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SPECIAL ISSUE – CALL FOR PAPERS

Guest Editors

• Hyunju Shin, Ph.D., Georgia Southern University, hshin@georgiasouthern.edu
• Raj Iyer, Ph.D., Bradley University, riyer@bradley.edu

Deadline Submission: 31st March 2021

The Future of Luxury

The luxury market is expected to grow continuously at a rate of 3-5% per year through 2025, reaching a total value of €320 billion to €365 billion (Bain & Company, 2018). At the same time, the luxury market is becoming more complex (Chan et al., 2015) as how people meet their needs for luxury is changing (Oe et al., 2018) given the multiple possibilities for how luxury consumers can interpret the meaning of luxury (Seo & Buchanan-Oliver, 2019).

Although the size and growth of this market has attracted increasing research interest to the luxury industry (see Gurzki & Woisetschläger, 2017), the luxury literature needs more theoretical development to understand recent luxury phenomenon. In keeping with fast-changing trends, demographic growth, technological advances, and dynamic changes in consumer behaviours, the luxury market is experiencing various developments (Kapferer, 2014). For instance, rapidly improving technologies including big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) have enhanced luxury firms’ ability to communicate with and provide personalized services to their existing and future consumers (Chung et al., 2018; Deloitte, 2019; Liu et al., 2019). Moreover, consumer’s growing demands for ethical corporate practices have been highlighted as a trend in luxury consumer behaviour (Deloitte, 2019; Joy et al., 2012; Kapferer, 2014). In light of the major cultural, social, economic, environmental, and competitive shifts in luxury landscapes, there is a need for research that gives us an updated view of how luxury firms can better approach their target consumers.

This special issue aims to address the following central research questions: What are the main changes in the luxury landscape, how do these factors affect consumer behaviour and what are the implications for the luxury firms? These changes would include, but are not limited to, the growth of inconspicuous luxury consumption (Berger & Ward, 2010; Kauppinen-Räisänen et al., 2018; Shao et al., 2019; Wu et al., 2017), luxury and sustainability (Griskevicius et al., 2010; Hennigs et al., 2013; Joy et al., 2012; Kapferer, 2014), experiential luxury (von Wallpach et al., 2019), the role of service in luxury marketing (Chiou & Hsiao, 2017), the HENRY (High-Earners-Not-RichYet) segment (Danzinger, 2019) and the Generation Z luxury consumer (Jain et al., 2014).

We welcome papers with a wide range of contributions, including new theoretical insights, new concepts or models as well as new methods of data collection and analysis. The suggested topics include but are not limited to:

Emerging luxury consumer segments and their new behaviours

• Profiling unique consumption behaviour shared by new luxury consumers (e.g., HENRYs and Generation Z) and how firms can adapt their strategies to approach these consumers
• The measurement of new luxury behaviours, motivations, or values
• Exploring consumer behaviours relating to new types of luxury (e.g., unconventional luxury)
• Exploring emerging luxury consumption behaviours (e.g., inconspicuous consumption, responsible consumption of luxury, exchanges in secondhand luxury markets, or using luxury rental services) or rituals (e.g., caretaking practice; Banister et al., 2019)
• Implications of the customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions in luxury markets (e.g., the influence of user-generated content, creating/watching luxury unboxing videos)

Consumer responses to emerging trends in luxury industries and their implications

• The future of luxury communication facilitated by artificial intelligence (AI) or virtual reality (VR) technologies
• The use of big data analytics and blockchain technology to enhance luxury consumer experiences
• Emerging trends in luxury advertising and social media such as use of influencers and vloggers
• Sustainable luxury practices and subsequent consumer responses as well as the types of consumers more prone to advocate such practices
• Consumer responses to a luxury firm’s initiatives to embrace inclusivity in their promotional activities, business models, and internal culture
• The future of luxury services
• Consumer responses to luxury service automation
• The intended (vs. unintended) consequences of a luxury firm’s engagement in political actions

Submission

All manuscripts submitted must not have been published, accepted for publication, or be currently under consideration elsewhere.

Manuscripts should be submitted in accordance with the JCB author guidelines online at

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/14791838/homepage/forauthors.html.

All submissions should be made via the ScholarOne online submission system

(https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cb)

and should be made to the special issue which is identified on the submission site.

The deadline for submissions is 31st March 2021.

About the Guest Editors

Dr. Hyunju Shin is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Georgia Southern University. Her main research interests are relationship management in services and retailing and luxury brand management. Her work has been published in Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Services Marketing, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Brand Management, among others.

Dr. Raj Iyer is a Professor of Marketing and Director of International Business at Bradley University. His research interests are in the areas of consumer information search, consumption decision making and sustainable luxury consumption. His work has been published in Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business Ethics, Psychology and Marketing, among others.

References

Bain and Company. (2018). Luxury goods worldwide market study: Fall-Winter 2018. https://www.bain.com/contentassets/8df501b9f8d6442eba00040246c6b4f9/bain_digest__ luxury_goods_worldwide_market_study_fall_winter_2018.pdf

Banister, E., Roper, S., & Potavanich, T. (2019). Consumers’ practices of everyday luxury. Journal of Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.12.003

Berger, J., & Ward, M. (2010). Subtle signals of inconspicuous consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(4), 555-569.

Chan, W. Y., To, C. K. M., & Chu, W. C. (2015). Materialistic consumers who seek unique products: How does their need for status and their affective response facilitate the repurchase intention of luxury goods? Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 27, 1- 10.

Chiou, J –S, & Hsiao, C –C. (2017). Does snobbish service generate better sales? The case of luxury goods. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 16(6), 577-590.

Chung, M., Ko, E., Joung, H., & Kim, S. J. (2018). Chatbot e-service and customer satisfaction regarding luxury brands. Journal of Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.10.004

Danzinger, P. N. (2019). Meet the HENRYs: The Millennials that matter most for luxury brands. Ithaca, NY: Paramount Market Publishing.

Deloitte. (2019). Global powers of luxury goods 2019: Bridging the gap between the old and the new. Retrieved from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/ConsumerBusiness/gx-consumer-business-gplg2019-report.pdf

Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., & Van den Bergh, B. (2010). Going green to be seen: Status, reputation, and conspicuous consumption. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(3), 392-404.

Gurzki, H., & Woisetschläger, D. M. (2017). Mapping the luxury research landscape: A bibliometric citation analysis. Journal of Business Research, 77, 147-166.

Hennigs, N., Wiedmann, K –P., Klarmann, C., & Behrens, S. (2013). Sustainability as part of the luxury essence: Delivering value through social and environmental excellence. The Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 52, 25-35.

Jain, V., Vatsa, R., & Jagani, K. (2014). Exploring Generation Z’s purchase behavior towards luxury apparel: A conceptual framework. Romanian Journal of Marketing, 2, 18-29.

Joy, A., Sherry Jr, J. F., Venkatesh, A., Wang, J., & Chan, R. (2012). Fast fashion, sustainability, and the ethical appeal of luxury brands. Fashion Theory, 16(3), 273-295.

Kapferer, J. N. (2014). The future of luxury: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Brand Management, 21(9), 716-726.

Kauppinen-Räisänen, H., Björk, P., Lönnström, A., & Jauffret, M-N. (2018). How consumers’ need for uniqueness, self-monitoring, and social identity affect their choices when luxury brands visually shout versus whisper. Journal of Business Research, 84, 72-81.

Liu, X., Shin, H., & Burns, A. C. (2019). Examining the impact of luxury brand’s social media marketing on customer engagement: Using big data analytics and natural language processing. Journal of Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.04.042

Oe, H., Sunpakit, P., Yamaoka, Y., & Liang, Y. (2018). An exploratory study of Thai consumers’ perceptions of “conspicuousness”: A case of luxury handbags. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 35(6), 601-612.

Seo, Y., & Buchanan-Oliver, M. (2019). Constructing a typology of luxury brand practices. Journal of Business Research. 99, 414-421.

Shao, W., Grace, D., & Ross, M. (2019). Investigating brand visibility in luxury consumption. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 49, 357-370.

von Wallpach, S., Hemetsberger, A., Thomsen, T. U., & Belk, R. W. (2019). Moments of luxury – A qualitative account of the experiential essence of luxury. Journal of Business Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.10.060

Wu, Z., Luo, J., Schroeder, J. E., & Borgerson, J. L. (2017). Forms of inconspicuous luxury consumption: What drives inconspicuous luxury consumption in China? Marketing Theory, 17(4), 491-516.