The backbone of any customer experience management is the ability to understand customers’ needs, wants and lifestyles (Schmidt, 2003). In a post Covid era where consumer behaviours have changed forever, luxury brands need to step up to woe consumers back to their brick-and-mortar stores. For example, the Dior historical and global store at the Avenue Montaigne reopened after two years of renovations to offer a unique customer experience. This iconic store now offers not only the full range of products one can buy, but also an art gallery, a café, a 3-Michelin stars restaurant and an exclusive suite at the price of 25,000 Euros per night. The centrepiece of this new store is the huge glass staircase overlooked by a wall of mannequins dressed in various Dior dresses. It is meant to be “instagramable” for those who need to show off their visit to their virtual followers. The key question one may ask is whether all these innovations and investments in building an exceptional flagship store provide a better customer experience?

Purpose: as they travel more, the Chinese consumers are making a rapidly-growing share of their luxury purchases outside the Mainland. Their purchases are now the most part of the sales in the luxury shops in Europe. This paper aims to analyze if and how their buying behavior is affecting the retail mix. Design approach: in order to analyze the influence of Chinese customers on European luxury shops a qualitative research has been developed by mean of 346 observations, in a period of four months, of the buying behavior inside a luxury shop in Italy. We used the mystery sales person approach. The research aimed to verify the consistency of the traditional retail mix of a luxury shop with the requests of these new customers. Findings: the research highlighted that the buying behavior of the Chinese globetrotters is quite different compared to the traditional European and American luxury customers, and that their requests are not fitting with the existing luxury shop retail mix. Research limitation: The research process was heavily limited by the particular situation of a Chinese luxury customer, who doesn’t like to be interviewed. So the research approach should be totally indirect, similar to a mystery research. Only one luxury brand could be included in the sample, while a comparison between more brands seems to be more fruitful. Practical implications: the traditional retail mix of luxury shops, based on long and careful relationship, exclusive spaces and atmospheres, timeless and experiential experiences inside the point of sales are not fitting with the needs of Chinese luxury shoppers. It must be reconsidered and innovate, coping with the paradox represented by traditional European customer desires and new Chinese ones: the same location for two totally different approaches. Originality: in the new era of globalization almost the totality of the previous studies analyzes the strategy of western retail luxury chains in China, focusing on how the West is influencing Chinese customers, skipping the reverse situation. This paper focuses how Chinese customers can influence European luxury shops.

The luxury industry worldwide, and in China in particular, has been going through some major shake-ups in the last few years, such as the impact of anti-corruption campaign in China since 2012, massive increase of Chinese out-bound tourists travelling abroad for shopping due to price advantages as compared to mainland China prices, changing customer preferences and low loyalty towards luxury brands, and heightened customer knowledge of luxury, to name a few. These changes have a direct impact on customers’ behavior and experience in luxury retail stores and ultimately the level of expectation and satisfaction they have with luxury brands. This paper aims to shed some light on this topic by focusing specially on Chinese luxury customers’ perspectives. Companies have considered customer experience as one of important ways to obtain and sustain competitive advantages. Zomerdijk and Voss (2009) maintained that customer experience is a holistic concept that encompasses every aspect of a company’s offering. However, it is unclear which service elements offered by company create the most compelling contexts. Chinese luxury customers represent one-third of the total personal luxury goods market by the end of 2016 according to Bain & Co (2016). Therefore, no luxury brand can afford to ignore Chinese customers and their level of satisfaction with their brands. Paradoxically, from 2012 to 2015, the luxury personal goods market in China has decreased by 1% or 2% each year as compared to the previous years. This was due to many factors, and one of them was “poor customer experience in retail stores” according to our study. This deceleration of the market in China has prompted many luxury brands to create new customer experiences that could increase satisfaction (such as made-to-order services) in order to retain existing customers and to gain new ones. The research questions of this paper are: what type of services do Chinese customers expect from luxury brands? What are the levels of satisfaction Chinese customers have with luxury brands abroad and in China? How can luxury bands improve their service experience offers to satisfy Chinese customers? In order to answer these questions, we carried out a longitudinal study over 4 years, from 2012 to 2015 with Chinese luxury customers. A Chinese luxury customer is defined as someone who has bought a genuine luxury product over the last 6 months, whether in China or abroad, for themselves or for someone else. Each year we interviewed 120 customers who were chosen randomly in the streets of Shanghai, nearby luxury malls. The interviews were carried out either in English (if they are comfortable of speaking in English) or in Mandarin (by a native speaker). The interviews lasted on average 30 minutes each. The questions are mostly open-ended questions such as: “Could you please tell us your best or worst experience in a luxury retail store, in China or abroad? And why is it the best or worst?”. The interviews were manually recorded by a second interviewer present at that time. The data were then compiled and analyzed for this paper. The findings of the study were somehow unexpected such as: 1- Chinese luxury customers expect very simple and basic services in luxury retail stores, such as a sincere smile and a warm welcome, or sales employees do not judge them based on their looks and appearances. 2- Retail staff should have a better and up-to-date product knowledge so they can answer simple questions about the products when asked. 3- Retail staff should be able to give good advice to customer when they are undecided, and not try push only sales. Managerial implications for luxury brands are many. However, the most important one by far is “to go back to the basics of retail customer experience” by selecting and training the right employees for the job.

With consumption increasingly shifting to online and mobile, the physical retail environment has been called into question. However, not all facets of a physical experience can be substituted virtually (Anderson & Eckstein, 2013; Johnson, Kim, Mun & Lee, 2014, Piotrowicz & Cuthbertson 2014, Verhoef, Kannan, & Inman, 2015). The enduring quest for real, tangible experiences with real people and in real environments is one reason for the acknowledgement of the importance of architectural branding 1 , enabling memorable experiences (Raffelt, 2012). Here, architectural branding plays a key role at the intersection of consumer behavior, marketing management, and design. Furthermore, one can also observe the trend of forward brand verticalization in retail: with brands increasingly strive towards direct distribution, they open and manage more retail stores themselves (Kahn, Inman & Verhoef, 2016, Nierobisch et al. 2017, Teufel & Zimmermann, 2015, Tischer, 2014). This is especially true for the luxury industry, where brands are looking for ways to attain more control over the brand in order to steer highend customer experiences (Wiedmann & Hennings, 2013, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, 2015). Therefore, demand to develop good architectural branding in retail and to improve retail design strategies for current and future challenges is crucial. During the last five years, marketing scholars, renowned management consulting firms, and the popular press have examined the role of brick and mortar as one aspect of an omnichannel strategy in a world of increasing digitalization (Anderson & Eckstein, 2013; Bauer, Beil, & Wege, 2014; Piotrowicz & Cuthbertson 2014; Worden, 2013; Verhoef, Kannan, & Inman, 2015). The importance of architecture in general and retail design as a specialization thereof in marketing strategy has been broadly acknowledged (e.g. Kotler, 1973; Kotler & Rath, 1984; Martineau, 1958; Münster & Haug, 2017). Although, there is only little research focused on architectural branding (Raffelt, Littich & Meyer, 2011; Raffelt, Schmitt & Meyer, 2013). This is likely caused by its position at the intersection of the research fields on retail stores (e.g Kent & Stone, 2007; Kirby & Kent, 2010; Borghini, Diamand, Kazinets, Mccrath, Muiz, JR., & Sherry, JR., 2009; Hiss; 1987; Kozinets, Sherry, DeBerry-Spence, Duhachek, Nuttavuthisit, & Storm, 2002), brand experience (e.g. Brakus, Schmitt & Zarantonello, 2009; Pine & Gilmore, 1998; Schmitt 1999), and atmospherics (e.g. Kotler, 1973; Donovan & Rossiter, 1982; Rayburn & Voss, 2013; Spence, Puccinelli, Grewal, & Roggeveen, 2014). Here, articles primarily focused on store design in general (e.g; Kent & Sone, 2007; Kirby & Kent, 2010; Meyers-Levy & Zhu, 2008),flagship store design (e.g. Borghini et al., 2009; Hiss; 1987; Kozinets et al., 2002), or were primarily published in retail management journals. However, in marketing and management research, there are limited journal publications about the role of physical stores in the luxury industry in times of digitalization. Dion & Borraz (2015) stated that luxury brands recently followed the strategy to build very costly and unique boutiques with star architects, which have become sacred places. The role of store design in the luxury industry is even scarcer. In two case studies, Jiang, Nagasawa, & Watada (2014) investigated the role of store design for the brands Bally and Tod's in Japan. Thus, this research project aims to fill this research gap and extend the research in the field of architectural branding in the luxury industry, investigating role of physical stores in an omnichannel construct and to gain a deeper knowledge on how to sustainably tangibilize brands in modern and future luxury retail environments, answering the following question: What is the role of store design for luxury monobrand stores in a digital economy? This research project will apply an inductive and exploratory research method, implying a qualitative research design. It will build upon existing literature in the mass market and draw from two studies using in-depth interviews with academics and practitioners from the field of marketing and retail primarily working in the luxury industry to gain more insights about the role of physical stores in this specific industry. One study will focus on ways to make brands tangible in store. The other study will lay its focus on how a omnichannel strategy supports luxury brands in offering a superior in-store experience. Furthermore, results from a workshop with executives from brands with high-end positioning will be taken into account as well as expert interviews about the role of store design in general. These four studies will be presented in an aggregated manner during the conference. The overall contribution of this project is to provide insights about the role of brick and mortar retail design in the luxury industry and thereby extend research in the field or architectural branding in retail.

Luxury watch manufacturers open boutiques around the globe. A branded boutique is a promise to customers and much of the responsibility of keeping it weighs on frontline employees. However, not much is known about the “moments of truth” in monobrand boutiques. This study explores the “front reality” of sales staff and besides a theoretical and a managerial contribution provides a critical reflection of the methodological approach.

The paper examines the impact of international expansion of retail operations on the choice of performing internally or outsourcing some strategic activities in order to cope with the demands of retail outlets in domestic and foreign markets, providing a case analysis of Italian luxury fashion companies.

Over the past decades, researchers devoted considerable attention to the impact of store environments on shopping behavior (e.g. Baker et al., 2002; Kotler, 1973; Turley & Milliman, 2000). More recent, practitioners and academics alike have argued that a greater challenge for brands is the creation and enhancement of compelling shopping experiences along, and beyond, the entire path-to-purchase (Interbrand, 2014; Shankar et al., 2011). In a luxury brand context, where the shopping experience is a significant motivator for purchases (Yoon, 2013), the interaction of multiple retail environments greatly affect consumer behavior towards the brands. Accordingly, brand experiences is created at both ends of the marketing supply chain, by brand manufacturers and retailers. Yet, although research has developed fruitful areas for new perspectives on the relationships between manufacturers and retailers (Ganesan et al., 2009), the vast majority of existing research predominantly focuses on consumer response to brand experiences with respect to manufacturer cues (Dolbec & Chebat, 2013; Tynan et al., 2010), store cues (Baker et al., 2002), or retail settings (Möller & Herm, 2013). The evolving business world needs to implement more comprehensive and holistic approaches (Choi et al., 2014), where integrated strategies must emerge. The objective of this study is to present an explanation of luxury brand experiences across manufacturer and retailer’s settings. By overviewing the literature on the interaction between brand management, store atmospherics, and consumer behavior, and applying qualitative methods, the authors provide relevant insights for academics and practitioners toward a more comprehensive understanding of the luxury brand experience. Customer experience and luxury brands In the field of contemporary marketing, customer experience has been defined as a construct which “encompasses the total experience and may involve multiple retail channels” (Verhoef et al., 2009, p. 32). It includes the search, purchase, consumption, and after-sale phases of the experience. In a holistic brand perspective, this definition enlightens the key role of luxury brands in delivering the same brand promise and brand message across each connection between the consumer and the brand. Among the characteristics of luxury brands, consumers are willing to pursue luxury products as these products provide psychological benefits rather than functional benefits (Kapferer, 1997). Further, luxury brands are associated with status, wealth, exclusion, and pride (McFerran et al., 2014). As result, strong experiences with luxury brands derive when consumers develop deep emotional bonds with brands (Grisaffe & Nguyen, 2011). From a marketing perspective, consumers that develop deep emotional relationships with a brand have a lot of positive and strong associations (Yoo et al., 2000), such as the perception of the brand uniqueness and inimitability, and loyalty to the brand. However, when it comes to analyze the brand experience, research confers a conceptually different meaning from other brand constructs. According to Brakus et al. (2009), brand experience has distinct dimensions from evaluative, affective, and associative brand constructs, such as brand attachment, brand attitudes, customer delight, and brand personality. The concept of brand experience encompasses multiple dimensions, which refer to the sensorial, affective, intellectual, and behavioral sphere (Zarantonello & Schmitt, 2009). More specifically, the intrinsic concept of luxury brands as hedonic products with high symbolic value, holistically incorporate manufactures and retailers in fulfilling these various dimensions of brand experience. By assuring consistency across the manufacturer and retailer’s settings of the luxury brand, customer experiences evoke the exclusivity of the brand and transfer the authenticity of the brand message. From a consumer’s perspective, consumers reach brand authenticity when they perceive both the internal consistency, which focuses on maintaining the luxury brand standard and style, honoring its heritage, preserving its essence, and avoiding its exploitation, and the external consistency, which pertains to appearances and claims of the brand (Choi et al., 2014). Similarly, consumers tend to perceive the exclusivity of the luxury brand when they encounter consistent experiences across multiple brand touch points. Accordingly, in the experiential view, the principle of consistency and contiguity proposes that sensations, imagery, feelings, pleasures, and other symbolic or hedonic components are paired together to create mutually evocative consumer response (Holbrook & Hirschmann, 1982). The integration between the marketing and consumer’s perspectives suggests that luxury brands create and maintain powerful customer experiences when there is consistency across the manufacturer and retailer’s environments. However, in the landscape of luxury brand management, the conceptualization of customer experience requires the understanding of how consumers respond to luxury brand messages. This investigation is particularly important when examining brand experiences emerged in the manufacturer versus retailer physical environment. Existing literature on brand experiences, retail atmospherics, and luxury brands cannot fill the gap we address. Prior studies aiming to investigate the brand experience have analyzed the phenomenon of this construct from a theoretical perspective (Verhoef et al., 2009), case study analysis (Payne et al., 2009), or focused only on the direct relationship between manufacturer and consumer (e.g. Dolbec et al., 2013; Kim, 2009). For example, Dolbec et al. (2013) have studied in-store brand experiences on consumer response to flaghship vs. brand stores, and highlighted how their study suffers from not considering the continuity between current, previous and future experiences. Regarding the impact of store atmospherics and retailer’s settings on customer experiences (e.g. Baker et al. 2002; Bloch, 1995), research has found that specific combinations of atmospherics elements influences consumers’ perceptions about merchandise, service quality, and the overall store image. More recently, Möller & Herm (2013) showed how retail settings may shape consumers interpretation and evaluation of the brand, and in-store bodily experiences transfer a metaphoric message to customers’ perceptions of the brand. However, the authors empirically tested a mono-brand fashion retail store, and stressed the importance of examining the interaction between brand and store personalities in transferring meaning “from the product to the retailer and the other way around” (Möller & Herm, 2013, p. 8). The retail landscape has dramatically changed the dynamics of consumer-brand interactions in the physical encounter. The main challenge of these interactions concerns the effective integration of multichannel brand experiences into an exciting, emotionally engaging, and coherent brand experience. However, in-depth studies on consumer perceptions to these multi-environment experiences have not yet emerged. In this paper, we aim to fill that gap. By addressing the attention to the customer’s sphere, we specifically investigate how consumers perceive luxury brands in relation to brand experiences across various retail settings. Method and studies Owing to the lack of relevant research, this study applies a direct qualitative and exploratory approach to develop deep insights of consumers response to luxury brand experiences in different retail settings (Creswell, 2012). Two sequential studies investigate consumer cues of brand experiences across various environments. Study 1 provides the identification of luxury brand elements that are pivotal in the creation of exciting shopping experiences. In study 1, respondents named a luxury brand which they had frequently experienced in the last year, and to which they felt being in a deep relationship across multiple retail touch points of the brand. Respondents were asked about what elements of the brand they were more engaged to. The authors imposed no constraints on the elicitation. Following the categorization of luxury brands (Jackson, 2004) which comprehends fashion, perfumes and cosmetics, wines and spirits, and watches and luxury, respondents chose whatever brand they wanted. One of the authors provided the instructions to respondents. This study includes in the first sample a variety of 35 consumers from various age (20 to 65 years old consumers), as well as various education levels. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and evaluated with content analysis, following quality criteria of Kassarjian (1977). The luxury brand elements emerged from Study 1 were used in Study 2 as thematic basis for investigating how these elements provide exciting experiences across multiple retail setting of the luxury brand. The same interviewer of Study 1 undertook in-depth interviews with eight of the above respondents, two from each consumer profile identified in line with the hedonic profiles of Arnold & Reynolds (2003). Each interview discussion lasted between 30 and 45 minutes, was audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The text was analyzed by the authors following the generalized sequence of steps of data reduction and transformation, data display and conclusion drawing/verification (Miles & Huberman, 1994). The code development followed thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998), and coding was multivariate within subjects. With multiple ideas per respondent, we extracted a large list of properties. We sorted thematic elements into logically related clusters and assigned representative headers. The authors now describe results regarding respondents’ perceptions of luxury brand experiences in multiple retail environments. Results and discussion Consumers identified a wide range of experience factors that they seek in luxury brands, and highlighted how the brand and retail environment fulfill these expectations. They considered the brand evocation to exclusivity and authenticity as the primary reason for purchasing luxury brands. One of the respondents stated: “I buy brand X because it is a nice and deeply authentic brand to have. When I use the brand X I feel I am wearing something very exclusive. And I feel exclusive”. Regarding experiencing luxury brands in the stores, respondents stressed the importance of “finding the same brand appealing in the monobrand store as well across retailers’ stores”, and added that when they did not perceive this coherence of message they often switched to other brands in the purchasing stage. Another determinant element of holistic experiences concerns the products presentation of the brand in various settings, which has to be very similar and related across the brand touch points. Respondents explained to feel confused when they visit one store and encounter “colorful display with a charming presentation of the brand Y in the store of retailer 1”, while finding in store of retailer 2 “black and white displays and an awful presentation for the brand Y”. Concerning the specific impact of the retailer’s environment on luxury experiences, we identified that the overall store setting of the retailer influences the luxury brand even when consumers do not experience the brand in the specific. For example, one respondent highlighted that “If I have to buy brand Z, I never go to retailer 3. I know that brand Z does not feel luxury at all in retailer 3 because of its very old fashioned store”. This study shows how consumers respond to luxury brand strategies across manufacturer and retailer’s brand setting. By providing deep insights on their relationship with luxury brands, consumers contributed to understand key elements for living consistent luxury brand experiences. They stresses the pivotal role of a coherent brand exclusivity. This is an evident implication to motivate consumers in purchasing the luxury brands. Retailers can also make important considerations from our study. They must create more appealing and overall exciting store images. By enhancing luxury experiences in the store, retailers can leverage opportunities of stronger connection with consumers. Simultaneously, brand manufacturers can build upon retailers enhanced in-store experience to magnify the holistic luxury brand experience. Finally, this study is one of the first explorations concerning the cross-effect of brand experiences and store atmospherics. In an empirical context, the authors investigate the conceptualization of consumer experiences in a multichannel view, and provide relevant contributions to analyze the brand and the environment as interdependent elements. Further research may test empirically our findings on the interaction between luxury brands and multi-retail experiences.

Customer emotion evoked during shopping is closely linked to customers’ central attitude toward the brand. Few studies, however, have examined what type of customer emotion is triggered at what stage of shopping by what factors, particularly in the luxury fashion retail context. This study intends to fill this gap in the research. To differentiate between customer emotions displayed before and after entering a luxury shop, we first identified what emotions are displayed at each stage and what factors triggered such emotions. We then examined the impact of customer emotions at each stage on customer responses, such as evaluations of service quality and brand attitude. Further, we attempted to identify patterns in the change in the type of customer emotions between before and after entering a luxury shop (i.e., from positive to negative or from negative to positive) and examined their effect on brand attitude. We collected 298 valid responses through a self-administered survey among luxury shop visitors in a major duty free complex in Seoul, Korea. The results show that customers display diverse emotions prior to entering a luxury shop. When customers were divided into four emotion groups (positive emotions only, mixed emotions, negative emotions only, no emotion), the positive emotion only group was the largest. As for specific emotions, happiness, contentment, and feeling comfortable were the three most experienced emotions. Negative emotions such as fear or shame were rarely experienced. Brand familiarity affected the type of emotion customers felt. While customers with high brand familiarity tended to feel privileged and comfortable, those with low brand familiarity tended to feel fear and shame. The emotions customers felt also differed by the shopping motive. When the motive was browsing only, customers tended to feel shame. When purchasing was a part of the motive, they tended to feel comfortable. Customer emotions displayed after entering a luxury shop were also diverse. The positive emotion only group was the largest, but it was not as large in the case of emotions felt prior to entering the shop. The effect of the retail service quality (RSQ) dimensions on in-store emotions varied depending on the specific emotion. The RSQ dimensions of "reliability" and "physical aspect" influenced the greatest number of in-store customer emotions. The moderating effect of brand familiarity was significant. The number of emotions affected significantly by RSQ dimensions was higher with the group with low familiarity. The moderating effect of the shopping motive was also significant. The RSQ dimensions that influenced emotion differed by the shopping motive. In terms of the effect of in-store emotions on brand attitude, it differed by the specific emotion. A significant effect was only present in three positive emotions (happiness, pride, privileged) and one negative emotion (anger). This implies that not all in-store emotions are equally influential on customer attitude. As for the effect of emotion change pattern on brand attitude, due to a large difference in the sample size of the emotion change pattern group (positive to positive (PP), positive to negative (NP), negative to positive (NP), negative to negative (NN)), we could not conduct a meaningful statistical analysis but could only observe some directions and tendencies. The brand attitude of the NP group tended to be higher than that of the PP group. This study contributes academically by extending the research on customer emotion, particularly in the luxury fashion retail context, in three ways. Firstly, we differentiated customer emotion before and after entering a shop. Secondly, we identified the triggers for specific emotions. Thirdly, we attempted to identify and examine the patterns of changes in customer emotion between before and after entering a shop and the impact of this pattern on customer responses. Managerially, this study contributes in two ways. Firstly, we demonstrated the importance of managing customer emotion at various stages of shopping at a specific emotional level. Secondly, we showed what factors should be managed for a particular customer emotion. Our research could be further extended in several ways. Customer experience research has shown that other customers present in the service setting can influence customer emotion; hence, in a luxury retail store, the degree of customers’ sense of compatibility with other customers may affect customer emotion and therefore should be explored. Another factor for future consideration is gender. Extant research in a luxury setting shows that the characteristics of luxury consumption tend to vary by gender. Considering that males’ luxury consumption is increasing, the difference in customer emotions based on gender might be worth investigating.

Today’s consumers experience the brands within numerous in-store and out-of-store contexts, and tend to focus on their holistic experience with the brands across various retail scenarios. Companies, especially in the luxury industry where multiple retail settings contribute to the formation of the brand image, invest considerable funds to create entertaining, exciting, and emotionally engaging experiences. However, researchers have not yet examined how traditional luxury brand factors interplay with experiential factors across multiple retail settings of the brand. In marketing literature, researchers have devoted considerable attention to the effect of store environments on consumer behavior (e.g. Baker et al., 2002; Donovan & Rossitier, 1982; Kotler, 1973). At the same time, academic research has also been conscious of the central role of brand image in the consumer-buying process (e.g. Keller, 1993; Kwon & Lennon, 2009). More recently, these two streams are coming together. Practitioners and academics have argued that creating compelling shopping experiences across multiple environments, and along, and beyond, the entire path-to-purchase is a key challenge for maintaining a certain brand image (Interbrand, 2014; Verhoef et al., 2009). In a luxury brand context, whereas brand managers design most of the strategic implementations of the brand, retailers can increasingly craft value to the brand via the creation of multisensory retail experiences (Spence et al., 2014). Luxury brands, such as Chanel, are continuously growing their retail presence, and identifying ways to cultivate the tradition of the brand and create distinctive and unique brand experiences. However, the academic perspective of investigating luxury brand images in contemporary business contexts has been underdeveloped (Berthon et al., 2009; Miller & Mills, 2012). While this call for more comprehensive and holistic approaches to luxury brand experiences has been raised (Atwal & Williams, 2009), current research predominantly focuses on single aspects of the luxury brand experience, such as in-store multisensory factors (Möller & Herm, 2013), brand owner cues (Tynan et al., 2010), in-store environment cues (Baker et al., 2002), or luxury brand specific factors (Beverland, 2005). The evolving business world needs to implement more holistic and contemporary approaches. By employing the approach of three dimensions store atmospherics (Baker et al., 2002) to luxury brand experiences, this study investigates how consumers integrate traditional brand factors with new factors of consumption. The objective of this article is to understand how various retail settings affect emotional states, which, in turn, affect behavior toward luxury brands. This study addresses the relationship of luxury brand experiences in tight and less controlled retail scenarios, and the ways in which luxury experiences trigger effective successful brand experiences. Utilizing two qualitative studies, the authors consider the interaction between luxury brand experiences and store atmospherics. The paper concludes with relevant implications for academics and practitioners to enable new perspectives on luxury brand strategies, and consumer response to the luxury brand image in the challenging retail landscape.

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.

Despite the growing need for marketers in luxury retail to provide memorable customer experiences via their retail outlets, research investigating the effectiveness of experiential stores on brand and behavioral outcomes is scarce. To address this gap, we investigate the effectiveness of pop up brand stores, which we define as temporary stores that are open for a limited period of time, representing an increasingly popular experiential store format in the luxury fashion and automotive industry. However, pop up brand stores not only reflect one of the latest developments in experiential retailing, but they are also seen as an effective marketing tool to reach new target groups which might perceive traditional luxury as antiquated or obsolete. Collecting data from 345 visitors of two pop up brand stores of a luxury car brand in the US and the UK, we find that three store characteristics – hedonic shopping value, store uniqueness, and store atmosphere – either directly or through brand experience exert a positive effect on word of mouth (WOM) intentions towards the brand. Whereas hedonic shopping value and store atmosphere strengthen the customer’s experience with the luxury brand, store uniqueness, surprisingly, does not. Using brand familiarity as a moderating variable, we further unveil that pop up brand stores create positive WOM in both existing and new target groups. Our empirical results offer novel insights for researchers and marketers, as we quantify the effects of experiential store characteristics on brand experience and WOM, shed light on the role of brand experience in inducing behavioral intentions, as well as illustrate that pop up brand stores are an exceptional opportunity for luxury brands to reach existing and new target groups alike. We argue that pop up brand stores should thoughtfully be considered as a complement to traditional luxury retail and as an alternative to flagship stores.