Online luxury goods with price discount or onsite luxury goods with luxury services: Role of situation-specific thinking styles and socio-demographics

Today, the luxury goods and service market is growing faster than ever. However, despite its growth, we do not know much about the ways in which consumers choose to shop online or in store when buying luxury goods. We also lack insight into the factors that can affect such luxury consumption decisions. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether consumers prefer to buy luxury goods online at a discounted price or would rather buy luxury goods in store with additional luxury services at a cover price. This study also examines the extent to which such decisions can be driven by their situation-specific thinking styles as well as other socio-demographic variables. The results show that participants adopted a rational thinking style when deciding to buy luxury goods online with price discounts. On the other hand, an experiential thinking style was evoked when participants chose to visit a store offering luxury brands and luxury services. In addition to momentary thinking orientations, gender as well as income were found to be relevant to a consumer's choice in a shopping platform when seeking luxury brands. More details about the study's findings and their implications are discussed below.     

“Service” in Luxury Retailing in the Twenty‐First Century: An Exploratory Look at the Pleasure Boating Sector

This study explores the most effective retailing strategies with which luxury retailers can achieve a competitive advantage. The central role of services in enhancing the consumption experience in the luxury segment has been analyzed considering the pleasure boating sector, with a focus on the role that the dealer may have, both in the integration of different services and in the development of a durable competitive advantage. A qualitative study has been carried out through semistructured, in‐depth, one‐to‐one interviews with representatives of companies that deal with the pleasure boating sector. The results show that in the luxury pleasure boating sector, the introduction of a better‐defined retail strategy focused on services and its integration within the entire distribution channel may be crucial but also difficult to achieve in contexts that lack a marketing orientation. The contribution to extant literature on service in the pleasure boating sector and in luxury retailing in general is outlined. The managerial implications for practitioners in the pleasure boating sector are also discussed.     

Marketing luxury services beyond affluence in the new normal: Insights from fine dining during the coronavirus pandemic

The market for luxury is no longer exclusive to the affluent society and the prevalence of conspicuous consumption among the mass society is a testament to the rise of mass prestige (masstige). Of particular interest in this study is fine dining, a luxury service that consumers pursue and enjoy in the hospitality industry. Though many studies on luxury goods avail, few studies have investigated luxury services such as fine dining, with little insights on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its consumption. We argue that research in this direction is important given the unprecedented impact that the pandemic has had on humanity and the need to respond to potential changes in customer expectations for luxury services such as fine dining in a post-pandemic era. Hence, in this study, we investigate the antecedents and consequences of customer satisfaction with fine dining using a Delphi study to acquire and examine field data from customers who continue to dine in fine-dining restaurants during the pandemic. Our findings suggest that fine diners place an emphasis on food quality (sensory experience, satiety value, menu selection), hygiene, and price when evaluating their satisfaction of the fine-dining experience during the pandemic, which significantly influences their future recommendation of the fine-dining restaurant to others. No significant differences in customer behavior based on income were observed, thereby lending credence and support to the idea of masstige marketing.     

论服务业在国民经济中的"黏合剂"作用

服务业在国民经济中的地位不断上升,已不再是"边缘化的或奢侈的经济活动",而是位于经济的核心地带.服务业在国民经济中的突出作用表现在它具有"黏合剂"的功能,也正因为这一功能使之成为经济增长和效率提高的助推器、经济竞争力提升的牵引力、经济变革与经济全球化的催化剂.切实培育与发挥服务业的经济牵引力、产业整合力与国际竞争力,有助于更好地推进我国的产业结构优化升级,形成以制造业为支撑、服务业全面发展的产业格局,增强服务贸易和商品贸易的国际竞争力,促进我国国民经济持续快速健康协调发展.     

Internationalization of financial services in turbulent markets

Two significant features during the post-war period have been an increasing internationalization of economic activities and a growing role for financial services in the world economy. Considerable attention has been devoted to both these features separately, while attention to the internationalization of financial service firms has been more limited. Even more limited have been the efforts to combine this work with studies of the influence of market turbulence on financial service firms. The present special issue is an attempt to provide a remedy to this state of affairs. In this introduction we first provide a background to the topic. We then give a brief summary of the characteristics of financial services as well as a short review of extant literature, before presenting the six papers that make up the issue and providing some conclusions.     

Language use in services: Recent advances and directions for future research

While many service management and marketing concepts stress the importance of the interaction between a customer and a service provider, prior research devotes relatively little attention to the role of language use in services. This article describes the importance of broadening understanding of this issue and reviews prior research in this area. Next, this article introduces the articles in this special section. Although these articles individually and collectively contribute to a better understanding of the role of language use in services, we contend that much still needs to be learned. In order to assist researchers in their exploration of this topic, this article ends with a future research agenda that might inspire researchers to expand on the boundaries of knowledge on language use in services.     

Luxury patient experience (LPX): review,conceptualization, and future research directions

ABSTRACT

The article offers a much-needed definition and conceptualization of the luxury patient experience (LPX) through applying customer experience (CX) theory to the patient experience (PX). The author highlights the important differences between the luxury patient, regular patient, and/or patient on the bottom of the service pyramid. The article proposes the implications these differences have for successfully managing the luxury patient experience. Based upon an investigation of prior customer experience and patient experience research, the article submits a definition of both, patient experience and luxury patient experience. The luxury patient experience conceptualization will influence service providers and their experience design and implementation practices. The article outlines fruitful avenues for future research in the patient luxury experience domain by proposing a shift from healthcare to wealthcare.     

Counterfeiting: Friend or Foe of Luxury Brands? An Examination of Chinese Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Counterfeit Luxury Brands

ABSTRACT

While the Chinese luxury industry is enjoying rapid growth, the market for counterfeit luxury brands is growing equally fast. There are contradictory views regarding the role counterfeit luxury brands play in the marketplace. Luxury brand owners denounce counterfeit luxury products for harming the reputation of luxury brands and reducing their profitability. Others believe that the availability of counterfeit luxury products may help increase the brand awareness of luxury names and thereby make authentic products more sought after. In this study, we examine the impact of counterfeit luxury products from the consumers’ standpoint. Specifically, the authors investigate whether and how Chinese consumers with different luxury consumption experiences view counterfeit luxury products differently. The study contributes to a better understanding of Chinese consumers’ attitudes toward counterfeit luxury products and thus helps marketers and policy makers develop more effective strategies for dealing with the issue.     

The effects of possession- and social inclusion-defined materialism on consumer behavior toward economical versus luxury product categories,goods versus services product types,and individual versus group marketplace scenarios

The paper builds on and extends the current understanding of materialism by investigating the effects of two forms of materialism (i.e., possession- and social inclusion-defined) on consumer behavior (i.e., purchase and patronage) toward products of different categories (i.e., economical versus luxury) and types (i.e., goods versus services) in different marketplace scenarios (i.e., individual versus group). Using data partitioning on a random sample of 323 consumers to generate usable cases for three interrelated studies, the paper reports that the effects of possession- and social inclusion-defined materialism are consistently accentuated in the purchase of luxury goods rather than economical goods, whereby consumers with high levels of possession- and social inclusion-defined materialism are more likely to purchase luxury goods than consumers with low levels of possession- and social inclusion-defined materialism. However, the paper finds that possession- and social inclusion-defined materialism have no significant effects on the individual and group patronage of economical and luxury services. The paper concludes with the implications of these findings for theory, practice, and future research.     

Family,life cycle and consumption of services: the Spanish case

This article presents an analysis of service consumption patterns in Spanish homes, based on different stages in the life cycle of a family, using cross-section data from the Encuesta Continua de Presupuestos Familiares (Ongoing Survey of Family Budgets). The study's main objective consists of establishing a taxonomy of services consumed by the home by estimating income elasticity. The results obtained classify services as inferior, necessary and luxury and also point the public sector in the direction of some economic policy measures involving a more balanced distribution of income.     

Online consumer shopping behaviour: A review and research agenda

Over the last two decades, motivated by the continuous evolution of the technology-driven retail environment, researchers have studied various aspects of online consumer behaviour. This article attempts to take stock of this environment to critically assess the research gaps in the domain and provide future research directions. Applying a well-grounded systematic methodology following the TCCM (theory, context, characteristics and methodology) framework, 197 online consumer shopping behaviour articles were reviewed. The findings reveal that the application of theories remains limited in the current pool of literature that focuses more on developed nations. While studies have primarily considered categories such as apparel and grocery, in terms of methodology experimental and survey-based studies were most common. Additionally, the article suggests some future research directions. The use of combined theories to better understand technology acceptance by consumers of online-shopping is recommended. Similarly, studies across other categories like online experiential luxury, luxury services, or second-hand products that then link to novel constructs reflecting issues with payment methods, online service quality, and online store atmosphere are portrayed as meaningful avenues that will advance research in the domain.     

Customer satisfaction with service recovery

This commentary is about the article, “Satisfaction with Service Recovery: Perceived Justice and Emotional Responses” (Rio-Lanza, Vázquez-Casielles, and Diaz-Martin, this issue). Never before have so many services been bought, sold, and consumed as they are today. Competition today is fierce. More and more services include a technology component that may limit customer/employee contacts and make services more complex. Retaining customers, therefore, becomes a very relevant issue that makes Rio-Lanza et al.'s research important. Researchers in service management have studied service recovery considerably. This article describes some of the general trends in research about customer satisfaction in connection to service recovery as well as Rio-Lanza et al.'s contribution.     

The study of service innovation for digiservice on loyalty

Advocates of management of service innovation see this area as a new and promising research field. As services are increasingly becoming driving forces of economies, the introduction of new services to satisfy customer needs is becoming a critical issue for managers. This research attempts to address the consumer issue of service innovation. The research entails a comprehensive study of the impacts of service innovation on consumer loyalty in the digiservice context. The study examines service innovation loyalty from the consumer perspective; namely, technology leadership, service leadership, switching cost, brand equity, and customization. Personal interview data from 475 consumers provides the data for empirical hypothesis testing of the relationships between variables. The conceptual model investigates the relevant relationships among the constructs by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings from the research sample support the argument that technology leadership, service leadership, brand equity, and customization are the key determinants of loyalty. The paper also includes a discussion on the theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings.     

Designing a medicalized wellness service: balancing hospitality and hospital features

Medicalized environments around the world are challenged with making trade-offs between the clinical nature of the service and the customer service elements needed to deliver the service. Many medicalized wellness services have yet to achieve an effective balance between their hospitality and hospital features to generate loyalty (repeat patronage). We present a case study of a blood service organization in a developed country that, at the time of data collection (2011), was working to resolve tension between clinical goals and expectations of Millennial donors. The results identified seven principles: ‘control over booking and service interactions’; ‘build social connections’; ‘offer a luxury, indulgent experience’; ‘build relationship with customer beyond the “medical” procedure’. The three remaining principles related to hospital-like features: ‘hide the functional/medical features of the service experience’; ‘demystify the “hidden” processes’; ‘ability for the physical service environment to be modified by the customer’.     

Identifying antecedent conditions for luxury brand purchase

This research draws upon self-termination and complexity theories and aims to identify the antecedent recipes for Chinese consumers' intention to purchase Chinese- (referred to as domestic) or non-Chinese (referred to as foreign) luxury brands. Two studies were undertaken. First, an online survey was undertaken to examine the antecedent conditions of luxury brand purchase. The opted conditions in this study include value perceptions, special occasions, and demographic profiles. An asymmetrical method by employing fsQCA was used to identify the unique antecedent conditions of purchase intentions. Symmetrical testing was also performed prior to fsQCA as a comparison. The findings from symmetrical and asymmetrical methods share few similar, but nevertheless complementary findings, hence providing new insights into consumers' luxury brand choices. In the second study, interviews were conducted to deepen the understanding of Chinese consumers’ knowledge, perceptions of, and attitudes towards luxury brands. Discussion and implications for marketing luxury brands in the Chinese market conclude this paper.     

Innovations in service business. An introduction to the special issue from the Global Entrepreneurship and Services Conference, Taiwan, 2011

Services tend to be intangible and not visible (Cherubini 2001), which make them very different from production-oriented industries. Hence, we need different approaches to solving problems in services. This special issue invites five papers from the 2011 Global Entrepreneurship and Services Conference held in Taichung, Taiwan, from August 29 to 31, 2011. These papers cover various industries including finance, manufacturing, and Internet. Meanwhile, these papers cover many CSFs for services including brand equity for financial services, customer satisfaction on an auction website, the effects of social networking, the servitization for manufacturers via R&D, and the comparisons of the internal service quality for three Chinese subcultures including Taiwan, China, and Singapore. All these papers contribute to innovations in service business from different perspectives.     

The effect of interior color on customers’ aesthetic perception,emotion, and behavior in the luxury service

This study examined the role of color in a luxury service setting. To understand the effect of color, this study investigated how each dimension of color (hue, saturation, or value) contributed to customers' aesthetic perceptions of a luxury hotel room. We interpreted customers' emotional and behavioral responses to a luxury hotel room painted various colors by applying the S–O–R model. The results showed that muted and bright colors encouraged both classical and expressive aesthetic perceptions within the same hue. Moreover, the results indicated that customers' aesthetic perceptions influenced their approach response through feelings of pleasure and dominance in the luxury hotel context that was moderated by their luxury consumption motivation. This study extends the previous literature by elucidating the process by which color affects customers' aesthetic perceptions, emotional states, and behavioral responses and can inform the composition of a luxury hotel's servicescape, which reflects customers' consumption motivation.     

The end of the world as we know it? The influence of online channels on the luxury customer experience

Luxury brands claim to offer consumers pleasure and prestige and deliver high profits to retailers. While the global demand for luxury goods is increasing, consumers expect that the purchasing process these goods will accommodate their preferences on how, where, and when they want to purchase them. The changing nature of luxury markets and customers' purchasing behavior makes it necessary to understand why customers would choose an online channel to purchase luxury offerings. What are the features that make so appealing, attracting consumers towards them? Our study explores customers' motivations, the benefits and the experiences they are expecting and perceiving from the Online Luxury Experience (OLX). We examine the OLX and establish three corresponding luxury customer segments using online channels to purchase their luxury goods and services: the purists, opportunists, and e-lux. We highlight the differences between the segment's customer journeys and the implications for theory and luxury customer experience management.     

Emergence of innovations in services

Along with the ‘servicisation’ of society, innovation in services has become a topical issue. However, analytical and detailed discussion about the nature of service innovations and their emergence is only beginning. This article aims to contribute to this discussion through a theoretical analysis supplemented with findings from two empirical case studies. The theories examined are multi-disciplinary including general service theories, general innovation theories and theories linked to new service development and innovation management. The empirical studies have been carried out in Finland in the fields of real estate and construction services and of knowledge-intensive business services.