A new era for luxury brands is emerging, in which the prevailing motivations need to be reexamined. Considering that advertisements are frequently based on the motivations that the luxury brand aims to satisfy, this research sets out to fill this gap in the literature. Through a quasi-experiment, this study examines how a series of personal characteristics affect the relationship between advertised values and Aad, Ab and PI. Preliminary findings are reported and suggestions for further research are presented as well. Indicative implications and limitations are also noted.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the attributes of consumers global luxury fashion brands and to find the impact of consumer value, meaning the social and pleasure values derived from brands on product purchase involvement. The method in this study was analysis of a total of 298 responses to a questionnaire. The results indicate, first of all, that among the attribute evaluations of global luxury brands, traditionality and splurge affect purchasing involvement. However, prestige and originality were found to have no influence on purchasing involvement. Second, the responses to the questionnaire indicate that social and pleasure values had a statistically significant effect on purchase of luxury brands. Third, the value of cross-group attributes evaluation and consumption value to differences in purchase involvement has had statistically significant results. In conclusion, the traditional and Splurge natures of the luxury global fashion industry’s brand, social consumption value and pleasure consumption value affect the level of purchase involvement. This underscores the importance of attribute Evaluation(traditional and splurge) and consumption value(social and pleasure) when planning consumer marketing strategies for global luxury fashion brands in the future.

When social media users post their opinion on social media, they might expect to receive a favorable evaluation from others (e.g., ‘like’ on Facebook and ‘heart’ on Instagram). On the contrary, when users read and evaluate other’s posts, they are less likely to care about others. What’s more, if users spend more time on social media, posting would make them more care about others. This research answers the question ‘Does social media interaction alter the way we perceive value and affect different choice? Three studies show 1) how social media interaction affects consumers’ luxury value perception and the mediating role of social media self-view (interdependent vs. independent self), 2) how main effect and mediated relationship are different between two groups divided by participants’ time spent on social media (high vs. low: ±1 SD) and 3) how the type of social media interaction (post vs. “like”) affects handbag choice between social and functional luxury-superior option.

This study aimed to identify the effects of shopping environmental stimuli on Chinese consumers’ functional and symbolic value perceptions toward luxury lifestyle fashion stores. An enhanced S-O-R (stimulus-organism-response) model was used as the theoretical foundation. Significant relationships were identified between shopping environmental stimuli and the perceived values.

Understanding consumer insight in luxury watch purchase is crucial in the current situation where the industry is recovering from a downturn. Today, the consumer does not only purchase a luxury watch to impress others as in the past. Using the means end chain approach, this study discovers that branding, together with design, function and price are key attributes that customers consider. Consequently, the consumer benefits from having a sense of personal identification. In addition, today the consumer perceives the benefit of luxury watch purchase as an investment. Therefore, they seek product distinction, durability, and a value-work product, in order, to serve the perceived value of capital investment. The results of the study reflect a changing trend in the luxury consumer. Prestige value is not the only key factor determining the purchase decision as was found in previous studies. Therefore, the luxury watch players, in an effort to elicit increased sales, should consistently build the brand profile by offering both functionality and design. Furthermore, communication of focus on quality leads to durability that would be considered as an investment asset from generation to generation. Introduction In the luxury watch industry, despite the start of a recovery, from a downward trend, the growth rate is forecast to be at a slow pace (ReportLinker, 2017; Deloitte, 2016). The global luxury watch players face the challenge of decreasing demand as per the change in consumer behavior (Financial Time, 2017). Like other luxury goods, the luxury watch is considered as a product that is not entirely necessary but the drive behind the buying intention is due solely to the personal desire of the consumer In addition, individual perception as well as consumer purchasing power, has a strong link with decision making. Why a consumer buys a luxury watch today is rather different from why they bought one ten years ago (Adams, 2017). This study is conducted in order to understand luxury watch consumer insight using the means end theory, in ways of appropriation, and examine variations in consumer willingness-to-pay (Gengler & Mulvey, 2017). Luxury consumption behavior There are numerous studies to be found that explore luxury product consumption starting from extrinsic themes like consumer purchasing power (e.g. Veblen, 1899), consumer characteristics (e.g.Dubois & Laurent, 1993); (O'cass & McEwen, 2004), consumer behavior (Vigneron & Johnson, 1999; Kastanakis, & Balabanis, 2012) to intrinsic themes like consumer motivation (e.g.Xiao-hui, 2006; Truong & McColl, 2011), consumer perception (e.g. Zhan & He, 2012; Vigneron & Johnson, 2017) and at a more subjective level of consumer value (Sukhdial, Chakraborty, & Steger, 1995; Moraes, Carrigan, Bosangit, Ferreira, & McGrath, 2017; Vigneron, & Johnson, 2017). This is because the nature of the consumer has changed. The current consumer does not view purchasing a luxury item as a vehicle to impress others but much more to serve their own perspectives (Wiedmann, Hennigs & Siebels, 2009). Thus to cope with this downtrend, it is necessary, nowadays, for luxury brand suppliers to have a deep and detailed understanding of customer insight. Means end chain theory (MEC) and laddering MEC has been regarded as one of the most felicitous theories in consumer research since 1980 (Grunert et al. 2001). It was developed to help understand consumer insight in the decision making process (Gengler, Mulvey, & Oglethorpe, 1999) starting from how the consumer thinks about a product and why they buy it. Through MEC (Olson and Reynolds, 1983; Gutman, 1982; Howard, 1977; Young and Feigin, 1975), the researcher and marketer can discover the salient meanings consumers associate with products, both in services and behavior. The chain explains the linkage; starting from attributes through to consequences, and then to values in the form of a hierarchial model Gutman, 1982; Gengler, Mulvey, & Oglethorpe, 1999; Leao and Mello, 2007). Beginning with the first level, attributes are characteristics of the product/service the consumer is expecting which can be both tangible and non-tangible features. However, attributes will mean nothing to the consumer, without so called consequences (Klenosky, 2002). At the second level of the hierarchical model, consequences are benefits that take part in explaining why those attributes are important to consumers (Olson and Reynolds, 1983). The consumer is looking for particulars benefits when purchasing that certain product or service (Voss and Gruber, 2006). The final level is value. The consumer judges the benefit of the product based on the perceived value, in the mind of the customer (Gutman, 1982; Olson and Reynolds, 1983; Costa, Dekker, and Jongen, 2004). It is notable that the higher the hierarchial level, the greater the level of abstraction (Woodruff & Gardial, 1996). Using the MEC helps gain consumer insight information which allows the luxury brand supplier to offer products which are best suited for their targeted consumers (Petison, Thongthou and Lekmoung, 2012). Methodology By its nature, the MEC is adopted as a qualitative research method. In order to understand why a consumer is interested in a product and makes a purchasing decision (Smith and Swinyard, 1999); the decision making process can be revealed using the laddering interview (Gutman, 1982; Olson & Reynolds, 1983; Ozguven, 2012). Through the laddering interview, researchers decide to apply a soft laddering interview; an open answer question, rather than hard laddering interview; or a fixed answer question, to enjoy the benefits of go by the flow (Ozguven, 2012). Furthermore, soft laddering interview is well suited to the elite in a sense that interviewer can adjust questions depending on answers and ambience (Harvey, 2011). In this study a total of 30 luxury watch consumers; 18 females and 12 males, who recently bought luxury watches in 2017 were interviewed. This is because the researchers want to obtain the most up to date information. This group of consumers tended to purchase a luxury watch every year. The most popular brands these consumers purchased are Rolex, Patek Philippe, Panerai and Audemars Piguet. In face to face time, a semi structure interview was applied based on Reynolds and Gutmam (2001), who suggested questions such as; What affects your purchasing decision?, How do you feel about the product? Why do you want to wear this watch? etc. All interviews were recorded and verbatim transcripts produced. Content analyses were applied following the interviews. The preliminary categorization was into groups of attribute consequence and value, and recurring words with similar meanings collected in clusters. Research triangulation was applied to ensure validity. The researchers created a hierarchical value chain for each consumer then analyzed the findings by using LaddermapTM software. Results According to the content analysis process, a total of 28 attributes, 22 consequences, and 15 values were found in the study. Through the LaddermapTM software analysis only 7 attributes, 11 consequences, and 9 values can be reported as in figure 1. Figure 1: Hierarchial value map of luxury watch purchase Brand is the most important attribute from the viewpoint of the luxury consumer followed by design, price and function. For example, one consumer mentioned that “…brand helps one who wears it by identification…it reflects a certain lifestyle…wearing a Rolex is easy to take care of because of its quality as well as the ease to wear on any occasion…it is value for money… but more than this as it constantly appreciates in value.…” In addition, brand is a key attribute that leads to two most important consequences which are personal identification and investment. However, impressing others, which used to be a key rationale for purchasing luxury product is found to be absent from the top consumer benefits nowadays. However, today, luxury brand consumers are more concerned with distinction, durability, and value-work product as a consequence of watch purchase. For example, one consumer said that “…normally, women do not wear Pannarai. I love to be different…so I bought a limited edition….I wear it constantly for both work and leisure activities…although the price is high, I feel secure with the price paid…it has a warranty and good after- sales service…” Among reported values, monetary satisfaction is found to be the most the important followed by self- image and pleasure. For example, one consumers said that “…I always buy Rolex…my parents also use Rolex. From my parent’s experience of use, it was made aware that the Rolex is fabulous due to its quality and resale price. …I have never ever changed my mind about Rolex…it is excellent value as an investment…I am happy and satisfied with the money I have spent…” This study also found other consumers who expressed their satisfaction with money invested in comparison with another investment options such as gold or stocks. Moreover, it is an investment that can be passed on to their children. Discussions and Implications Nowadays, brand, design, price and function are the key attributes that luxury consumers focus on. Luxury brand suppliers should pay particular attention to a design that reflects the unique identity of the brand and distinguishes it from competitors. This is a consistent finding of Subhadip, Jain, &Matta (2018) that the luxury product ought to reflect its own creativity, artistry, and uniqueness. Moreover, consumers prefer a luxury watch that offers various functions that they can be used with ease on any occasion. In addition, the luxury consumer does not only purchase a watch that represents their self-image and bring in pleasure value, but also monetary satisfaction which is found to be most important nowadays so that the luxury watch player should advertise their brand based on this distinctive study finding. Durability is a reflection of quality brand. Warranty is the linkage between quality and value for money. Monetary satisfactory also comes from the benefits of investment and a generation to generation heritage.

Introduction Luxury industry, in addition to feelings, started to provide reasons for consumers to justify their consumption. Also, it helps them to avoid social risks by offering inconspicuous luxury products. For example, ‘Mandarin Oriental Barcelona’ suggests luxury holiday package for people running Barcelona marathon, London cocktail bar ‘Bart’ serves cocktails designed to 'facilitate focus and encourage relaxation', ‘Tiffany’ has dropped the spelled-out brand name from its fashion jewelry line in favor of simple “T”. (Trend watching 2017) Then, what changed consumers' interest? Interestingly, the current expectations of luxury consumers have a lot in common with the features of interdependent self-construal. The "we" effect of social media can explain this trend. Literature review and Conceptual framework Social Media usage and Interdependent Self-Construal Although earlier research in cultural psychology conceptualized self-construal as culturally determined (Markus and Kitayama 1991), more recent research suggests that independent and interdependent self-construal can also be made temporarily accessible. The most frequently adopted priming procedure to induce self-construal is the procedure by stories about we or I. (Gardner, Gabriel, and Lee 1999; Mandel 2003; Krishna, Zhou, and Zhang 2008; Hong and Chang 2015). We suggest that Social media usage can induce interdependent self-construal because social media users read stories and watch videos of others. Prior findings indicated that participants in interdependent self-construal condition have an equivalent number of thoughts about themselves and others. (Lee, Aaker, and Gardner 2000). Social Media, Interdependent Self-construal, and Consumers’ Luxury Value Perception Consumers’ perceptions of luxury value appear to be determined mainly by Functional, Individual, and Social aspects (Wiedmann, Hennigs, and Siebels 2009). Recent luxury marketing researchers compare conspicuous consumption and inconspicuous consumption, two types of social aspect consumption (Han, Nunes, and Dreze 2010; Eckhardt, Belk, and Wilson 2015). They are interested in Functional luxury value, added to Individual luxury value because small utilitarian additions to a hedonic luxury are often valued more than their stand-alone value (Keinan, Kivetz, & Netzer 2016). These two trends seem to have nothing in common. But when the concept of self-construal is adopted, they have something in common. Namely, interdependent selves, which focuses on others, are the one who cares about both inconspicuousness and utilitarian aspects. We suggest that because of the features of interdependent self-construal, consumers more using social media tend to have a different priority regarding luxury value perception than consumers less exposed to social media. We explore the mediating role of relational interdependent self-construal in this model (Triandis 1989; Cross, Bacon, and Morris 2000). Also, luxury brand company’s social media marketing efforts (Kim and Ko 2012; Godey et al. 2016) have different features. We expected that each social media marketing activity has a different impact on luxury value perception. Interdependent Self-Construal, Reason, Functional luxury value We propose that because of interdependence priming effect of social media, participants who are exposed to social media (social media priming group) tend to rely on both reason and feeling, which in turn set an equivalent value on Functional luxury value (cognitively superior) and Individual luxury value (affectively superior) (Hong and Chang 2015). Interdependent Self-Construal, Social Risk, Inconspicuousness The authors propose that because of interdependence priming effect of social media, participants who are exposed to social media (social media priming group) tend to avoid social risk than participants who are not exposed to social media (no priming group). Study 1: The effect of social media on the balance between self and others. A total of 709 respondents (389 females) participated in this study via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) They were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions (with social media manipulation vs. No manipulation) The impact of ‘one-time social media use’ Following the previous study (Hong and Chung 2015), we conducted a 2 (social media manipulation: No vs. Yes) x 2 (thought type: self vs other) mixed ANOVA with social media manipulation as a between-subject factor and thought type as a repeated measure. The main effect of thought type is significant (F(1,707) =293.54, p<.000). However, the interaction between social media manipulation and thought type was not significant. (F (1,707) = 0.128, p<.721). So, the result shows that one-time social media use doesn’t manipulate interdependent self-construal. The impacts of ‘chronic social media use’. To check whether chronic social media use can manipulate interdependent self-construal, we conducted a 2 (time spent on social media: Low vs. High) x 2 (thought type: self vs. other) mixed ANOVA. The main effect of thought type is significant (F(1,707) =293.81, p<.000). The interaction between time spent on social media and thought type was significant. (F (1,703) = 6.65, p<.000). Also, we conducted a 2 (communication on social media: Low vs. High) x 2 (thought type: self vs. other) mixed ANOVA. The main effect of thought type is significant (F(1,707) =300.76, p<.000). The interaction between communication and thought type was significant. (F (1,704) = 5.764, p<.000). So, the result shows that chronic social media use manipulates interdependent self-construal. Also, we computed three types of groups, the others-dominant, the balanced, and the self-dominant by modifying past research (Kitayama et al. 2009; Wu, Cutright, and Fitzsimos 2011, Hong and Chang2015). A chi-square test revealed that participants who spent more time and had more communication on social media had more balanced thought type (32.6%, 31.0%) than participants who spent less time and had less communication on social media (24.8%, 24.0%) Study 2: The effect of using social media on luxury value perceptions (SEM) A total of 255 respondents (85 females) participated in this study through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). The participants were between 18 and 65 years old and lived in the U.S., and the modal age group was 25-34 (43.9 %), followed by 35-44 (25.5%). We conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using maximum likelihood estimation with Promax rotation. The goodness of fit statistics is: 𝒙𝟐=707.14, df =377, P<0.0005, 𝒙𝟐/df =1.876, CFI=0.95, and RMSEA =0.059. The final CFA model fits well with the data (Hu and Bentler, 1999; Hair et al., 2010). After confirming the measurement model, SEM with maximum likelihood extraction was estimated to test Hypothesis. The goodness of fit criteria of the model meets the proposed thresholds in previous studies: 𝒙𝟐=677.97, df =374, P<0.0005, 𝒙𝟐/df =1.813, CFI=0.95, and RMSEA =0.057 (Hu and Bentler, 1999; Hair et al., 2010). The SEM model showed each social media activity has a different effect on each luxury value. Interaction positively impacts the functional luxury value (β=0.38, p<.000) but negatively impacts the individual (β= - 0.27, p<.000) and social luxury value (β= - 0.34, p<.000). Entertainment/WOM has a positive effect on individual luxury value (β=0.39, p<.000) and on social luxury value (β=0.32, p<.000). Customization positively impacts the social luxury value (β=0.26, p<.000). We could also find Entertainment/WOM and Customization did not influence the functional luxury value. Only Entertainment/WOM positively impacts relational interdependent self-construal (β=0.32, p<.000) Relational interdependent self-construal positively impacts on individual value (β=0.24, p<.000) and social value (β=0.27, p<.000). We conducted a mediation analysis. Among social media activities, only Entertainment/WOM had a significant positive effect on Relational Interdependent Self-Construal. Study 3: the effect of social media on self-construal and choice between functional value and individual value superior options 454 Responses (304 females) collected via Mturk to stimulate the environment of social media. Respondents are primed on interdependence by social media usage while control group respondents are not primed. The authors checked the validity of the self-construal manipulation effect of social media. Respondents were given a choice task, designed by adopting previous method (Hong and Chang 2015). They were told to imagine that they were going to buy a hand bag. Handbag X is superior on functional (cognitive) dimensions whereas handbag Y is superior on all individual (affective) dimensions. Participants are asked to indicate their choice between two Handbags Choice. A chi-square test revealed that the effect of social media manipulation is not significant on the handbag choice (𝑥2(l) 0.371, p<.309). However, the effect of interdependent self-construal on the participant's’ handbag choice was significant (𝑥2(l) 5.85, p<0.01). As predicted, participants with a higher Interdependent self-construal primed by social media have a smaller preference gap between Functional luxury value and Individual luxury value (F:73.2%-I:26.8%=46.4%), than participants with lower Interdependent self-construal participants (F:82.7%-I:17.3%=65.4%) Study3 supports the results of previous two studies. As individuals communicate more and spend more time on social media, they are more likely to prefer equally for Functional luxury value and Individual luxury. Study 4: the effect of social media on self-construal and choice between conspicuous and inconspicuous options. After the self-construal manipulation with social media, respondents were given a choice task. The choice was designed by adopting previous method (Han, Nunes, and Dreze 2010). Respondents were told to imagine that they were going to buy a handbag. One option has an inconspicuous design whereas the other option is conspicuous design. Participants are asked to indicate their choice between two handbags. Social media manipulation and Handbags Choice. All three chi-square tests revealed a significant or marginal effect of social media manipulation on participants handbag choice with the same pattern. ( 𝑥2(1) = 6.328, p > .032; 𝑥2(1) = 3.086, p > .079; 𝑥2(1) = 1.933, p > .098) As predicted, participants in social media manipulation group prefer the inconspicuous option to the conspicuous option (59.3%>40.7%; 58.9%>41.1%; 60.4%>39.6%) than participants in control group (47.3%, 52.7%; 50.5%, 49.5%, 53.8%, 46.2%). Interdependent-self construal and Handbags Choice. All three chi-square tests revealed a significant effect of interdependent self-construal on participants handbag choice with the same pattern. ( 𝑥2(1) = 4.2, p > .047; 𝑥2(1) = 4.79, p > .029; 𝑥2(1) = 6.11, p > .013) As predicted, participants with higher Interdependent self-construal primed by social media have a equivalent preference about the inconspicuous option and conspicuous option (50%, 50%; 50.8%, 49.2%; 52.4%, 47.6%) than participants with lower Interdependent self-construal(59.6%, 40.4%; 61.1%, 38.9%, 63.9%, 36.1%). Study4 shows that one-time social media exposure can reduce conspicuous consumption. However, as individuals communicate more and spend more time on social media, they become more likely to prefer equally for conspicuous option and inconspicuous option. Contribution In luxury brand marketing, this study sheds light on the balance between two motivations, luxury for self and luxury for others (Kapferer, Jean-Noël, and Vincent 2009) using the concept of self-construal. This research also contributes to the literature on consumers’ luxury value perception (Hennigs et al. 2012; Wiedmann et al. 2009). In general marketing subjects, it adds to the increasing literature on consumer risk and choices between affective and cognitive options. For the luxury brand industry, this study can give marketers a practical idea about choosing social media marketing activities and designing new products. For example, if luxury brand companies promote customers posting opinions on websites, they should know that their activities might advertently affect their sales because interaction negatively influences on individual and social luxury value.

Introduction Recently global luxury brands have put their effort into strengthening their businesses online. This can be seen as an effort to overcome their stagnant growth by focusing on steeply increasing online markets as their target. In the midst of global recession, online luxury brands have continued to show rapid growth each year. Bain & Company (2017) has forecasted offline growth of global luxury brands at the annual average growth of 2~3% by 2020 while the online markets would show the average growth of 15% annually by 2020. Moreover, due to the expansion of importers with official copyright to the online sales and stabilization of e-payment system, online markets have gained consumer trust leading to the increased rate of consumers purchasing luxury brand online more. McKinsey Consulting (2017) has forecasted online sales of luxury brand would reach up to 28% of the total sales by 2025. Reflecting such expectations, luxury brands are in the process of proposing multiple channels of online sales and communicating through Social Network Service (SNS) marketing as their core strategies. As consumer usage of SNS, such as Facebook, tweeter, or Instagram, have increased, so the value of consumer toward luxury brands has changed. Since the introduction of the standing characteristic of social media-communication to the luxury brand market, the luxury brands not only became a privilege of the high minority group but also became available for anyone to easily purchase with absolute information availability of price, quality, location, etc. Theoretical Development Consumers are using social media sites to search for information and deviating from traditional media (e.g., television, radio, and magazines) (Mangold and Faulds 2009). The emergence of social media has changed communication method from one-way communication to multi-dimensional, two-way, peer-to-peer communication (Berthon, Pitt, and Campbell 2008). Social media platforms offer a chance for brand to familiarized interact with consumers. Also, consumer can be interacted with another consumer through social media. The most important factor for luxury brands to establish an online business strategy is communication with their consumers. Luxury brands that are most accustomed to communicating with their limited consumers in their offline stores providing high quality services, it is inevitable for them to fear the lack of face-to-face interaction with their consumers in online markets. Social media began to serve the luxury brands as the alternative communication channel within the online markets. Moreover, social media has proven effective in drawing consumer’s voluntary Word of Mouth(WOM) since social media interaction is important motivation for consumer to creating user-generated contents (Daugherty al., 2008). The social media provides the consumers with a platform to meet and communicate with others with similar interests in specific brand goods and services that makes target marketing easier than before (Muntinga et al., 2011). Furthermore, the social media platforms provide the consumers with restriction-free comments on a certain brand to other interested parties, the users voluntarily taking the role of eWOM (Kim & Ko, 2012; Vollmer & Precourt, 2008). Luxury brands also seek to take this advantage of social media. The extent of spreading word of mouth is at the most viral through social media platforms, influencing the consumer’s purchasing behaviors to a great extent as proven in many previous researches (Lau and Ng 2001; Nabi and Hendriks 2003). Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the consumer’s multidimensional value towards luxury brands on social media WOM intention and purchase intentions at the same time. Moreover, through extensive literature review with qualitative interview on consumers’ perceived value on luxury brand/product, consumer value dimensions on the luxury brands are categorized into six value factors (e.g. conspicuous value, status value, materialistic value, hedonic value, uniqueness seeking value, price-quality perceptions). Research Design The study conducted a thorough literature review and focus group interview to develop a comprehensive model of understanding the importance and dimensionality of customer value on luxury brand. After analyzing qualitative data on consumer value perception on luxury brands/product, online survey was performed using a customer sample in the United States. A web-based online survey was conducted using an online research panel service. After filtering and cleaning data collected, a final usable sample of 287 were analyzed to test hypothesized model. Measures for luxury brand on perceived values (including conspicuous value, status value, hedonic value, materialistic value, uniqueness seeking value, price-quality perceptions), social media word-of-mouth intention, and purchase intentions for luxury products were rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Result and Conclusion The result show that the relationship between conspicuous value, hedonic value, uniqueness and price-quality perceptions with social media WOM were found to be significant impact. However, social media WOM were not affected by status value and materialistic value of luxury brand. Conversely, status value and materialistic value had a considerable influence on purchase intention for luxury brand online. And social media word-of-mouth had a significant positive effect on consumer purchase intentions for luxury brand. In the era where digital importance is at its peak, the expansion of the luxury brands to online business has become requirements and not optional consequences. It is not easy for luxury brands with their unique styles and identity, as well as high brand awareness to settle in an online market where variety of lifestyles and cultures coexist. For this reason, the study on the multidimensional consumer value on luxury brands holds its contribution to the academia and industry practitioners. This study empirically examines the influence of consumers’ perceived multidimensional value on the luxury brands to WOM and purchase intentions through social media. This paper has revealed that the consumer’s WOM intention on luxury goods does not necessarily correlate with the purchase intention. However, the consumer who has developed WOM intention through social media has shown to possess positive influence on the purchase intention. This results also indicated the importance of the exposure of the unique luxury brand image by the luxury brand managers to the social media in order to generate voluntary consumer WOM. Furthermore, in order to increase their social status, the necessity of online consumer community for sharing their special experiences is ever more present. Such online consumer community would serve to expand the communication channel between the brand and the consumers, thus leading to increase intimacy between two parties. The study was carried out to the American consumers; following study should be carried out to Chinese consumers or developing countries where luxury brands are exposed to the rapidly growing luxury brand markets. Moreover, an in-depth study on strengthening effective marketing strategy by segmenting consumer value on luxury brands should be conducted consequently.

The current study aimed to segment Mongolian female consumers based on luxury consumption values and to compare lifestyle, demographic characteristics, purchase behavior, and perceived brand personality among the segments. The survey was administered to consumers who had purchased luxury products in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. A total of 184 surveys were used for data analysis. Exploratory factor analysis revealed five luxury values: quality value, hedonic value, conspicuous value, social value, and unique value. Using the five luxury values, clustering analysis was conducted, showing that there were four distinct segments: passive shoppers, showoffs, rational value groups, and hedonists. ANOVAs and chi-square analyses revealed that these four segments differed in consumption values, demographic characteristics, lifestyle dimensions (including appearance consciousness, leisure orientation, life enjoyment, and achievement orientation), and purchase behavior (including purchase frequency, price of products purchased, and product selection criteria). Moreover, value segments showed differences in five dimensions of luxury brand personality: sincerity, professionalism/attractiveness, excitement, materialism, and sophistication. The results suggest that consumption values serve as a significant basis for segmentation. Furthermore, the current study indicates that value segments can be described as consumers’ perceived brand personality. The study concludes with a discussion of the results, theoretical and practical implications, and limitations.

Luxury market is changing with new competitors to the market, more modest growth, and new types of customers (Kim and Ko 2012). To stay relevant, luxury houses need to develop experience-based marketing strategies that emphasise interactivity, connectivity and creativity (Atwal and Williams 2009). Subsequently, with the rise of digital marketing of luxury (Okonkwo 2009), consumers have been granted a more active role in the value co-creation of luxury brands. Indeed, adopting more inclusive and consumer-oriented marketing strategies has proven successful to iconic luxury brands such as Burberry (Phan, Thomas & Heine 2011), and Hermes (Robins 2016). Previously, value co-creation has been studied from consumer perspective following resource-based view (Arnould, Price and Malshe 2006) and practice theory (Schau, Muniz, and Arnould 2009). However, in the field of luxury marketing, research on co-creation has been limited to one case study of value co-creation processes (Tynan, McKechnie & Chhuon 2010). In addition, no previous research exists on the role of space and spectacular environment in value co-creation in luxury. This article extends these streams of researchby analysing 42 narratives (Polkinghorne 1995) from consumers that have attended two branded exhibitions of Louis Vuitton: SERIES3 held in London in the fall 2015 and Volez, Voguez, Voyagez in Paris in Spring 2016. In essence, luxury is about seduction; recreating a dream and providing meaningful, personal experiences for its consumers (Kapferer and Bastien 2009). Here, a branded exhibition provides a way to invite consumers to feel, see, and experience the brand in its full splendour. These encounters, in turn, transform the value-creation logic between the brand and the consumer from a one-way affair to a co-creational relation. This article demonstrates how exhibition context allows the consumer to participate in the value co-creation for Louis Vuitton, a prestigious luxury brand. Here, the brand provides a context and props for the consumer’s processes of value co-creation. This, in turn, then results into four types of value; utilitarian, experiential, relational, and symbolic. The contribution of this study is three-fold. First, this study extends the literature on value co-creation (Arnould et al. 2006) by demonstrating the role of space in the process of value co-creation. Second, our results extend previous research on luxury (Tynan et al. 2010) by illustrating the value co-creation from consumer perspective. From managerial perspective, the results show how brand exhibitions may act as platforms for content creation and enable rich self-expression with the brand.

Consumers nowadays are looking for luxury brands that are able to fulfil their values. Luxury fashion marketers have spent enormously on advertising and adopted sex appeal extensively as their major selling technique. Little empirical evidence, however, has been presented with regards to the effectiveness of using sex appeal in luxury fashion advertising. Consumer responses to sex appeal in luxury brand advertisements are also poorly understood and under-investigated. The massive use of sex appeal in luxury brand advertising suggests the strong need for empirical research to determine the relationship between sex appeal and perceived luxury values. Based on the luxury value framework and adopting a quasi-experimental design, this study examines the influence of sex appeal in advertising on the relationships between attitude towards the advertisement and luxury value perceptions. Results show that the increase of sex appeal level increases the favourability of the advertisement which results in significant changes in luxury value perceptions. The influence of gender is found to be prominent in this study, which highlights the importance of gender consideration when adopting sex appeal strategy for any luxury brand advertising. Implications for luxury brand marketers and advertisers are discussed.

3D printing is an additive software manufacturing technology for designing and creating real objects using a layering technique. Global brands including Coca Cola and Warner Bros have successfully offered the first 3D printing campaigns, but the market is still untapped for using 3D printing marketing in global advertising. Global brands potentially can undertake 3D printing technology campaigns that will offer innovative and strong experiences for enhancing brand values and competitiveness. Luxury brands are particularly recognized for their rarity, uniqueness, innovation, and classic traditions. Luxury brands can thus use 3D printing campaign experiences to expand the cultural imagination in coherence with luxury identifications. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of 3D printing campaign experience on attitude toward campaigns, perceived value of luxury brands, and purchase intentions. The authors offer implications for advertising practitioners by constructing a theoretical model regarding 3D printing campaigns and perceived values of luxury brands.

The luxury market keeps growing in the global world. Marketing scholars focus on Chinese luxury consumers, because Chinese consumers show different characteristics comparing to foreign consumers. Personal hedonic value cannot be ignored among factors which influence consumers’ purchase intention. After the survey on 128 consumers who have luxury purchasing experience, the study finds out that as the two of three sub-dimensions of hedonic value, self-gifting and self-pleasure can significantly influence luxury perceived value, but self-enrichment has nothing to do with it. Luxury perceived value can directly affect consumers’ purchase intention on luxury products. But this relationship can be negatively moderated by interpersonal effects. At the end, managerial implications and theoretical contributions are discussed.

Increasing attention has been paid to marketing and consumer behavior of luxury industry but research into value creation network and operational mechanisms is very limited. This study focuses on two aspects of the luxury industry: luxury brand and value chain, to inform a comprehensive understanding of the value creation process for high value added brands. In luxury industry, the key elements that create and deliver value are brand, design and research, production, distribution, and retail. A clear brand identity is found as the first step of this value chain, which influences the choices of all other activities. Luxury goods companies will align all the activities in line with brand identity to deliver consistent tangible and intangible values to end users. Furthermore, a luxury value chain is a holistic network with strong coordination among its elements. A combined approach of case study and secondary data collection is pursued. A sample of 9 luxury companies within 6 selected industries is investigated. Data is qualitatively collected via semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and observations as a triangulation approach for the purpose of ensuring the reliability of the research data. Multiple interviews of the general manager, industrial manager, brand/communication manager, creative director, and store manager are conducted in each company to achieve a broader perspective and also make data triangulation procedures possible. This research contributes to the luxury brands management as well as value chain concept. It discusses the value creation network and operational mechanism from a less explored corporate perspective. It unveils a secretive existence of brand in value generation process and further establishes a model to amplify the relationship between each activity in the value chain. Also, it expands the research of value chain into luxury industry. It argues that a supply leading value chain can also command a premium rather than the customer-centric value chain discussed by most researchers recently. It also provides valuable insights for companies who want to have a high-end market position. It shows that the widely adopted luxury strategy invented mainly by French and Italian companies employs fundamentally different rules from those of fast-moving consumer goods in mass market. In short, a luxury strategy is different in nature, not in level.