Customer Experience in Luxury Stores: A Study of Indian Women Customers

Abstract

There is a worldwide growth in consumption of luxury products and services. Indian market is also witnessing a growth in the luxury market owing to rapid globalisation, changing demographics, social structure and psychographics of the consumers, innovative marketing strategies and other related developments. It has opened up a vast potential for luxury brand marketers. Customer experience of luxury brands is a major phenomenon in creating and delivering value to the consumers. It significantly influences brand image, brand attitude, customer satisfaction and purchase intentions. Women are a major customer segment for luxury products. The present study is based on a qualitative study involving an in-depth interview of women customers and observation of selected luxury stores in India. Major luxury brands in personal consumption category included apparel and footwear, cosmetics and fragrances, bags and accessories, jewellery and watches. An analysis of the results revealed that the luxury customer experience is a personalised co-created experience, which is created through an interaction of the consumer with the environmental stimuli and store elements at every point of interaction during the entire shopping. Some of the important elements which shape the experience include design, visual display, product interface, lighting, ambience, etc. In addition to the store elements, store staff plays a key role in creating a shopping experience through customer interaction at various touchpoints. The study presents important implications for industry and research.

Keywords: Luxury Products, Women Customers, Shopping Experience, Customer Experience, Luxury Stores

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