luxury brands (Kapferer, 1998), which makes it relevant and significant to investigate the level of influences of brand knowledge and value perceptions on the intention to purchase luxury products. The proposed conceptual framework for this study is presented in Figure 1 in the Appendix section. Managerial Implications This study provides both theoretical and managerial implications. On theoretical grounds, this study provides an enhanced model in investigating the influence of luxury brand knowledge towards luxury purchase intention considering luxury brand characteristics and luxury value perceptions. On managerial perspective, this study provides an update in the modern luxury consumers consumption pattern in terms of what specific characteristics of luxury products they would consider when they intend to purchase. At the same time, this study analyses the types of luxury value perceptions acknowledge by modern luxury consumers towards their purchase decision. In addition, the proposed conceptual framework will take into account the behaviours of traditional luxury consumers, who seems to have been lost due to the increased demand among the new luxury consumers. According to Keller et al. (2012), the marketers of the brand needs to acknowledge the insights to how brand knowledge exists in consumer memory. From the model, marketers can plan and execute efficient marketing and communication strategies for modern luxury consumers given their fast-changing preference in luxury consumption. Following the suggestion from Kapferer & Valette-Florence (2016) which indicates that “luxury is made by brands” and apart from selling luxurious products, the dream is what is attached to the brand logo and name. Therefore, by investigating the relationship between luxury products characteristics along with luxury value perceptions, this study aims to provide a refreshing analysis of today’s luxury consumers and what stimulates them to buy personal luxury products. Further Research A questionnaire will be developed by the integration of the established measurements and scales from the existing luxury consumption and branding literature. A draft of the questionnaire will be reviewed against the literature and the practical insights obtained from the sales associates and experts in the luxury industry for the suitability and clarity of the questions. The final draft of the questionnaire will be pre-test on a small number of respondents from the target audience. The target population for the study is among general luxury consumers. The data collected from the survey will be analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach to model decision process and validate the proposed conceptual framework. Cluster analysis will be used to identify segments of consumers as recommended by Aaker et al. (2013). The anticipated research findings will expand on the degree of influences of the brand knowledge towards the willingness to purchase of personal luxury goods. It is also expected that the research findings will be useful in redefining the existing types of luxury consumers to represent today’s luxury consumers.

Despite its innovative and avant-garde reputation, the luxury industry initially began showing a very low commitment to new online marketing tools and it held a conservative approach to selling when compared to other sectors. Nowadays, the context has dramatically changed and luxury brands are approaching with an increasing interest social networks as well as the online selling. This research aims to clarify the current strategic approaches of the players in the different luxury markets towards the social commerce phenomenon, from both a theoretical and an empirical point of view. The purpose is to test a framework that can be used to classify luxury companies’ strategies regarding social media adoptions based on actual theories on social media. Four strategies related to the social media adoption by luxury brands have been identified: the Social brand ambassadors strategy class (low promotional content percentage and low social commerce score) includes those brands that use social media for entertainment and user engagement; the Social showcases strategy (high promotional content percentage and low social commerce score) includes those brands that use their social accounts as online catalogues; the Social infotainers strategy (low promotional content percentage and high social commerce score) includes those brands that scored high in social commerce, mainly because of the provision of informative content and brand–consumer interactions, but they were linked to more entertainment-oriented actions rather than product-related ones. Finally, the Social sellers strategy (high promotional content percentage and high social commerce score) includes those brands that have integrated social commerce into their online strategies and have subsequently exploited the potential of social media to drive online and offline sales. The database is built using original data from a content analysis of 100 luxury brands’ postings on five different social media platforms – namely Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. The total final sample included 12,132 Facebook posts, 21,216 tweets on Twitter, 1,105 YouTube videos, 10,138 Instagram pictures/videos, and 117,359 Pinterest pictures. The main findings are the following: luxury brands adopt at this stage the Social brand ambassadors and Social showcases approaches; brands belonging to the perfumery, cosmetics, jewelry and watches markets show a more developed attitude towards the social commerce; in other luxury markets, such as wine and spirits, brands still adopt a Social Brand Ambassador strategy, while managers should increase the promotional content in order develop the social commerce. The Fashion & Accessories brands show a positive relationship between the percentage of promotional content and social commerce score. This means that social commerce adoptions depend on the single brand’s strategic choices, ranging from low adoption to best practices. In general, social commerce is still not widespread; many luxury fashion brands, while presenting new collections during fashion weeks, focused on fashion shows, backstage events, and celebrities, rather than really promoting the new product lines with materials, availability, and purchasing indications. This social media approach is mainly focused on increasing brand awareness rather than increasing social commerce. If managers aim at increasing social commerce they should add direct call to action and link the contents to e-commerce market place. Automotive brands are concentrated in the Social showcases area; This sector encounters natural limitations in the introduction of social commerce due to the difficulty of selling products through the digital channel; many brands have, however, devised strategies to approach their users during the purchasing process prior to the actual transaction to take advantage of the increasing ROPO phenomenon. Conversely, the Perfumes & Cosmetics sector shows a highly fragmented approach to social commerce. The content analysis based on single post contents has shown that actually the contents are based on pictures of the products, or the brand, information on events, and a large and increasing presence of video posts based storytelling about the history of the product and the brand heritage; the most social commerce oriented posts are picture or video focused on the product. The commercial contents that aim at developing the see now, buy now approach are mainly based on video shows.

The counterfeit market makes up as much as seven percent of worldwide trade and is estimated as a $650 billion industry. Due to consumer demand, this phenomenon has grown over 10,000% in the past two decades and presents a serious threat to the global economy. Many luxury brand managers assume that counterfeiting damages brand image, however some experts have indicated that luxury houses use counterfeit sales to predict demand for their own brand. In this sense, brands are reacting to the effects of counterfeit purchase and need to develop a proactive strategy for preventing it. By understanding consumers’ perception of brands and how it relates to their counterfeit consumption, brand managers can better plan their marketing strategies to build relationships with consumers for increasing loyalty and preventing possible loss in sales. The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of branding on non-deceptive counterfeit consumption of luxury brands by proposing that brand equity plays a moderating role in the relationship between attitudes toward counterfeits and purchase intentions and in the relationship between social factors and purchase intentions. Specifically, this study conceptualizes the customer-based brand equity model with the Theory of Reasoned Action to develop strategic marketing implications for luxury brands. Previous research has resulted in managerial implications for combatting the counterfeit phenomenon, but it is more effective to prevent the increase in demand for counterfeits than to react to that demand. This study examines the role of brand equity to help brand managers focus their marketing strategies on specific levels of customer-based brand equity to build stronger relationships with consumers and reduce the demand for counterfeit products. Previous studies have examined the effects of counterfeits on brands, but research on the effects of brands on counterfeit consumption is very limited. This study adds to literature on counterfeits by understanding how branding can affect counterfeit purchase. Studies have used the Theory of Reasoned Action for understanding consumers’ intention to purchase counterfeit products. Drawing on the customer-based brand equity model, this research proposes brand identity, brand response, brand meaning, and brand relations as moderating variables in addition to the basic constructs of the model to extend previous literature, as no previous research has used customer-based brand equity for understanding counterfeit consumption. Previous studies have conceptualized customer-based brand equity for building relationships with customers, but this concept has never been used in the counterfeit context. This study is the first to use brand equity for understanding consumers’ counterfeit purchase intentions. This study suggests important implications for luxury brand marketers. By understanding how consumers associate with a brand, marketers can target specific levels of brand equity as part of their marketing strategies to deter counterfeit purchase. The proposed model serves as an initial step for understanding how brand equity affects non-deceptive consumption of counterfeit luxury goods. Future studies include empirically testing this proposed model and quantifying how much each level of customer-based brand equity contributes to consumer’ perception of brands. Future studies could also test the impact of branding on specific product types to analyze differences in consumers’ brand associations based on product category, as some product categories are more favorable to counterfeit consumers than others.

Scholars have described compulsive behaviour as “hyperstimulation, sometimes unintentional and repeated overindulgence despite negative consequences, deception and self-neglect” (Hartston 2012). Compulsive buying behaviour has become an addiction amongst many consumers and it has fuelled the growth of the retail market since the 1990’s (Neuner, Raab and Reisch 2005; Koran et al. 2006). The higher spending power of the middle-class consumer has led to a greater demand of luxury branded products so that consumers can attain a higher level of social class within the society. This study will explore the impact of emotional factors (self-esteem, FOMO, brand prestige, and brand consciousness) and rationale factors (product quality, price consciousness and sale proneness) on compulsive buyer’s purchase intention. This is the first study to explore the impact of emotional and rationale factors on compulsive buying behaviour in the luxury branded product category. The results show that young consumers with high compulsive buying tendencies are more heavily influenced by emotional factors. Therefore, retailers could target young consumers by focusing on brand prestige and the brand name.

Brand equity, “the marketing effects uniquely attributable to the brand” (Keller, 1993, p. 1), is at the heart of competition in the luxury goods market (Keller, 2009). While firms competing in this segment have come up with sophisticated ways to build brand equity, they are currently challenged by the increasing importance of the internet in consumers’ journeys (Kapferer & Bastien, 2012; Okonkwo, 2009). With online sales of luxury goods showing a twelvefold increase over the past 11 years (D’Arpizio et al., 2014), it is evident that luxury brands have to be present somehow in the digital environment today (Heine & Berghaus, 2014). The strategic purposes, business potentials, and consequences for brand equity of this presence, however, are still largely unexplored and remain a paradoxical topic. As a luxury brand’s website is the brand’s most valuable digital asset (Heine & Berghaus, 2014) and as there appears to be a consensus that luxury brands can use their websites to present their products in the digital environment, at least for purposes of communication, the question arises which products are most suitable for reinforcing the brand’s image. The roles a luxury brand’s products can play in relation to brand management can be classified between four poles spanning two dimensions, which this research terms ‘accessibility’ and ‘contemporariness’, in relation to Kapferer and Bastien’s (2012) luxury brand architecture map. Empirical evidence of these dimensions is, nevertheless, scarce, and yet no prior research has investigated these product roles in an e-commerce setting. The current study develops a model to test how an online purchase option and the contemporariness as well as the accessibility of the product assortment offered on the websites of luxury brands affect specific brand equity dimensions of luxury brands. Data of a 2x2x2-online scenario experiment were analyzed, showing that prestige and uniqueness value are non-significantly affected by offering an online purchase option, while functional value increases significantly. Regarding the displayed product assortment, the brand equity dimensions of functionality, prestige, and uniqueness are found to be significantly affected by the inaccessibility of the products, while their contemporariness elicits significant changes in uniqueness value. The study also assesses the mediating role of the brand attributes of availability, price premium, aesthetics, and innovativeness, as well as the moderating role of consumers’ prior brand ownership, for these effects.

This paper aims to contribute to the existing literature about social influence on products purchase intention. Specifically, it focuses on social influence among young adults’ purchase intention for luxury products, through investigation about Macau young adults consumption culture. Three types of social influence (informational influence, utilitarian influence, and value-expressive influence) are examined in this study. In terms of product conspicuousness, two types of luxury products can be identified based on the degree to which products usage is performed in public versus private. Hypotheses include that informational influence, utilitarian influence, and value-expressive influence will be significantly and positively related to consumer purchase intention for luxury products, both publicly and privately consumed. A convenient sample of 120 Macau young adults aged 18 to 24 participated in this study. The result of Regression and Analysis of Variance indicated that consumers have been affected by different types of social influence when they purchase different types of luxury products. Value-expressive influence is significantly and positively related to purchase intention for public products. Moreover, both informational influence and value-expressive influence are significantly and positively related to purchase intention for private luxury products. However, the effects of utilitarian influence are insignificant to both public and private luxury products, which are contrary to the hypotheses specified in this study and surprising findings about contemporary Chinese culture. Additionally, female has higher intention to buy luxury products. Based on the results of this study, marketing implications and managerial insights in the luxury retail market are recommended accordingly. Future research can provide a more comprehensive perspective of social influence than the exploratory one offered in the present study.

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.

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.

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.