Café or art exhibition? Which experience is more effective in luxury fashion flagships?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of brand experiences through cafés or art spaces in luxury fashion flagships on consumers’ buying behavior toward authorized shopping channels.

Design/methodology/approach

Online questionnaires are used by adapting measurements from prior research. We test whether positive relationships exist between multi-faceted (i.e. sensory, emotional, intellectual, and relational) experiences, consumer’s revisiting intention toward the experiential spaces, and the purchase intention of luxury fashion goods from authorized channels, especially focusing on the mediation effect of the intention to revisit. We also include the experiential space type (cafés vs. art exhibitions) as moderator.

Findings

The results confirm that sensory, emotional, intellectual, and relational experiences in cafés or art exhibitions of luxury fashion flagships have a positive impact on the intention to revisit. This revisit intention to experience space has a significant effect on purchase intention from authorized shopping channels. Specifically, sensory experiences in an art space could lead to a positive revisit intention for consumers. Furthermore, relational experiences in cafés could create positive revisit intention in consumers.

Originality/value

This is the first study to compare consumers' perceptions by categorizing extended brand spaces and assessing experiential marketing for authorized shopping channels.