ABSTRACT. This research examines the cases of luxury fashion brands that experienced consumer backlash on social media caused by racially insensitive advertising and marketing communications campaigns in 2018 and 2019. Four brands – Dolce & Gabbana (hereafter, D&G), Burberrys, Gucci and Prada - were selected as they have recently gone through a significant amount of media coverage and consumer outrage in the global context. In 2018, D&G’s advertisement featuring Chinese model trying to eat pizza with chopsticks caused a boycott of the brand, e-commerce and retail sites dropping the brand, drastic fall of brand health score and damage in brand image. With varying degrees, all four brands have been criticized for their distasteful, insensitive, offensive and ‘racist’ advertising and marketing communication campaigns. The aim of this research is twofold: first, it intends to illustrate how consumers reacted to such campaigns, individually and collectively, on social media; and second, it aims to demonstrate the ways in which these brands dealt with brand crises in order to minimize the negative impacts such as loss of profit, damage to brand reputation and loss of consumer trust.

ABSTRACT. Over the past few decades, consumers have become increasingly demanding, especially for the hundreds of brands that come up daily. Brands, on the other hand, must adapt constantly to these changes so that they become visible in a market as competitive as it is today (Zhang, Jiang, Shabbir, & Du, 2015). Moreover, with a technologically more developed environment, consumers start to set aside paper journals, coffee conversations, or even phone calls, and start giving more importance to digital atmosphere in their daily lives.

With the arise of online brand communities as privileged platforms of interaction and information sharing between brands and consumers, these last ones cannot only access to up-to-date information about different brands, but also obtain several rewards such as hobbies, prizes, discounts, among others (Batra & Keller, 2016). In addition, they can comment and talk with other consumers and/or fans of a particular brand, and share their experiences (Schamari & Schaefers, 2015).

In this sense, the current research aims to explore the importance of the hedonic reward in the consumer engagement with online communities of fashion brands. Furthermore, we intend to analyses the role of hedonic versus utilitarian rewards that this type of online platforms can offer to consumers. This research gap arises from the need to further explore consumer’s interaction motivations toward this type of platforms. To do so, we perform a quantitative study with data collected from consumers through an online questionnaire, with a sample of 367 respondents. With this research we intend to emphasize that fashion brands, and companies in general should deepen their presence in online communities, using hedonic rewards to promote consumer engagement, and consequently providing a continuous improvement of the brand itself. Thus, the main aim is to explore the relationship between different dimensions of Baldus et al. (2015) of online brand community engagement on subjective well-being and brand advocacy.

ABSTRACT. 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.

ABSTRACT. The present study will try to figuring out the role of SMM in motivating young Chinese customers to purchase a luxury product and the factors that can help increase a positive retailing experience in luxury fashion instead of or in complement of an in-store experience.

ABSTRACT. With the recent advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, messenger-based chatbots, created through a combination of big data and machine-learning-based artificial intelligence, are common communication tools in business. Luxury brands are offering customized services to draw in consumers and differentiate themselves. This paper explored how brand loyalty is shaped if consumers experience chatbot services that add customization to their current commercialized chatbot services. Chatbots with a customizing functionality based on mass customization were introduced for luxury brands and the resulting influence on consumers was measured. Influence and impact measurement were focused on what purchasing changes were made based on satisfaction, perceived brand relationships, and brand loyalty. It was found that sociality, creativity, and the hedonic value of mass customization all affect perceived brand relationships. The higher the perceived brand relationship, the higher the satisfaction. The higher the satisfaction, the more positive the impact on brand loyalty. Therefore, the use of chatbots by luxury brands is an interactive strategy that can lead to success in producing custom designs for the consumer. Design chatbots are a trending topic in the fashion industry. Companies looking at the direction for their next designs may benefit from customizing this participatory marketing strategy.

ABSTRACT. Social media influencers (SMIs) for the past decade have proven to have a powerful voice for brands in the age of digital marketing. The role of these influencer(s) continues to have the ability to motivate social attitudes and behavior within their online community. SMIs spread ideas and gain social acceptance with their authentic voices and aspirational content. While there has been much research on SMI for the past decade, in this research, we wanted to look at virtual influencers, which are not human but are digital recreations with levels of human likeness. In our research, we want to compare the role of the current human SMI with the virtual SMI and their impact in the area of fashion in the digital landscape.

ABSTRACT. This study examines the influence of emotion toward sustainability practice messages in liking behavior and sustainable apparel consumption by following Plutchick’s Theory of Emotions. Online survey data revealed that feeling acceptance, trust, and joy toward promotional messages motivate consumers to express their likeness to others and purchase products.

ABSTRACT. Marketers have recognised the influential power of fashion opinion leaders and thus collaborate with them for eWOM marketing campaigns to promote products. By introducing products within a private and personal context, fashion opinion leaders’ eWOM has become a new channel for marketing communication and were perceived by consumers as more credible and reliable than traditional marketing communication. However, few studies have paid attention to the application of eWOM in luxury fashion brands’ marketing practices. In particular, it has been suggested that the success of eWOM marketing depends on opinion leaders crafting narratives carefully to interpret the value of brands and products to consumers through their eWOM. This research aimed to fill this gap by exploring the value of opinion leaders’ narrative strategies for cultivating eWOM marketing campaigns and conducted two qualitative studies. The main findings of this research include fashion opinion leaders’ narrative strategies for creating eWOM, the capabilities of these narrative strategies to cope with several issues concerning eWOM marketing, and a theoretical model of adopting narrative strategies to cultivate two types of eWOM marketing campaigns. This research provides theoretical and practical insights into harnessing the inherent and instrumental values of narrative strategies for developing eWOM marketing.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the role of labelling in the consumption of ethical fashion. The study will examine Generation Z consumers’ attitudes toward prominent ethical fashion labels, including eco-fashion, sustainable fashion, and slow fashion. Furthermore, this study will explore the moderating effect of ethical-mindedness and fashion-consciousness on consumers’ perceptions of brand messaging.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the profound effects of Augmented Intelligence (AI) on Product, one of the “Four-Ps” of marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Today’s customers are used to extreme convenience, beyond the brick-and-mortar shopping experience, and beyond online images. Customers increasingly demand more information, and more personalized information. This paper addresses how the presentation of products has changed. This paper is conceptual, based on a review of academic literature on marketing strategy, psychology, AI, and Machine Learning as chronicled in major marketing and business research journals.

ABSTRACT. Social media are increasingly becoming a fundamental channel for every marketing strategy, particularly in advertising. The pertinent literature stresses how Millennials - the digital born generation very inclined to web interaction - represent one of the most relevant segments of social media users. Hence, firms are more and more using social media channels to engage Millennials, especially thanks to the use of mobile apps. Although Millennials do not represent the traditional target of luxury firms, social media might represent a useful strategic tool to reach them and also transfer the luxury brands’ image and value. While scholars widely investigated the relationship between social media usage and purchase intention toward the luxury brand, scant attention has been given to the underlying mechanisms. Specifically, this study proposes and empirically tests a conceptual model investigating the role of both materialism and morality, which are hypothesized as mediating variables of the aforementioned relationship. On the one hand, Millennials represent one of the most materialist and narcissistic generations; on the other hand, they also pay a lot of attention to the ethical and moral side of purchase decision making. Moreover, the proposed model hypothesizes motivation to use social media and advertising skepticism as moderating variables of these linkages. In this way, this study contributes to the social media advertising literature by better exploring Millennials’ cognitive mechanisms toward luxury purchase intention. The model is tested using bootstrapping moderated-mediation analysis on a sample of 290 Millennials using social media to get information on and purchase luxury brands. Consistently with the literature, materialism significantly mediates the social media – purchase intention relationship. Counterintuitively, also morality plays a significant role as a mediating variable of such a relationship. Finally, motivation to use significantly moderated both the linkages between social media usage and materialism and morality; similarly, advertising skepticism is also a significant moderating variable in the model. Theoretical and practical implications are provided and discussed, along with suggestions for future researches.

ABSTRACT. One important online marketing practice to emerge in recent years is online behavioral advertising. Online behavioral advertising entails a range of issues, including the following: personal information collection and usage agreements (three conditions: no agreement, agreement, or agreement with a reward), consumers’ levels of perceived personalization (low vs. high), and consumers’ level of online privacy concerns (low vs. high). The effects of all these is what this study is designed to examine, as it evaluates online behavioral advertising. Study findings suggest that types of information collection and usage agreement play a pivotal role in the evaluation of online behavioral ads. Individuals who provided the informed consent form with the possible reward had a more favorable attitude toward the brand than individuals who provided the informed consent form without a possible reward. In terms of personalization, the level of perceived personalization of the advertising message impacted consumers’ attitudes toward the online behavioral ad and toward the brand. Finally, online privacy concerns appear to impact consumers’ attitudes toward the online behavioral ad and toward the brand. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

ABSTRACT. Already when it comes to answering the question what luxury fashion is, it makes sense to take espe-cially the perceptions and evaluations of the consumers into account. Because in the end it only counts, what the consumers consider a luxury and accordingly reward with corresponding behavioral patterns. In the case of a positive attitude, an important behavioral category is especially the readiness to pay a price premium, and sometimes even without questioning the objective quality he or she receives. Deeper insights into the perception and evaluation processes regarding luxury fashion are thus also becoming the linchpin of luxury fashion marketing and the attempt to establish successful luxury brands in this field. Of course, existing scientific research already addressed the challenge of conceptualizing and measur-ing consumers’ perception and evaluation of luxuries in general and - albeit still very rare – in view of the fashion industry. However, a closer examination reveals that those approaches still have some shortcomings in terms of sufficiently differentiated recording of consumers' perception and evaluation processes. Based on an initial introduction to a more subtle understanding of luxury fashion, this paper critically reviews existing approaches that have received particular attention in the literature. To devel-op a framework for guiding future research especially three tasks were then identified, for which corre-sponding conceptualization proposals were made. 1. To identify relevant points of reference for the perception and evaluation of luxury goods in a more differentiated and systematic way. 2. To consider the interplay between conscious and unconscious perception and appraisal. 3. To grasp the resulting value associations much more differentiated. With a view to supporting the planning of a promising luxury fashion marketing, the presented framework contains a variety of suggestions for practical con-sumer research and analyses

ABSTRACT. An important virtue for building a strong brand is to have a high perceived value of the brand (Baek, Kim and Yu, 2010). Although many different dimensions of perceived brand value are defined in the literature, in this research we focus on a more hedonic aspect of value – brand prestige, brand attractiveness, and brand distinctiveness because we are studying a luxury brand, Chanel Brand. This research intends to investigate the effect of brand coherence, brand prestige, brand distinctiveness and brand attractiveness in the purchase intention of luxury brands and how that aspect is important for the corporate identity and reputation of fashion luxury brands.

ABSTRACT. The objective of this study is to investigate the types of appeal endorsers of athleisure brands should possess, specifically from credibility and attractiveness appeal. The findings reveal that an endorser endowed strongly with both celebrity and athleticism characteristics will be most impactful in creating the perception of athleisure towards the endorsed brand.

ABSTRACT. Surprisingly little research has been conducted on optimal pricing and pricing strategies for premium and luxury products. A better understanding of such pricing seems especially important as premium or luxury products priced too low are likely to lose their luster, luxury products priced at premium level may forego their luxury positioning--and pricing premium/luxury products "too" high may depress demand, sales and profits. (For completeness, pricing luxury products "too" high is often regarded a brand-builder, but evidence is lacking for this conjecture). In general, it may be even more important to develop optimal pricing strategies for premium and luxury products than for most other product offerings as high prices are often viewed to be essential for premium and luxury offerings.

Based on our review of the extant literature and our own conceptualizations/theorizations, we developed a set of new hypotheses. Next, we integrated these new linkages into a comprehensive framework that takes a supply-side perspective and, thus, focus on company conduct (instead of consumer behavior only).

To test the hypotheses, we also developed a new way to obtain data. That is, we investigated the firms’ perspective and worth/value (instead of consumers’ perceptions) and web scraped market-data from numerous luxury houses such as woman shoes, luxury cars, haute couture and men’s watches (online shop/ foreign platforms owned by a large variety of companies). That way, we developed a data set that seemingly is of primary quality.

Initial results entail interesting and important insights and implications. To start, the results reveal a positive correlation between brand value and prestige pricing suggesting, for example, that companies like Ferrari, Hermes, Gucci, Porsche and especially Louis Vuitton build the most valuable brands in their industries through their consistent marketing and competitive conduct in general and over time. Moreover, in some categories, an interesting, new kind of competitive conduct is generated by certain companies. To illustrate: Mercedes-Benz charges €3.000.000 for an S650 Pullman Guard VR10, €2.622.000 for a limited SLR Stirling Moss (1 of 75), and €1.273.600 for a G 65 AMG Landaulet Stock (1 of 99). This poses real challenges for "regular" high-end manufacturers since selected premium producers are carrying out ultrahigh pricing strategies for their goods and, that way, reframe the luxury chart.

To shed light into this phenomenon, we applied a hierarchical cluster analysis. The results revealed new and interesting luxury categories based on a supply-side perspective. Notably our categories differ from conventional segmentation which entail jewelry, bags, watches, cars, shoes, pret a porter, and accessories. We find that segments should be driven rather by price and/or gender distinctions instead of using the traditional product/product-category approach. In other words, fewer segmentation variables may be needed. The initial insights may point towards a new perspective on modeling as it questions traditional perspectives. Naturally, more research will need to be conducted on both the supply- & the demand-sides for more complete validation.

ABSTRACT. Prior pricing literature has focused on pricing multiple products offered simultaneously, with less attention to pricing add-on products whose prices are non-observable and offered sequentially in the electronic marketplace. This research examines how inter-price relationships among base and add-on products affect the sales of a new add-on product in the mobile gaming context. Based on theories of price fairness, product familiarity and price-quality relationship, a research model was drawn and tested on a sample of 6,766 weekly observations derived from 74 base games and 514 add-on virtual goods. Our empirical results show that the relative price of a new add-on product, when compared to the base game price, is negatively related to the add-on product sales, but positively related to its sales, when compared to prices of existing add-on products. Furthermore, the inter-price relationships among base and add-on gaming products are moderated by visual richness and game genre. This study provides the implications for IS research and practice.

ABSTRACT. The authors examine the moderating effects of promotional benefits on multiple relationships among exercise and purchase behaviors. The results reveal that heavy exercisers increase quantity of exercise products that offer group buying promotions and increase (decrease) exercise after having purchased promoted (nonpromoted) products, though, overall, consumers decrease their future exercise.

ABSTRACT. In this paper we present an analytical model that studies the strategic role of fake media content in a media market. We first find the conditions under which a monopoly media platform would publish fake media content. Then we show that certain opposite patterns exist in a competitive environment. Our results suggest that media platforms may find optimal profitability in publishing apparently less credible fake media content if the fake content can resolve consumers' cognitive dissonance. We find the exact equilibrium conditions under which both the platforms in a duopoly setting will find publishing fake media content as the optimal strategy. Additionally, we show that under specific conditions both platforms publishing fake media content can turn out to be a Prisoner's dilemma equilibrium. We also compute the relevant consumer surplus. Lastly, we use experiments to validate some of the results established by the analytical model.

ABSTRACT. The opening of the Brazilian market has required the industry to modernize, mainly in the 90's. The Brazilian textile sector was one among several others that most felt these changes, being forced to undergo a process of restructuring and upgrading of the industrial park, to increase its productivity and improve the quality of its products (Siena et al, 2009). Concomitantly, Brazil was suffering from international competition mainly from Asia (Fujita and Jorente, 2015). The threat posed by this new competition forced companies to adopt strategic actions appropriate to the new competitive context, whether by individual actions or in partnerships (Castells, 2011). Thus, internationalisation - understood as the expansion of economic activities beyond national boundaries - became a strategy strongly employed by companies (Martinez, 2007). Among these companies, beachwear producers followed the modifications required by the competition and began to identify in internationalisation an exit to improve performance. For this, the form was to value the image of Brazil in the beachwear, already valued, mainly abroad, as an attribute of product recognition. Our study aims to understand how the COI can be considered a source of product differentiation in the internationalisation process of Brazilian beachwear firms? A specific look at the beachwear of Ceará was carried out considering that it is the state that holds about 20% of the production of the entire Northeast and about 40% of all national fashion-beach production. Since the 18th century, it is one of the great poles of the Brazilian fashion industry, being the third largest textile producer in the country (Filati, 2013; Oliveira, Costa and Araújo, 2013). An important feature of local fashion production is the use of regional products in the development of design items, which is a way of valuing the local culture.

ABSTRACT. This study sought to examine the influence of selected factors on market maven tendency and the ultimate trial of new cosmetic products by female consumers in the southern Gauteng region of South Africa, whose acumen is to fill in omitted information gaps existing within the market.

ABSTRACT. Perception of a colour by human depends on various conditions; personal condition, lighting condition, texture of the material, and surrounding colours. Despite of all constraints, why do we use colours and how do we use colours in retail? Colours and materials used in retail architecture or C.I logo are carefully chosen to stand its brand, product or service. They often dress generic interior space into a unique space, or emphasize the spatial quality of the space. Colours and materials of staff uniform are also designed to maximize its marketing and branding effect by expressing the character or vision of the brand. By looking at colours of static elements, i.e. logo & spatial elements with dynamic elements, i.e. staff fashion, various aspects of elements relationship can be investigated. Are staffs to be blended into the space? Are staffs to stand out creating its territory? The relationship between the elements and the territory defined by a certain element are key aspect of the retail space design. As an initial stage of the research, retail shop images are analyzed to colour bands, which are then simplified and presented in NCS colour system.

ABSTRACT. Art Fashionization and the New Cultural Diaspora of Art

The world of fashion is witnessing a renaissance of partnership between art and fashion. What were once two separate fields of aesthetics and expression have become irreversibly intertwined collaborative spaces in the market. For example, Alexander McQueen introduced scarves that appear to be replicas of Damien Hirst artwork (Leibowitz, 2017). This trend in partnership has also spilled into the mass market. Uniqlo’s SPRZNY is a project that emphasizes “a place where clothes and art meet”, in which every season the retailer introduces a different line of clothing that incorporates different artworks exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art. As such, the fashion industry is partnering with the art world and tailoring fashion as a medium to integrate art. This new perspective invites explorative research to understand the value evident in art to the fashion world.

Several bodies of fashion research have investigated the value of art. Infusing art as a design attribute in a fashion product is known to increase the product value due to the association between art and the perception of luxury (Hagtvedt and Patrick, 2008; Kim, Ko, and Lee, 2010). From a fashion retail perspective, establishing associations with the art world or incorporating artwork into retail space has been argued to benefit the brand, because shoppers associate the perception of luxury with brand meaning (e.g. Dion and Arnould 2011). Furthermore, the collaboration between artists and fashion is discussed to provide different perspectives on artistic fashion products (Bai et al., 2009), and how artistic fashion provides consumers’ emotional satisfaction with owning fashion products that are original and fulfilling their needs to be unique (Bai et al., 2014).

Although prior research provides valuable implications related to consumers’ response to art-infused fashion products, art-infused fashion retailing, and artist and fashion collaborations, one critical question remains to be answered: What implication does the partnership between art and fashion provide to culture. This is the focus of our research. Our research question is explored by first defining the term “art fashionization” to refer to the practice involving integrating art into fashion products. By incorporating a cultural authentication framework, we examine the mechanism of how the practice of art fashionization results in generating the representation of art, using fashion as the media. Then, we explore the implication associated with art fashionization from a lens of cultural diaspora theory. Lastly, we substantiate our propositions through case studies.

Conceptual Framework

Art Fashionization. Although art and fashion are often referred to as two different cultures, these two cultures have always been inextricably interfused (Radford, 1998). It is often argued that fashion is a form of art (Miller, 2007). In another instance, fashion is represented through art, which is a concept pioneered by Andy Warhol in his Pop Art series. Warhol captured something irresistible about the zeitgeist of American culture in the 1970s, its trends and fashion, by reproducing easily recognizable images in his artwork, such as Campbell’s Soup cans and Coca Cola bottles, or celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor and Marylin Monroe. Furthermore, Warhol blurred the boundary between art and fashion: the people he worked and collaborated with were not only artists, but also celebrities, models and singers who were a part of the fashion scene of the time. In addition to experimenting with fashion through silkscreened dresses, Warhol admitted that "I'd rather buy a dress and put it up on the wall, than put a painting, wouldn't you?".

The partnership between the art and fashion worlds is unique in the world of business. This partnership involves the practice of revitalizing iconic styles and representations that are unique to the work of artists. This results in using artistic ideas as design motifs and as aesthetic attributes of fashion products. In a sense, art is being “fashionized”, in which art is represented through fashion goods, by using fashion as the media. In this research, we refer this practice as “art fashionization”.

Cultural Authentication. Cultural authentication refers to the process of assimilating an artifact or idea external to a culture by accommodative change into a valued indigenous object of an idea (Eicher & Erekosima, 1980). During this process, the values and meaning of ideas or artifacts that originate in an external cultural context are altered and transformed in a way that make them integral and vital in the context of receiving culture (Arthur, 2011). Cultural authentication consists of four processing and by-order mechanisms: selection, characterization, incorporation, and transition (Eicher & Erekosima, 1980). Selection refers to the process wherein a receiving culture draws foreign ideas or artifacts amongst options from the culture external to self. Characterization occurs when a receiving culture appropriates the idea or representation of artifacts. Incorporation occurs once the ideas or artifacts (adapted to the item with the new meaning) then become integral to the receiving culture. Transformation occurs following modification that renders the items to be meaningful in one’s culture. We extend the cultural authentication framework to understand the mechanism and the outcome associated with art fashionization practice. We first draw the analogy of the by-order processing model of cultural authentication to steps constituting art fashionization practice (refer to the table below).

Cultural authentication process Application to art fashionization Selection Fashion world (a receiving culture) draws a particular artwork (foreign ideas and artifacts) amongst options from art world (culture external to self). Characterization Fashion world (a receiving culture) embed the representation of art on fashion products (appropriates the idea or representation of art). Incorporation Art on fashion products (ideas and artifacts adapted to the item) provides the new meaning then becomes integral to the fashion company (receiving culture). Transition Art on fashion is seen as the mere representation of art (renders the items to be meaningful in one’s culture).

Based on this framework, we argue that the practice of art fashionization results in authenticating art that is embedded in fashion products as the mere representation of art. In other words, by following the cultural authentication process, art becomes fashion. Since fashion is a cultural commodity, art evolves as the cultural commodity by the influence of fashion. In sum, we propose that:

Proposition 1: Art fashionization authenticates art embedded in fashion products by being seen as a representation of art and a cultural commodity.

Cultural Diaspora. Diaspora refers to the migration of individuals while maintaining their ethnic traditions, consolidating a strong feeling of collectiveness elsewhere, and thereby spatially expanding the social organization of one’s ethnic tradition (Anteby-Yemini & Berthomiere, 2005). The concept of diaspora can be applied beyond understanding the movements of ethnicity (Anthias, 1998). Within a cultural dimension, cultural diaspora is closely synthesized with the notion of “traveling cultures”, dispersion of culture in an astral or spiritual sense, which then results in the presence of particular culture outside of the space and time zone of the original nation (Clifford, 1994; Cohen, 2008). We argue that the product of art fashionization practice, fashion products, which represents art, can be considered a cultural commodity and, hence, a medium for cultural diaspora. However, in this case, diaspora occurs not by the migration of individuals (Hall, 1994), but by dissemination of culture through popular media (e.g. internet, Motley & Henderson, 2008) or the market which forces transference of culture and its meaning (McCracken, 1986). Thus, the implication associated with art fashionization is the dispersion of art beyond temporal and spatial boundaries. We propose:

Proposition 2: Art fashionization disperses art that is embedded in fashion products and reaches greater audiences by crossing temporal and spatial boundaries.

Case Studies

Since the Nineteenth century, a dialogue and interaction between the art and fashion worlds has been initiated, which provides the historical traces of art fashionization as well as the cultural authentication of fashion and cultural diaspora through fashion, as discussed in this research. To illustrate with prior historical examples, Wiener Werkstätte and Futurism were the first artistic movements that richly expressed artists’ interest in fashion as a legitimate medium for experimentation and manifestation of ideas, and thus saw fashion as the media to promote their art. Mariano Fortuny and Sonia Delauney were artists who were experimenting with fashion. Furthermore, one of the first collaborations between art and fashion was explored by Thayaht and Madeleine Vionnet as well as Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau with Elsa Schiaparelli, who aspired to disseminate and disperse their ideas of art outside of the normal cultural domain of acceptable art.

Despite abundant examples of art and fashion partnerships, we have focused on two companies, Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton, to illustrate the principles and claims of our research. We conducted a case study to investigate our two propositions. We chose the case study method, using primary data, since it is appropriate in a situation where the existing knowledge is limited to examining proposed questions (Yin, 1994). Given the paucity of research that examines art and fashion world partnership in relation to its implication to culture, we have employed the case study method.

Case 1: Yves Saint Laurent. Mondrian codified his theory in a letter he wrote H-P Bremmer in 1914, as follows. “Nature inspires me, puts me, as with any painter, in an emotional state so that an urge comes about to make something, but I want to come as close as possible to the truth and abstract everything … I believe it is possible that, through horizontal and vertical lines constructed with awareness, but not with calculation, led by high intuition, and brought to harmony and rhythm, these basic forms of beauty, supplemented if necessary by other direct lines or curves, can become a work of art, as strong as it is true” (Wullschlager, J., 2010). This theory of Mondrian inspired Yves Saint Laurent. The Autumn 1965 Couture collection of Yves Saint Laurent, simply referred to as “Mondrian Collection”, inspired by the Dutch De Stijl abstract artist, represents a first powerful example of art fashionization. Yves Saint Laurent took the iconic black grid that outlined the primary yellow, red and blue geometric shapes, created by Mondrian, and put them on a dress. The geometric grid was manufactured in wool jersey with each block finely assembled with invisible seams, ensuring the same deceptive effect created by Mondrian’s technique, where one can see the brushstrokes only when light touches it and if observed very closely. As a result, the dress created by Yves Saint Laurent closely conformed to the painting of Mondrian, thereby highlighting the authentication process of the dress being converted to a representation of Mondrian’s painting (supporting Proposition 1).

Harper’s Bazaar declared Saint Laurent’s Mondrian dress as “the dress of tomorrow – the assertive abstraction, a semaphore flag, sharply defined in crisp white jersey, perfectly proportioned to flatter your figure”. The Mondrian dress represented a shift in the fashion of the time. The style became so popular that the mass market was flooded with imitations, women were even producing their own pieces at home, with the materials they had available, reinterpreting the concept of harmony and rhythm of blocks. This increased popularity of creating a dress that looked like Mondrian’s painting provides evidence for the temporal movement of Mondrian’s painting, which was introduced to a greater audience decades after its creation. The dispersion of the cultural commodity, Mondrian’s painting on the dress of Yves Saint Laurent, was stimulated by the magazine publications which acted as a platform to help disseminate the painting and reach a greater audience (supporting Proposition 2).

Case 2: Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton partnered with various contemporary artists since 2002 and is the case filled with a successful series created with artists including Richard Prince, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, and Stephen Sprouse. Under the art direction of Marc Jacobs, the brand first partnered with an artist, Takashi Murakami, who is considered as the “Japanese Andy Warhol” for his works of studying the pop culture of Japan. His works often portray cute, satirical, and animated characters in a psychedelic state, that closely resemble characters in typical Japanese comics. The idea of working with an artist from an Eastern hemisphere is a philosophy that worked well for Louis Vuitton for a number of reasons. The partnership of Louis Vuitton and Murakami gave birth to now-classic Louis Vuitton products, such as the cherry-blossom collection, the character collection, the multicolor monogram collection. All these collections have been the important remarks to re-shape the personality of Louis Vuitton to be young and chic and successfully shift from the brand image associated with the France’s historical luggage maker. The new interpretations on Louis Vuitton’s aesthetics imbued by Murakami then lead to successfully diffuse Louis Vuitton’s products in the global market.

Next, cultural diaspora is the center of Louis Vuitton and another Japanese pop artist, Yayoi Kusama, partnership in 2012. Kusama trademarking red dots not only invaded Louis Vuitton products, but also facades and displays of brand’s stores situated globally, as well as the brand advertisements distributed globally. For such reason, this partnership can be referred as “Vuitton kusamization”.

In both partnerships, Murakami and Kusama were actively involved in promoting products that capture iconic styles and representations that are indigenous to the artists’ works. Moreover, Louis Vuitton products created under the partnership with Murakami were displayed and sold in inside of Murakami’s retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 2007. The launch of the collection developed by Kusama and Louis Vuitton partnership took place on the same day of Kusama’s vernissage at the Whitney Museum in New York City, on July 12, 2012, as if Louis Vuitton products are another works of Kusama. These evidences discussed illustrate how Louis Vuitton’s products are seeing as another representation and extension of artists’ works (supporting Proposition 1). Moreover, both examples provide the interesting evidences, in which, by using Louis Vuitton’s global distribution and marketing power, artists from Japan, whom may be unfamiliar to Western audiences, became reputable to general publics of Western countries. Thus, it provides the evidence that art can travel beyond a spatial boundary by using fashion as the medium and market force as the platform (supporting Proposition 2).

Conclusion

Two cases investigated in this research offer a new insight. Imbuing iconic styles and representations that are unique to the work of artists, which is referred as art fashionization practice, provide a new meaning to the culture. Art fashionization provides the new opportunity to encounter art in a unique way. The partnership allows art to travel outside of cold marble mausoleums that are meant for its proper preservation of artistic heritage (Kotler & Levy, 1969). Fashion representing art is the new medium to prompt more active circulation of art and subsequently reach greater audiences.

Selected References

Bai, Y., Choi, T. M., Tan, J., Au, R. W., & Zang, Y. (2014). Consumer-perceived symbolic meaning of Fashion Design and Art Collaboration (FDAC). The Design Journal, 17(1), 45-71.

Erekosima, T. V., & Eicher, J. B. (1980). Kalabari Men's Dress: A Sophisticated African Response to Culture Contact.

Hall, S. (2014). Cultural identity and diaspora. In Diaspora and visual culture (pp. 35-47). Routledge.

Kim, K., Ko, E., & Lee, Y. I. (2012). Art infusion in fashion product: The influence of visual art on product evaluation and purchase intention of consumers. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 3(4), 180-186.

ABSTRACT. For long, art and fashion have inspired each other. So, it is only natural that artists have become involved in fashion marketing. However, the literature that explicitly addresses this phenomenon remains limited. To initiate a broader research agenda, current article provides a review of the extant literature.

ABSTRACT. The female body as an object of fashion is the focus of this work. Just as shoes and dresses undergo constant transformation in response to the latest fashion dictates, the female figure has also been a malleable object expected to change with demands of fashion. This is the major premise of this study that centers on deliberate manipulation of the female physique in response to prevailing fashion ideals. The research objective is to conceptualize the relationship between the desirable female physique and its manifestation in advertising rhetoric. Using corsets to tell the story of the desirable female body, this work goes back in time and explores the participation of marketing in shaping fashionable physiques. Print advertisements promoting corsets make up the data set. These ads come from the Woman’s Home Companion magazine that was in circulation under this name in the United States from 1896 until 1957.

ABSTRACT. Prior research emphasized how fashion industry creates a burden on women, measuring their self-worth with the ideal standards of beauty. This burden gets even heavier for women from different ethnic, racial, religious, or cultural backgrounds and women in different age groups, socioeconomic classes, and physical ability to name a few. However, there is not holistic research on fashion diversity that examines fashion consumption experiences of a divergent group of women and the perception difference between fashion producers and consumers about the meaning of diversity. Therefore, by employing qualitative research techniques namely semi-structured, open-ended, in-depth interviews with 18 fashion industry professionals and 38 female fashion consumers of diverse backgrounds and characteristics, this study aims to bridge the perception gap on diversity between fashion producers and consumers and prevent the exclusion of specific women groups from the fashion scene.

ABSTRACT. Fashion academic literature did not approaches plus size consumer, neither did the companies. The purpose of this research was to analyse literature in the fashion field concerning overweight people combined with emotional well-being and self-esteem. A quantitative method pointed out countries and journals with relevant academic production.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is thus to examine value-driven sustainable fashion consumption from the perspective of prospect theory and consumption value theory. This study aims to investigate the effect of perceived risk on customers’ perceived value and behavioral intentions. The differences in the influence relationship based on consumer characteristics will also be investigated. This study was conducted on consumers in Korea and China. Korean participants, ranging in age from their 20s to30s who actively consumed fashion products and were living in or near Seoul were selected. Chinese participants in their 20s and 30s who actively consume fashion products and were living in major cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Tianjin were selected. This particular age group was selected, because they are a large and powerful potential consumer group (Hill & Lee, 2012b), and because they are more concerned about brand labels and corporate social responsibility (CSR) than the older generations (Bhaduri & Ha-Brookshire, 2011). Despite being well-informed and socially concerned about global issues and involved in taking action (Williams & Page, 2011), their specific knowledge of sustainability was very limited and this phenomenon is significant in the fashion industry (Bhaduri & Ha-Brookshire, 2011; Kagawa, 2007).

ABSTRACT. We question the conventional notion that multichannel presence is always advantageous. The study shows inconsistent pricing in on- and offline stores results in consumers’ regret and disappointment, which in turn influence their post-purchase behaviors. We focus on how complex emotional responses in varying price/loyalty contexts may adversely affect the retailer.

ABSTRACT. As the popularity of the Internet accelerates, the live streaming service, as an emerging highly interactive video entertainment method, is playing an increasingly important role in corporate marketing and social networking. This research examines the role of live streaming service provided by web celebrity on users’ flow experience, and how the experience affects their impulsive buying behavior. The study also investigates the moderating role of parasocial interaction in the relationship between live streaming service and flow experience. The findings show that live streaming service positively affect flow experience, and the experience and consumer impulsive buying behavior are positively associated, while parasocial interaction has differential effects on the relationship between live streaming service and flow experience.

ABSTRACT. Brand authenticity and quality foster consumer loyalty for brands but can also promote an ethnic culture, which can be valuable for countries of low popularity and in financial crisis. Even if the perceived meanings of authenticity and quality are often integrated they are not yet studied in correlation within the existing literature. This paper proposes a typology of authenticity and a new meaning by linking authenticity, quality and ethnicity: the ethnic indexicality authenticity, which is structured within the quality conventions theory as a new order of worth. Interviews with successful practitioners were analysed to provide fresh insights about brand building, authenticity and brand communication via digital media. Based on the findings of the current study, the ‘ethnic indexicality’ meaning is structured when there are high-quality production standards, traditional and regional production methods and folklore designing inspiration. The above aspects enforce quick success for indexically authentic brands as this type of brands are perceived by consumers as unique, historical and of good quality. Rapid consumer awareness and emotional engagement with the brand and the country of origin are feasible as long as they are adequately communicated, like through celebrity endorsement on social media.

ABSTRACT. Mobile Shopping has transformed the consumer decision journey, whereas the mobile channel has become the global market place and will be the most important channel for e-commerce retailers. Retailers and brands could "reach out" to their consumer through mobile devices, using mobile apps and build a personalized communication channel with them. In this study, we try to understand consumer engagement in mobile shopping and what drivers influence on it. We investigate consumers experience and attitude toward mobile purchasing through shopping apps and AR concerning fashion in Russia. We propose that buying clothes depends on the willingness to apply new technology. Apparel brands may encourage customers to engage in personalized communications through shopping apps and AR.

ABSTRACT. The research employs factor analysis, followed by a MANOVA procedure to explore relationships between fashion consumption and social media usage behavior based on data collected from 447 individuals. Findings suggest that social media usage and apparel consumption motivations interact, particularly for whom use social media for instant-self presentation.

ABSTRACT. Introduction Globally, the luxury industry spent over $1 billion on digital ads in 2016, a 63% increase since 2013, while spending on magazines declined 8% over the same period. Social advertising in all formats is gaining traction and will be among the key drivers of digital ad growth in the next five years. Social ad revenue is poised to climb to $30.8 billion by 2021, up from $15.5 billion this year (Business Insider, 2017). Social media allow prospects, customers and the public to read, comment, create and share information about products, brands and companies. Among the audience, 47% of Internet users actively check consumer review sites seeking product information and more than 61% of people have written online reviews (Heidi Cohen, 2014). The survey result of Socialmedialink shows that 71% of people write product reviews to share a bad experience. But the vast majority of those surveyed – 93 percent – write reviews to share a positive experience with a brand (Gloriagrace Rand, 2015). The comments on social media ads can be highly positive, highly negative, or half and half. The literature in message sidedness indicates that two-sided messages tend to be more effective than one-sided messages (e.g., Crowley, Hoyer, 1994). Therefore, it is necessary to investigate if it will be consistent for the case of product reviews in social media ads. Social media marketing among luxury fashion brands results in positive effects on purchase intention through customer equity (Kim and Ko, 2012). Luxury brands engage consumers through the force of enchantment or charisma (Kim et al., 2016) and the luxury brand perception has a positive relationship with purchase intention (Hung et al., 2011). Brand engagement can be enhanced through social media in various ways, and the results can be very positive (Hoffman and Fodor, 2010). Higher brand engagement has been shown to incur better memory of favorite brands, and more favorable attitude toward products (Franzak et al., 2014; Sprott et al., 2009). In a study of clothing behaviors, brand engagement together with materialism and status consumption has positively influenced clothing involvement and brand loyalty (Goldsmith et al., 2012). However, it is not clear how brand engagement and luxury brand characteristics influence the effects of message sidedness in product review on attitudes and intentions. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between message sidedness, brand engagement, brand type and advertising effectiveness. We set the perceived credibility in product review as a mediator, and brand engagement and brand type as moderators to conduct a moderated-mediation model.

Method Participants were undergraduates from large private universities who participated for the course credit. Participants were randomly assigned to a 2 (message sidedness: one-sided vs. two-sided) X 2 (brand type: luxury vs. non-luxury) between-subjects design.

Result and Implication There were two main effects and two interaction effects on perceived credibility of product review. Two-sided message in comments showed higher credibility than one-sided message and higher brand engagement (vs. low engagement) also resulted in higher credibility. Also, there were three-way interaction between brand type, brand engagement, and message sidedness on perceived credibility of comments. In luxury brand, there were main effects of message sidedness and two-way interaction between message sidedness and brand engagement. For example, two-sided messages resulted in higher review credibility in higher brand engagement condition with no effects of brand engagement for one-sided messages. Comparatively, in non-luxury brand, there were only main effects of message sidedness and brand engagement without any interaction effects. Overall, the effects of message sidedness in product review on brand attitude were mediated by perceived credibility in comments, which were moderated by brand engagement and brand type. We highlight that advertising credibility serves as an underlying mechanism behind the effects of message sidedness that result in more favorable brand attitude. The superior effects of two-sided comments in product reviews were moderated by brand engagement and brand type. Finally, our findings reveal important implications for theory and advertising practice for marketers.

ABSTRACT. Millennials are widely considered to be the next generation of luxury consumers. Avid social media users, they rely on online information, more so than previous generations, in a purchasing context. Very little is however known about millennials as a luxury consumer segment. Drawing from personal branding theory, the present study explores how millionaire millennial micro-celebrities represent luxury consumption on Instagram, using content analysis and netnography. Results suggest that millionaire micro-celebrities on Instagram distinguish themselves from other Instagrammers through four personal branding strategies: (1) exclusivity, (2) immateriality, (3) performativity, and (4) carnality. Overall, experiential luxury, rather than tangible luxury products appears to be the main focus of luxury consumption for this new generation of luxury consumers.

ABSTRACT. Introduction A lot of attention has been given to the usefulness and effectiveness of communications technology as a means of cultivating and developing relationships with customers and it is generally agreed that B2B marketers can use it to leverage competitive advantage (Agnihotri, Dingus, Hu, and Kruch, 2016; Lenka, Parida and Wincent, 2017; and Wang, Pauleen and Zhang, 2016). In the fashion industry, interactivity between designers, buyers and the recipient of the good, is at the heart of the B2B process and the range of communication devices available allows multiple conversations to occur at any time (Murphy and Sashi, 2018, p.2). Communications technology is used to strengthen the relationship between the parties and to develop relationships with end users, and this means B2B marketers have an opportunity to develop new networks of experiences (Hoffman and Novak, 2018). Underpinning this view is the concept of co-creation and it is our intention to add to the body of knowledge by explaining how B2B marketers can utilize communications technology to develop sustainable customer relationships.

Theoretical Development The purpose of the research is to identify the gap between the retailer’s perception of the usefulness of social media and the customer’s perception of the usefulness of social media. The objective of this study is to establish how useful social media communications technology is in providing retailers in the fashion industry with an acceptable level of customer service, and how a company can derive a competitive advantage from using social media.

Research Design The researchers identified a number of hypotheses to be tested and the research strategy adopted was composed of the in-depth interview method and the survey method. Data was collected in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Result and Conclusion By establishing how B2B marketers can utilize social media, gain intelligence and develop a sustainable customer relationship with partner organizations in the fashion industry, it is possible to identify a number of unmet needs and devise an appropriate customer service that provides the company with a competitive advantage. In addition, it allows B2B marketers to establish how customers communicate with other customers vis-à-vis their individual experiences relating to a brand and to compare their post-purchase evaluations, which can impact purchase intention (Thompson and Sinha, 2008; Yadav and Pavlou, 2014). This will allow B2B marketers to devise more appropriate marketing strategies.

Keywords: customer orientation, luxury, social media, network, quality information References: Agnihotri, R., Dingus, R., Hu, M. Y., & Kruch, M.T. (2016). Social media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales. Industrial Marketing Management, 53, 172- 180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.09.003. Hoffman, D.L., & Novak, T.P. (2018). Consumer and object experience in the Internet of Things: As assemblage theory approach. Journal of Consumer Research, 44 (6), pp.1178-1204. DOI: 10.1093/jcrucx105. Lenka, S., Parida, V., & Wincent, J. (2017). Digitalization capabilities as enablers of value co-creation in servitizing firms, Psychology and Marketing, 34 (1), 92-100. Murphy, M., & Sashi, C.M. (2018). Communication, interactivity, and satisfaction in B2B relationships. Industrial Marketing Management, 68, pp.1 – 12.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.08.020. Thompson, S.A., & Sinha, R.K. (2008). Brand communities and new product adoption: The influence and limits of oppositional loyalty. Journal of Marketing, 72 (November), 65-80. Wang, W.Y.C., Pauleen, D.J., &Zhang, T. (2016). How social media applications affect B2B communication and improve business performance in SMEs. Industrial Marketing Management, 54, pp.4 – 14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.12.004. Yadav, M.S., & Pavlou, P. A. (2014), Marketing in computer-mediated environments: research synthesis and new directions. Journal of Marketing, 78 (January), 20-40.

ABSTRACT. This research identifies the types of relationship asymmetry within sustainable fashion supply chains and the role of relationship asymmetry in sustainable product development in fashion supply chains in the UK. This research, based on supply chain experiences of experts that highlighted that how relational asymmetries hinder sustainable product development in fashion supply chains, but also how sustainable behaviours, values, and policies help to overcome the influence of relational asymmetry in sustainable product development process.

ABSTRACT. Our study investigate the moderating effect of technological turbulence on domestic vs. foreign firms difference in the effects of both a value chain factor (firm capabilities) and value network factors (upstream partnership quality and downstream partnership quality). Using survey data from China, one of the top destinations for foreign direct investment, our analyses show that foreign firms experience lesser effects of these factors than domestic firms, when and only when technological turbulence is high. In addition, the positive effect of foreign firms’ capabilities on their performance is robust regardless of technological turbulence, whereas those of upstream partnership quality and downstream partnership quality are not positive when technological turbulence is high. To foreign firms, these findings provide implications for resource allocation decision on whether and when to actively redress LOFs.

ABSTRACT. Under the background of rapid development and intensive competition of e-commerce, cultivating entrepreneurial spirit is very important for the future development of B2B platform. This study examines how entrepreneurial spirit enhances B2B platform users' trusting beliefs, and how such belief, in turn, influences their loyalty. The study also investigates the moderating role of parasocial relationship in the relationship between entrepreneurial spirit and trusting beliefs. Based on literature home and abroad, we develop a questionnaire, and use SPSS20.0 and AMOS20.0 statistical software to grasp the correlation of related variables, and use the structural equation model for data analysis. The findings show that entrepreneurial spirit positively affects users' trusting beliefs, and the trusting beliefs and user loyalty are positively associated. Additionally, the results show that parasocial relationship has differential effects on the relationship between entrepreneurial spirit and trusting beliefs.

ABSTRACT. This research was conducted in order to examine the influence of third party organization endorsement towards brand performance. The results show that third party organization endorsement positively affects the value perceived by customer firms, and the perceived value and brand performance are positively associated. Additionally, the findings show that parasocial relationship has differential effects on the relationship between third party organization endorsement and perceived value.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of brand extensions. Specifically, the study examines how consumers’ perceived fit between parent brand and newly extended brands may help facilitate consumers’ post extension evaluation of parent brand equity and brand concept.

ABSTRACT. The experimental study explains how an online purchase option and the contemporariness as well as the accessibility of the product assortment offered on luxury fashion brands’ websites affect specific brand equity dimensions of luxury fashion brands.

ABSTRACT. The purpose is to propose and test the model for measuring the reputation of fashion brands. In order to test the model, 10 in-depth interviews with 10 Spanish Fashion CEOs were conducted. The findings validated variables: brand awareness, product and service quality, brand affect, self-congruence and sustainability and provided social networking as the new variable and removed the financial performance variable.

ABSTRACT. This paper analyzes the internationalization of fashion brands through ecommerce and online consumer behavior. To this end, attention is paid to the consolidate (CM) and emerging markets (EM) across a comparative study between Fast Fashion (FF) and Luxury-Premium (LP) brands. Through a descriptive statistics study, the digital behavior of 20 fashion brands in 10 markets is evaluated. Digital behavior is analyzed through six Key Digital Behavior Variables (KDBV) that represent how consumers interact with brands through their web pages. The results highlight that the digital behavior of consumers is heterogeneous and there are important differences between the categories of fashion brands (FF vs. LP) and markets (CM vs. EM.

ABSTRACT. Modest fashion, which has been defined as a fashion that “incorporates style considerations (e.g., materials, cuts, colors, etc.) “into the quotidian practices of everyday religion”, has caused great controversy in France from the beginning of the year 2016 following the commercial initiatives of some fashion brands and clothing-retail companies. Since then, chains of retail stores involved in the fashion industry face a harsh strategic dilemma: 1/ should they offer modest fashion lines to seize the opportunity of an important and still-growing demand, but at the risk of alienating French nontargeted consumers, which of course represent the biggest part of the market?; 2/ if so, how should position such offer and communicate on it?

Drawing on both the specific research conducted on moral panic in the fashion realm and the more general literature on nontargeted consumers’ response, we explore the antecedents of nontargeted consumers’ attitude towards modest fashion. We propose that perceived similarity with the alleged target of modest fashion could play as a mediator between nontargeted consumers’ individual characteristics and their response to modest fashion.

Drawing on a survey conducted on a sample of 206 nontargeted French consumers (i.e., self-declared of catholic tradition or atheist), we show that consumers’ tradition and security values, age, gender and involvement in fashion actually influence their attitude towards modest fashion. More interestingly, this influence appears to be mediated by perceived similarity, highlighting its strategical importance to understand nontargeted consumers' response towards modest fashion. These results lead to the formulation of strategic managerial implications for clothing-retail companies established in France.

ABSTRACT. E-commerce giants such as Alibaba, Amazon or Yoox have dramatically changed the ways customers are purchasing fashion products. In fact, a huge number of customers nowadays purchase fashion products online. Previous literature has pointed out how the competition among such giants is based on customers’ perceptions of easiness to use and perceived risk of these platforms (Faraoni et al., 2018). Hence, the characteristics of digital platforms are more and more important in influencing final customers’ purchase decision. Recent contributions have found out how some customers are more skeptical toward China-based Alibaba than US-based Amazon or Italy-based Yoox (Kwak et al., 2019). Customers perceive a higher risk of purchasing counterfeit products on Alibaba in particular among Western customers as opposed to Eastern ones (Valarezo et al., 2018). One of the main reasons underlying this phenomenon refers to cultural differences (Peng et al., 2017; Smith et al., 2013). This notwithstanding, scant attention has been paid to a specific exploration of this phenomenon. Specifically, how culture is related with different customers’ evaluations concerning website usability, trust, and perceived risk need to be better explored. Similarly, it is important to evaluate how all these factors influence attitude toward the use a specific online platform and customers’ online purchase intention. To do so, a conceptual model based on Geert Hofstede’s (2001) cultural dimension theory and Icek Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior (TPB) has been developed. As the focus of this research concerns the observation of cultural differences’ importance in Alibaba customers, a cross-county data collection is performed. 175 questionnaires from European Alibaba’s customers and 175 questionnaires from Asian Alibaba’s Customers are collected. The proposed model is empirically tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results show that culture influence more Asian customers’ trust than European customers. Instead, culture is more related with European customers’ perceived risk. Moving from that, implications for theory and practice are developed.

ABSTRACT. Consumers commonly choose a fashion item which looks good on them. However, the judgement is subjective so that it may change by motivation from someone or something. In Western culture, fashion has an important role for expressing individual identities. According to that, we assume that Western consumers tend to think that fashion is strongly connected with regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997) compared with Eastern consumers. Therefore, we predict that effects of motivation by self-regulatory theory on the judgment how a fashion item suits someone strongly affects Western consumers’ judgment compared with Eastern consumers. To verify our prediction, we conducted a questionnaire survey to Italian and Japanese consumers. The survey was a between-group design: 2 (country: Italy, Japan) × 2 (focus: promotion, prevention). Participants were randomly assigned each country’s participants to two groups (promotion/ prevention focus). First, participants were shown some fashion items and they responded how much the item was similar with the clothes that they usually wore. The responding scale was IOS (Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale). Second, participants were manipulated to each type of focus by answering particular questionnaire (Pham and Avnet 2004). Lastly, Participants responded the evaluation of the fashion items (such as preference). The results revealed that the positive effects of motivation of self-regulatory were larger for Italian than Japanese consumers. Moreover, Italian consumers evaluated that the fashion item suited the consumers and they were likely to purchase the item when they were manipulated to promotion focus more than the prevention focus. The effect was also significant for promoted Italian consumers about evaluation of the most unfamiliar fashion item for them. On the other hand, there were no significant differences between promotion and prevention focus groups in Japanese consumers about the evaluation of how much the fashion item suited them and their intention to purchase it.

ABSTRACT. INTRODUCTION This study examines the role of shipping fees in online retailing from a new perspective. In recent years, in the United States, a number of online auction marketplaces for decorative arts and collectibles, have emerged, such as Liveauctioneers, Bidsquare and Invaluable. These companies operate by giving consumers access to local auctions of artworks and collectibles across the United States, Europe and some parts of Asia. Some of these auction marketplaces, such as Liveauctioneers, have become quite successful and prominent. They have even encouraged some European auction houses, such as Druout of France, to launch their own online auction marketplaces like Druoutdigital. An important constraint that these auction marketplaces face is that they do not arrange shipping for the purchaser. They only allow consumers to participate in auctions remotely. If a consumer wins an auction, he or she then has to contact the auction house to arrange shipping. In almost all cases, the auctioneer will refer the consumer or purchaser to a third party shipper. This potentially represents a significant risk as the consumer/purchaser is unaware of the shipping fees and he or she can potentially be at the mercy of the third-party shipper’s greed. This study aims to assess how significant the risk perceptions of purchasers are regarding shipping fees and to what extent they impact the willingness of purchasers to participate in online auction marketplaces. It does this by measuring whether risk perceptions regarding shipping fees are a genuine concern for purchasers and whether they outweigh risk perceptions regarding purchasing from another country, where shipping fees are transparent and predictable. The country in question, used in this study, is Japan, where there are a number of online proxy purchasing companies, such as Buyee and Zenmarket, that allow American consumers to navigate, and purchase from, Japanese auction sites and stores, such as Yahoo Japan, that sell large numbers of artworks and collectibles. The Japanese Proxy Purchasing Services have a significant potential competitive advantage and point of differentiation over online auction marketplaces as they arrange to have purchases shipped to their locations and then prepare and repackage them for shipment to the United States for a clear and transparent fee (Clay et al,, 2002). There is no risk of being overcharged or misled about the potential fees of shipping a purchase to the buyer.

THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT Prior studies have examined the impact of shipping fee structures on online purchasing (Lewis, 2006; Lewis et al., 2006; Gümüş et al., 2013; Koukova et al., 2012). These studies have mostly focused on flat rate shipping and threshold-based free shipping, not shipping rate transparency. These studies generally find that shipping fees have a significant impact on purchasing. Some studies also find that when an alternative more important referent is present, the importance of shipping fees is limited (Qu et al., 2008; Koukova et al., 2012). Our study breaks new ground by examining risk perceptions associated with a potential unknown, the shipping fees of third-party shippers. This study examines an area of retailing research that has been less active in recent years. It attempts to further examine the importance of shipping fees in purchase and customer acquisition decisions.

RESEARCH DESIGN The authors have designed a survey in which they plan to ask a sample of US-based participants at two separate art fairs in Los Angeles, California, to consider buying a painting through two distinct channels and which channel they preferred. Each of the subjects will be asked to consider two scenarios which will be demonstrated as animations on a tablet screen. In the first scenario, the respondents will be asked to consider buying a large format painting from a domestic auction house in the United States that offers to put them in touch with a third-party shipper that will not disclose its shipping fees until contacted by an auction winner with a purchase receipt. The respondents will be told that the shipping fees could potentially be high. In the second scenario, the respondents will be asked to consider buying the same painting for the same price but this time with a clearly explained, predetermined and transparent shipping fee from Japan. Following the viewing of the two scenarios, the respondents will be asked specific questions.

IMPACT OF THE STUDY AND CONCLUSION This study will primarily assess the role of shipping fees and policies in online retailing by examining how they generally and specifically impact the operation and appeal of online auction marketplaces (Lewis, 2006; Lewis et al., 2006; Becerril-Arreola, et al. 2013). The study will also reassess the overall importance of shipping fees in purchase decisions (Lewis, 2006) by examining how not fully knowing the fees or risk perceptions impact buyers. Another goal of the study will be to test the assumption of whether geography and the location of a retailer significantly impact purchase decisions, as previous studies have found (Hortaçsu et al., 2009). Finally, the study will also assess whether factors such as after sales service impact or moderate the role of shipping fees in the online retailing and purchasing process (Qu et al., 2008). The aim of the study will be relaunch the discussion on the role of shipping fees and policies in online retailing- especially for high ticket items such as decorative arts and collectibles. The scholarly debate on the role of shipping fees in online retailing has largely been dormant for the last decade.

ABSTRACT. Prior studies have examined the societal and environmental concerns leading to anti-consumption in fashion context. However, only few studies identified the dynamics of anti-consumption during economic downturn and the impact of economic crisis on individual’s fashion consumption behavior in an emerging economy. The purpose of this study is to examine how the recent economic crisis has changed fashion consumption behavior in Turkey. The study contributes to anti-consumption literature by providing a deeper understanding of the impacts of economic crisis on consumers’ fashion consumption habits and the alternative non-voluntary anti-consumption practices that emerge. The findings also show the reflections of crisis on conspicuous consumption and sustainability practices in an emerging economy.

ABSTRACT. This paper follows a polycentric view on global marketing and analyzes long term implications of global branding within a local context. It investigates potential impacts of a well-established global brand in a high involvement product category marketed within an emerging economy. While conceptual reasoning of this paper refers to a more general level, the empirical study analyses the brand Barbie in the doll product category, in particular the target group of young Indian millennia girls raised in more wealthy families. The strong symbolic impact of the Barbie doll communicating western culture shaped the mindset of Indian girl who are at the same time influenced by Indian tradition. Possession attachment turned out to be a focal construct with positive impact on psychic (i.e., memories, nostalgia) and social (identity congruity, imagined community) variables.

ABSTRACT. Global cosmetics demand is declining, but growing among young adults, who are between 18-35 years old and are a large and profitable market segment. On competing to capture market share from young adults, cosmetics companies are relying on the power of their brands, online advertising and celebrity endorsements. The extent to which aspects of celebrity endorsement and brand values influence cosmetics brand attitude and purchase intention needs answers. To find the answers, this study employed the social comparison theory, brand signally theory and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Data was collected from 301 young adult South Africans. Structural equation modelling results revealed that cosmetics brand attitude was influenced by celebrity attractiveness, credibility, their product expertise and the symbolic value enjoyed from the brand. The brand attitude in turn predicted purchase intention

ABSTRACT. paucity of research investigates the salient predictors of web-store quality. Through web-stores, loyalty can be enhanced by proffering a secure and easy to use shopping arena. The findings of this research provide a simplistic model to assist fashion strategists when targeting female consumers of cosmetic products thereby supplementing emerging online retailers to compete at par with multi-national enterprises.

ABSTRACT. Purpose of this study is two-fold. First, this study aims to introduce SORIMONTM, a newly developed technology that measures ratings of TV commercial and program real time as well as examines the extent to which TV commercial drives viral. Traditionally, ratings of TV commercial and program have been measured using People Meter. Viewing data collected by People Meter are compared to the time table of each channel. From the comparison, which programs and commercials were viewed at which time are identified manually. Similar to People Meter, SORIMONTM is a set top box connected to a TV set. Different from People Meter, however, SORIMONTM detects finger print of audio embedded in TV programs and commercials. Without any manual comparison of viewing data and time table, therefore, SORIMONTM identifies which programs and commercials are being viewed real time. Furthermore, combining NAVER Trends data, which is similar to Google Trends data, SORIMONTM estimates correlation of daily gross ratings points of TV commercial and the number of a target keyword consumers used during a particular time period. Using such advanced technology, advertisers can not only track the ratings of their commercial real time, but also examine the extent to which their commercial drives viral.

Second purpose of this study is to testify the possibility of negative impact of TV commercial on viral. It is hoped that TV commercial has positive impact on viral (Henke, 2013). Increasing number of consumers searching particular keywords addressed in TV commercial is often used as indication of such impact. Google Trends provides useful data for the measurement. However, advertisers have ignored the possibility that increase of searching particular keywords may cause decrease of searching other keywords. This is because consumer’s cognitive capacity is limited; therefore, if consumer’s attention is directed to a particular object (e.g., keyword) by a particular cue (e.g., TV commercial), s/he becomes less likely to pay attention to other object (e.g., other keyword). Such tendency is called part-list cuing effect (Bauml & Aslan, 2004). Given the tendency, such unintended byproduct of TV commercial should be expected and managed carefully. Otherwise, TV commercial can generate negative impact on viral, which can be critical if the keywords of lessened attention play important role for creating or maintaining the brand’s image. Using SORIMONTM, this study examined the extent to which 3 TV commercials of Uniqlo that were aired from October 15th, 2018 to January 18th, 2019, and evidenced such negative impact.

ABSTRACT. This article focuses on the factors affecting Millennials purchasing online or offline choices in luxury fashion. In particular, in relation to the rising literature in Millennials relation with luxury brands, it is focusing on the missing literature on the variables that are affecting their choices in the increasing debate related to their online brand relation and purchasing orientation.

ABSTRACT. Marketing automation influence the marketer’s decisions enable them to automate traditionally marketing. Customers should receive automated and personalized communications. Marketing automation is the fastest growing tools in terms of adoption among digital marketers because of its capacity to achieve one-to-one communications and marketing tasks without any technical or personal skills.

ABSTRACT. Service-dominant logic played a role in recognizing the importance of service to those who were used to goods-dominant logic. Firms that are aware of the importance of service expect the role of servitization to integrate new services to their existing products. Integrating services to products is the important factors that enhance the value-in-use and make consumers more attractive to the product. In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, new technologies create not only new products but also new services. Servitization that integrates these products and services provides various fields of manufacturers new opportunities to enhance sustainable competitiveness. The goal of this study is to investigate the effect of servitization experience on customer engagement through the mediating effect of value-in-use and commitment. According to Social identity theory (SIT), consumers perceive themselves as members of a specific social group through self-categorization. Based on SIT, this study investigates the process by which consumers who recognize value-in-use of servitization through their servitization experience will be willing to engagement through commitment. Moreover, this study investigates the mediate effect of value-in-use and commitment on engagement of the consumers who experienced the servitization that the navigation products converged with the additional service by examing the navigation users. Thus, it is argued that five servitization experiences can be a major factor in creating customer engagement. Based on SIT, we verified how Servitization Experience enables customers to become important resources of the company in the long term.

ABSTRACT. The rise of social media new influencers (e.g. bloggers, instagrammers and youtubers) has imprinted major impact in marketing communication strategies, with companies realizing the potential of fostering relationships with these new digital influencers (Acar & Polonsky, 2007). The rationale behind doing marketing with influencers lays on reaching their audiences, while leveraging on influencers´ credibility, referent and expert power for communicating brand messages (Tuten & Solomon, 2017). While communicating with their audiences, the new influencers tend to share brand related messages. Among them are product reviews which are propagated by means of electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) using media resources like Instagram posts, Instagram stories or YouTube vlogs. While evaluating the effects of new influencers, previous studies have supported the argument towards their positive consequences for the brands that they propagate, concerning word of mouth and consumers´ purchase intentions (e.g., Nunes et al, 2018; Cheung, Lee, & Rabjohn, 2008; Hsu, Lin, & Chiang, 2013; East, Hammond, &Wright, 2008; Vásquez,, Suárez, & Belén, 2013). However, new influencers are also known for criticizing products and writing negative reviews, when product experiences fail to deliver. As previous studies have not yet evaluated the effects of these negative product reviews, in the current study the authors evaluate to what extent negative product reviews created by social media new influencers affect their audiences´ intentions to purchase and recommend. While investigating the effects proposed, the constructs of perceived self-brand connection and influencers´ credibility were considered for their moderating effects. The study highlights the significant effects that negative eWOM initiated by new influencers in fashion may have on consumers intentions regarding purchasing and recommending the brand. These effects tend to be stronger when the new influencer is acknowledged for its credibility. On the other hand, the current study also highlights the importance of self-brand connection for shielding the brand against the effects of negative eWOM, as consumers reveal more tolerance to the negative messages when they perceive themselves closely related to the brand.

ABSTRACT. Since their appearance, social media platforms (SMP) have attracted large amounts of users, many of whom have merged these networks into their daily life (Boyd & Ellison, 2007), which in consequence attract the interest of companies due to the potential to broadcast their marketing messages to their audiences (Cvijikj & Michahelles, 2013). In fact, SMP’s have changed the way consumers relate with brands, as they are no longer passive receivers of brand messages (Men & Tsai, 2014). Today, consumers use technology to start conversations with brands, build connections, and are also able to generate digital content within online communities. For marketers, this new digital era reveals to be a challenge as they seek to leverage social media with relationship purposes, particularly keeping consumers engaged (Sklar, 2013). Additionally, global brands face an upper challenge as consumers’ cross-cultural context is highly determinant of their engagement.

Having the above-mentioned scenario as starting point, how does this apply to luxury brands? This specific type of brands commonly has a “think global, act local” mindset. Nowadays, with the need of a social media marketing strategy that increase consumer-brand relationship and engagement, brands and marketers must understand not only the new and empowered consumer motivations but also what drive’s their engagement in a cross-cultural environment.

Consequently, the aim of this research is to understand the influence of cross-cultural effect on consumer-brand relationship and engagement through social media platforms. Based on this, we purpose to answer to the following research questions: (i) is the level of engagement obtained by the content created by Kérastase on social media platforms affected differently according to culture? (ii) are there any differences between consumers of different cultures and their relationship to the different topics covered by luxury brands on their social media platforms?

ABSTRACT. The current research aims to explore the impact of Massclusivity campaigns (massive and exclusive) (Brogi et al., 2009; Silverstein & Fiske, 2003) on the brand love of online brand communities. In this sense, this study comprises (i) the analysis of the meaning and perception of luxury, (ii) the marketplace associated to luxury – with a focus on the fashion consumption segment, (iii) and the impact of trends such as digital luxury and Massclusivity. We intend to explore the dynamics of the selected market based on the core of relationship marketing concepts, brand love, brand communities and consumer-brand relationship.

Currently, the world is facing a democratization of luxury (Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2016; Truong, McColl & Kitchen, 2009), and it became critical to understand how it affects the traditional luxury consumers. Formerly, luxury was all about ostentation, status seeking and social approval and, as a virtue of that, its customers demanded exclusivity and exceptional quality (Silverstein & Fiske, 2003). Globalization has allowed many luxury fashion magazines to be available worldwide, and also made information exchange possible. Moreover, the digital era offers a set of benefits to brands, and one of these benefits is the ability to offer content in distinct platforms (Okonkwo, 2009). By using the digital environment, masses started to relate with certain lifestyles (connected to luxury consumption) and start craving accessible luxury products (Brun & Castelli, 2013). So, the research questions that emerge in this study are: (i) does a Massclusivity campaign impacts consumers’ brand love towards the brand? (ii) how does massive luxury affect the love or hate of the luxury fashion brands’ online communities?

A netnography analysis (Kozinets, 2002; Brown, Kozinets & Sherry Jr., 2003) was developed concerning the interactions between the selected brands - a luxury fashion brand, Gucci, and a mass market fashion brand, H&M – and their respective online brand communities on Facebook (a social networking platform), during a specific period of time defined according to the launch of Massclusivity campaigns by each of these brands. Concerning the sample, we collect a total of 12,842 interactions (10,691 interactions for Gucci and 2,151 for H&M). We analyze Gucci community members’ interactions from March 2017 to March 2018. Concerning H&M, we consider the interactions from July 2017 to March 2018.

When comparing the results achieved for both brands, Gucci reveals the highest polarity average associated to its members’ interactions. When comparing the interactions analyzed from H&M consumers, Gucci’s interactions had more positive sentiments. Consequently, we induce that the massive luxury campaigns had more positive results for the luxury brand that promote a massclusivity collection (Gucci) than for H&M who developed a co–branding massclusivity campaign.

This research provides valuable insights not only for luxury brands but also for the fashion market in general. In this research we were able to put in evidence that despite the low impact on brand love of online brand community members, the development of massclusivity campaigns have several impacts identified, such as: (i) generate awareness towards the brand, (ii) increases consumers’ engagement on social network platforms, and (iii) promote communities’ expansion. We may argue that these consequences are directly related to the curiosity that these marketing strategies generate towards the brands, which may be considered powerful to luxury brands who intend to diversify their audience and become competitive among a traditional sector.

ABSTRACT. The current study explores the evolving concept of brand storymaking as a highly relevant future branding and communications tool for the sporting goods industry (SGI). Literature review and practice, in cooperation with a global sporting goods company, are combined with the objective of proposing an exemplary process model for SGIs brand storymaking in social media. The study has many implications for theory and practice. Regarding theory, the model proposed may guide future studies on the main phases, preparation required and dynamics of relations occurring while storymaking evolves. For managers, the process model proposed suggests a sequence of action steps that companies can effectively make use in order to share their own stories in joint collaboration endeavors.

ABSTRACT. Virtual Reality is characterized by its levels of Immersion in a new world (e.g., Eroglu et al., 2001; Bhatt, 2004). Immersion is strongly related to the concept of flow, since involves a psychological state of isolation from the real world (Witmer & Singer, 1998; Bhatt,2004). This is strongly related to the concept of Flow. Thus, a total sense of involvement of a consumer in a certain experience exists, resulting in an experience unlike any other, and without unexpected distractions (Nah, Eschenbrenner & DeWester, 2011; Loureiro et al., 2018). Indeed, Mikropoulos (2006) claims that immersion causes a feeling of total presence (telepresence). However, there is a gap in literature liked to the lack of studies dealing with the way atmospheric cues of the fashion store influences presence. By atmospheric cues intended as “the conscious designing of space to create certain buyer effects” (Kotler, 1974). The definition reflects the effort of creating retail environments that are intended to produce certain emotional effects on the buyer. Emotions that could develop and intensify the sense of presence. Thus, the aim of the current study is to explore how atmospheric cues in virtual reality fashion stores affect the sense of presence. Findings suggest that a stimulus that remains in the consumers’ mind leads to an essential involvement in the creation of cognitive effect (dominance and vividness) leading to positive emotions and, in the end, to enhance the sense of presence. Today's virtual stores are not only accessible to the younger age groups, but they are still the largest and strongest consumer group. The store managers must be aware about how to serve young and stylish consumers, as well as the more traditional ones. Only then, a brand can create an atmosphere that pleases the consumer's perceived and ideal self, leading to enhance presence.

ABSTRACT. The study aims to collaborate to a better understanding of a social phenomenon that has gained increasing importance and analyze it under a commercial perspective, concluding about the impacts that it can bring for some markets. The purpose is to study the impact of the Fashion and Beauty advertisements models’ age on the purchase intention of female consumers over 50. This is a segment that has been gaining weight, expression and importance, and it is crucial to understand if it is been addressed with an effective communication strategy. In the first part of the study a deep review of the literature is made, providing a structured knowledge of what has already been studied by other authors on this topic, and on other matters related to or involved with this issue. In the second stage, the approach is quantitative. In the presented study 259 women were involved and asked their opinions and feelings towards some advertising images exhibited throughout the questionnaire. The results revealed that although some values are low to be considered significant almost all the relationships between the variables, suggested by the literature, have occurred. The results are very interesting and highly applicable outputs to the markets concerned.