After a period of initial scepticism, luxury-branded companies now understand the necessity of integrating digital technologies into their marketing actions. Therefore, most luxury companies approach emerging digital tools commencing from communication strategies. The direct consequence is the adoption of social media such as blogs, applications (apps), and social networking as new communication tools alongside and in conjunction with traditional media. The purpose of this chapter lies in seeking to understand the extent to which luxury brand consumers appreciate the contents of luxury brand communications and in comparing digital and traditional ranges. In addition, the chapter investigates the existence of a correlation between the level of satisfaction perceived by luxury consumers and the dimension of customer brand equity according to the Aaker model. In this endeavour, this study is an attempt to provide academics and practitioners with insight about the expectation of luxury brand consumers from contents delivered, comparing digital and traditional platforms.
Top1. Introduction
At the end of the twentieth-century, luxury branded companies were faced with the Internet dilemma (Chandon et al., 2016; Kapferer & Bastien, 2012). While most mass-market companies immediately exploited Internet-based technologies in an attempt to improve their marketing and communication strategies, luxury companies were hesitatant (Baker et al., 2018). Luxury brand managers believed the Internet and its features were a threat to luxury brand positioning. The Internet, by its very nature, seemed to be in stark contrast to exclusivity, rarity, scarcity and elitism associated with luxury brands (Chevalier & Gutsatz, 2012; Okonkwo, 2010). Internet-based technologies generally observe the same rules of mass media such as the pull marketing approach, the lack of physical contact and free access. These characteristics of digital tools are inconsistent with core attributes of luxury brands that have been traditionally preserved by selective communication, exclusive distribution and in-store physical contact (Dall' Olmo Riley & Lacroix, 2003; Baker et al., 2018).
At first, not only managers but also consumers agreed with the inconsistency between digital technologies and luxury brands. Some studies revealed that consumers preferred the in-store experience rather than the one on the Web site of luxury brands. Consumers argued that e-shopping caused a loss of quality since the online experience prevented the pleasure of touching products and limited physical contact. The risk of online counterfeiting is another deterrent to buying luxury products online (Seringhaus, 2005; Morra et al., 2018).
However, it was not long before luxury companies took up the challenge of digitalisation. The first to overcome the initial scepticism about the Internet were big luxury players such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton. They realised that Internet-based tools were an opportunity to engage consumers that proved an increasing estimation of web interactions with luxury brands in each phase of the customer journey (Liu et al., 2019; Loureiro et al., 2018).Over time, an increasing number of luxury brand companies gradually integrated new digital technologies into their marketing strategies (Kim & Ko, 2012; Bazi et al., 2020). The growth of luxury e-commerce platforms and the adoption of more than one social media as marketing tools attested the commitment of luxury brand companies in improving their online presence (Mosca & Civera, 2017;Guercini et al., 2020).
Among digital tools used by luxury brands, the adoption of social media has attracted the attention of both academics and practitioners.
Social media are online platforms used to deliver information about products, services, and all kinds of topics. Different from traditional communication media such as television and radio, social media allows users to collaborate, share and interact (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Based on a dual way communication form, social media empower users from being passive targets of advertising to become active participants in conversations. The use of social media helped luxury companies to improve the buying experience of consumers and to favour the creation of communities around a specific brand (Godey et al., 2016; Dwivedi & McDonald, 2020). The members of online communities have strong market potential as they often act as brand advocates that direct other consumers toward or away from specific luxury products, brands and services.
Even if social media now play an increasingly crucial role in the communication strategy, they have not entirely replaced traditional communication tools. On the contrary, luxury brand companies continued to take into account traditional media, such as television, billboards, fashion magazines and product-placement.
For this reason, the current issue for luxury brand companies is identifying an effective combination of digital and physical tools to attract, satisfy and to interact with the audience (Schivinski et al., 2016).
The literature provides some contributions about the use of social media in the luxury market and their impact on consumer behaviour and brand equity (Brogi et al., 2013; Godey et al., 2016; Park et al., 2018; Schivinski et al., 2016; Zollo et al., 2020; Bazi et al., 2020). However, a study that analyses the impact of luxury brand communication comparing the digital and traditional contents does not exist. The current paper aims to address this gap by seeking to understand the value created by digital and conventional contents from the luxury customer perspective.
To achieve this objective, we use the Aaker (1996) model that considered three dimensions to measure brand equity: perceived quality, brand loyalty and brand awareness relative to the brand association.