Karinna Nobbs’s research while affiliated with School of Fashion Technology and other places

Luxury brands’ pioneering digital strategies now incorporate augmented reality (AR), which offers new opportunities thanks to AR unique characteristics. Luxury brands differ from other brands in their specific attributes, such as authenticity, exclusivity, hedonism, and aesthetic expression. This research investigates how AR characteristics can support luxury brands by drawing on illustrative cases of AR deployment by luxury brands and in-depth interviews with executives and senior managers. Specifically, it identifies how luxury brands deploy AR through four distinct strategic approaches focused on: ephemeral elevation; auratic amplification; bespoke personalization; and effortless continuation. The study contributes to literature on digital technologies and luxury brands by offering, first, a focused analysis of how AR uniquely conveys luxury attributes, and second, by conceptualizing how AR enables brands to enhance customer journeys and brand experiences through four strategic approaches. Finally, it provides managerial guidance on how luxury brands can effectively deploy AR to build brand equity.

In an increasingly competitive and digitally driven fashion market, retailers have to find innovative ways to gain consumers' attention and amplify their brand (Brakus et al, 2011; Barclay & Odgen-Barnes, 2011). This paper examines how fashion retailers can reinforce their brand through integrating multi-sensory experiences within the physical store, specifically sound, smell, sight, touch and taste and analyses if sensory retailing really can have a direct influence on consumer perceptions of a fashion retailer and consequently on the strength of its brand.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to establish the role of the pop-up store within the international location strategy of fashion retailers, second, to identify the factors influencing pop-up store location choice and the importance retailers ascribe to it and third, to assess how pop-up locations are sourced and selected. Design/methodology/approach A multiple case study was adopted. Research was conducted using secondary data sources, observation and semi-structured interviews with senior executives with strategic responsibility for store/brand development internationally. Manual content analysis was conducted. Findings Key findings cover the role of Pop-up stores within international retail location strategy, notably features, forms and function, with the latter highlighting the importance of opportunistic market testing and trial, reduced risk, regeneration, ROI- and CRM-driven decisions; the factors impacting location choice and selection, specifically the trade-offs between reactive and proactive approaches and the importance of networks and intuition, and future pop-up directions. Research limitations/implications Due to the chosen research approach, the results may lack generalization outside of the given sector and marketplaces. Several avenues for future research are elucidated including exploration of pop-up transformations including pop-up rebrand, technology enabled, experiential and third place. Originality/value The study contributes to the nascent field of research by providing new insight into the role of pop-ups within international location strategy, the factors influencing location choice and selection and offers a pop-up location taxonomy.

The various digital interactions and contributions, which can be grouped under the umbrella term User Generated Content (UGC), can take the form of product reviews, blogs, demonstration of product usage or even “homemade advertising” (Berthon, Pitt, & Campbell, 2008; Fader & Winer, 2012). While current studies on UGC have mainly focused on the motivations that drive consumers to engage and contribute in various forms online, this research aims to explore how are organisations operating within the fashion industry are listening to, and taking advantage of, the various consumers contributions defined as UGC in order to innovate and create value for customers and other stakeholders. The findings of the semi-structured interviews conducted show that managers are still struggling in balancing the level of control and in managing a new generation of empowered consumers (Pires, Stanton, & Rita, 2006). Social media and UGC call for a more strategic approach by organisations wishing to succeed. The relationship between UGC and co-innovation was also identified.

Bloomsbury Childhood Studies

Bloomsbury Childhood Studies

The various digital interactions and contributions, which can be grouped under the umbrella term User Generated Content (UGC), can take the form of product reviews, blogs, demonstration of product usage or even “homemade advertising” (Berthon, Pitt, & Campbell, 2008; Fader & Winer, 2012). While current studies on UGC have mainly focused on the motivations that drive consumers to engage and contribute in various forms online, this research aims to explore how are organisations operating within the fashion industry are listening to, and taking advantage of, the various consumers contributions defined as UGC in order to innovate and create value for customers and other stakeholders. The findings of the semi-structured interviews conducted show that managers are still struggling in balancing the level of control and in managing a new generation of empowered consumers (Pires, Stanton, & Rita, 2006). Social media and UGC call for a more strategic approach by organisations wishing to succeed. The relationship between UGC and co-innovation was also identified.

In an increasingly competitive and digitally driven fashion market, retailers have to find innovative ways to gain consumers' attention and amplify their brand (Brakus et al, 2011; Barclay & Odgen-Barnes, 2011). This paper examines how fashion retailers can reinforce their brand through integrating multi-sensory experiences within the physical store, specifically sound, smell, sight, touch and taste and analyses if sensory retailing really can have a direct influence on consumer perceptions of a fashion retailer and consequently on the strength of its brand. Full Text Preview Introduction In an increasingly competitive and digitally driven fashion market, retailers have to find innovative ways to gain consumers’ attention and amplify their brand (Brakus et al, 2011; Barclay & Odgen-Barnes, 2011). This paper examines how fashion retailers can reinforce their brand through integrating multi-sensory experiences within the physical store, specifically sound, smell, sight, touch and taste and analyses if sensory retailing really can have a direct influence on consumer perceptions of a fashion retailer and consequently on the strength of its brand. It draws on the theories of experiential and sensory branding and consumer-based brand equity to infer that multi-sensory branding become an essential element for fashion retailers to operate successfully in the current business environment. The field of sensory marketing according to Krishna (2010) and Hultén (2011) is still considered to be in infancy, yet pioneering studies recognise the importance of the human senses on how customers perceive and experience a brand (Krishna, 2010; Hultén, 2011; Peck & Childers, 2008). Moreover, academic exploration of the concept within fashion specifically is scarce and what does exist, fails to investigate what impact the senses can have when used collectively and strategically across different market levels and different geographies (Parsons, 2011). For example, Parsons (2011) in his study of New Zealand fashion retailers found that interactions between sensory stimuli have a significant effect on the fashion shopper’s affect for a store and that fashion retailers are less differentiated in their use of sensory stimuli than they could be. A more recent study by Ballantine, Parsons and Comeskey (2015, p.504), makes explicit the need to examine the sensory experience holistically, stating, When a customer enters a store they do not experience the music in isolation; they do not smell the scent without seeing the colours as well; they do not walk on the floor-covering without feeling the ambient temperature. The typical customer experiences degrees of stimuli as an on-going, integrated experience. Similarly, focusing on the sensory retail environment of small fashion boutiques, Wade Clark et al’s (2012) research showed that not only tangible cues affect a shopper’s experience but also store traits like smell and lighting. Both highlight the benefit arising from assuming an integrated approach to sensory servicescapes for fashion retailers. The imperative nature of scrutinizing the opportunities and impact of the senses for fashion retailers has thus never been stronger (Lindstrom, 2005a; Hultén, 2011; Bronner, 2009). The aim of this study is to not only further reinforce this integrated approach to the senses postulated in these scant studies, but to assess the collective impact of them on the strength of the retail brand across fashion market levels, value, mid and luxury, and across destination fashion cities, notably London and New York. Continue Reading