Access to the luxury brand myth in pop-up stores. A netnographic and semiotic analysis.
Christel de Lassus1 University Paris Est., IRG Institut de recherche en gestion Place de la Porte des Champs, 4, route de Choisy, 94010 Créteil
N. Anido Freire* ISC Paris School of Management Laboratoire Management et Entrepreneuriat 22, Bd. du Fort de Vaux, 75848 Paris Cedex 17, France
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Abstract Using semiotic analysis and a netnographic approach, this study examines the motivations of luxury buyers toward pop-up stores in France. It reveals their motivations in relation to this new kind of retailing in the luxury sector, and the advantages of new technologies for meeting the growing demands of a clientele eager for new purchase experiences. We show that pop-up luxury stores add new features to the traditional luxury sector: informality, friendliness, ludicity and accessibility in the context of shared emotions. The key results from this study reveal that the commercial activities of pop-up stores complement those of their luxury parent Houses, in that they contribute emotionality and playfulness, while at the same nourishing the brand’s mythical aspect. Key-words: luxury, brands, pop-up stores, retail stores, netnography, semiotics
1. Introduction Pop-up stores remain open only for a brief period and get their name by analogy with the popup windows that appear on computer screens when working on the Internet. The length of time these stores are open can range from a few days up to a year. Originating in London in 1999 with Levi's and Swatch, the pop-up concept creates an event, attracts the interest of the media and arouses the curiosity of consumers. In several European cities, as well as in Asia and the Americas, this new type of retail store is flourishing and numerous luxury brands are opening them, for instance, Chanel and Hermes in Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, New York and Tokyo. Often seen as an event-centered form of brand communication, since it is extensively reported in the press and on blogs, this new form of retail turns out to be very effective in terms of sales and product rotation of luxury goods. The locations chosen for these stores are surprising, because they are often not far from the brand’s parent House1. For example, in Paris, Guerlain opened a pop-up luxury store near its shop on the Champs1
Following the terminology used by the Comité Colbert that assemble "75 French luxury Houses and 13 cultural institutions associated to represent French Art de Vivre" (Comité Colbert, Annual Report 2012).
Elysées, and Hermes opened one opposite its regular store on the rue de Sèvres. Pop-up stores can also be mobile, as with the London Fashion Bus, a constantly touring showroom that presents the creations of over forty designers. We can thus raise the question as to what motivates purchasers and what underlies this fascination with luxury brand pop-up stores. The purpose of this study is to shed light on consumers’ motivations and their buying behavior with regard to these new pop-up luxury stores, in particular through the lens of Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) (Arnould and Thompson, 2005). We conducted an in-depth qualitative study and followed a netnographic approach (Kozinets, 2001, 2009), analyzing by means of the socio-semiotic method the comments made by some of the customers of these pop-up luxury stores. Our research examines the motivations, perceptions, feelings and purchasing behavior of women who buy luxury goods in pop-up stores and compares them with those of the customers of the parent Houses, thus highlighting: - axiological differences and resemblances: established through axiology (from the Greek axios = “worthy”) or the theory of moral values, often presented in the form of opposed terms, such as will (rational value) and sensitivity (emotional value), - ontological differences and resemblances: determined by ontology (from the Greek ontos = “living being”), the part of metaphysics that deals with being as such, regardless of its specific determinations. Finally, we discuss on the relevance and viability of such an analysis, and the validity of our conclusions. 2. Literature review Research has shown the importance of aesthetic and artistic experiences in brand-related retailing (Backstrom and Johansson, 2006; Dion and Arnould, 2011; Chevalier and Gutsatz, 2012), but regarding more particularly the specificity of pop-up stores, there are very few studies (Burgess, 2012; Kim et al., 2010) and these do not account for the success of these luxury brands. 2.1 In-store experience Point-of-sale managers have understood the value of experiential marketing, which includes sensory and entertainment experiences as sources of satisfaction for the consumer (Pantano
and Naccarato, 2010; Kaltcheva and Weitz, 2006). In this respect, shopping in pop-up stores is a new type of consumption lying within the realm of emotional (Williamson, 2002) and hedonic experience open to the consumer (Babin, Darden and Griffin, 1994; Carù and Cova, 2007; Roederer, 2012). Moreover, stores that provide pleasant or ludic experiences see an increase in business (Kim, Damhorst and Lee, 2002; Kozinets, Sherry, Storm and Duhachek, 2004; Backstrom and Johansson, 2006). This innovative experiential marketing strategy has aroused great interest on the part of North American consumers, who are sensitive to innovation and are passionate about shopping (Kim, Fiore, Niehm and Jeong, 2010). With this in mind, pop-up store retailers make use of advanced technological tools such as tablets and smartphones, thereby producing a very positive impact on customer satisfaction (Pantano et al., 2013). The ephemeral consumer experience seems to be absent from the marketing literature, though some studies have variously examined the temporal orientation of the consumer (Usunier and Valette-Florence, 2007), the pressure exerted on consumer by fragmented time (Bergadaà, 2007) and the effect of such fragmentation on the processing of information by the consumer (Frisou and Yildiz, 2011). 2.2 The luxury goods customer The luxury sector has a long history (Castarede, 2006, 2008), rich in evolving features (Fionda and Moore, 2009; Bastien and Kapferer, 2008; Vigneron and Johnson, 2004; Lipovetsky and Roux, 2003; Dubois, Laurent and Czellar, 2001), resulting in its internationalization (Zhang and Kim, 2013; Moore et al., 2010). Having long been the preserve of an elite (Castarede, 2008; Chevalier and Mazzalovo, 2011), luxury now has a broader clientele (Castarede 2006; Lipovetsky and Roux, 2003; Heilbrunn, 1999) and, in Western societies, one that is more oriented toward experience rather than purely conspicuous consumption (Lipovetsky, 2013; Sicard, 2005; Lipovetsky and Roux, 2003). The strong growth in the luxury sector reflects the consumer’s search for emotional benefits (Truong and McColl, 2011; Hagtvedt and Patrick, 2009). 2.3 Shopping in pop-up stores Traditionally, luxury brands have always staged their products so as to bring out their
mythical and sacred aspect (Dion, 2007; Chevalier and Gutsatz, 2012). They have to ensure the accessibility of their products, while maintaining the image and charisma of the artistic director and aestheticized ideas of the designer if they are to secure the success of this magical mise en scène (Dion and Arnould, 2011). However, such abundance of aestheticism can generate an atmosphere of reverence and even of fear towards the brand (Dion and Arnould, 2011). Luxury parent Houses and pop-up stores are practicing a new kind of marketing mix combining relational, sensory and experiential marketing, so as to meet the growing demands of consumers. Studies on consumer behavior in general (Carù and Cova, 2007; Backstrom and Johansson, 2006; Graillot, 2003; Ladwein, 1999) reveal the presence of two components: the cognitive (rational) dimension, since before buying consumers need to learn about the product, and the subjective (emotional) dimension, arising from the accumulation of shopping experiences. The hedonic aspect of consumption that enables the purchaser to have fun (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Babin, Darden and Griffin, 1994) is potentially applicable to luxury. The consumer is not only in search of authenticity (Cova and Cova, 2002b), but also new sensations and experiences (Boutaud 2007; Ladwein, 2002). Even though consumers oscillate between reason and emotion (Chaudhuri, 2002), today's society may encourage disproportionate and extravagant consumption (Hetzel, 2002) trying to "sell [consumers] the experience of another self” (Dampérat et al., 2002). The advertising of luxury stores is essentially emotional and endeavors to steer consumers towards multi-sensitive and multisensory, intense and unforgettable experiences (Anido Freire, 2010b). Unfortunately, there are few studies on the choice of luxury distribution channels (Sanguanpiyapan and Jasper, 2010) that we can mobilize to better understand the development of pop-up luxury stores.
3. Methodology Because of the emotional charge entailed in purchasing luxury products and because of the perspicacity of the semiotic significance of luxury advertising, often based on the technique of the implicit, the unsaid, innuendo and suggestion (Anido Freire, 2010a), we decided to study the discourse of women purchasers within the polysemy of luxury attributes (Section 4.3). This discourse is particularly significant in Internet exchanges between women consumers. Internet forums and pop-up stores have in common immediacy, topicality and
ephemerality. In addition, most French luxury brands have a website offering some of their products for sale, and 90% of web comments about luxury brands come from Internet users (Sicard, 2010). These reasons lead us to choose netnography methods to analyze the behavior of women consumers of luxury products from pop-up stores. 3.1 Netnographic study We conducted a netnographic study (Kozinets, 2001, 2009) on the basis of 53 comments by female Internet users about shopping at pop-up luxury stores posted between July 2012 and December 2012 on five of the most popular women's forums. We chose to focus on women because they form the majority of luxury purchasers and are also the most influential on luxury purchases by couples (Kaefer et al., 2012). Over a three-month period we collected two thirds of total Internet users’ answers and only one third in the second phase of our study. The Internet users’ comments were supplemented with interviews to clarify their responses. The second phase examined biographical information and experiences with pop-up luxury stores and aimed to validate the ethnographic approach (Thompson et al., 1989; Arnould & Wallendorf, 1994; Wolcott, 1995). The neologism netnography results from the combination of two words: Internet and Ethnography. Ethnography is concerned with collecting in situ anthropological, linguistic, cultural and social data for a given population, as well as engaging in its descriptive and analytical study. Netnography is a qualitative method for studying online interactive exchanges between Internet users (Nelson and Otnes, 2005). In certain forums centered on the consumption of ready-to-wear and luxury goods, consumers reveal their motivations (Desjeux, 2006), along with their practices, shopping experiences, needs and desires. The netnographic method allows the researcher to find out about various characteristics made public by members of online forums and communities. Following Kozinets (2001, 2009), netnography can analyze consumers “in an online community and cultural” context. Even if it does not have the scope of ethnographic studies resulting from direct contact and the longterm immersion of the ethnographer in the populations studied, a netnographic approach can detect different aspects of motivation and buying behavior of Internet users in response to the launch of a new brand, new product or new type of retailing. Since, from the linguistic standpoint, we can define the exchange of comments posted on forums as short stories, in-depth semiotic analysis has proved to be entirely relevant and
necessary (Barthes, 1966; Floch, 1989, 1990; Courtés et al., 1991). We should emphasize that the comprehensive and interpretative value of qualitative research methods in marketing have been recognized (Andréani and Conchon, 2002; Heilbrunn and Hetzel, 2003) and some authors have even underlined the importance of analyzing in this way motivations pertaining to “look” and “appearance” (Thompson and Hirschman, 1995; Dano et al., 2003; Marion, 2003; Mick et al., 2004; Silhouette-Dercourt et al., 2013). 3.2 Semiotic analysis Semiotics is a tool for deciphering not only signs and codes but also images and connotations in the production, functioning and reception of a message (whether oral, written, iconographic or gestural). The analytic amplitude of semiotics (Greimas, 1970, 1983) has broadened its field of application to other areas such as advertising and management (Petr, 2002; Roederer, 2012), consumer behavior and decision-making of ideal marketing: tribal (Cova and Cova, 2002a), relational (Hetzel, 2000, 2002), multi-sensory (Rieunier, 2006) and experiential (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Andréani and Conchon, 2002; Boutaud, 2007). Today, semiotics follows the evolution of communication media and NTI (New Technology Instruments) and the results of their use (Pantano and Naccarato, 2010; Micheli and Albericci, 2010) in order to define socio-semiotic laws that would be independent of the linguistic component of communication (Semprini, 2000) and where netnography would reveal intercultural crossings (Nelson and Otnes, 2005; Kozinets, 2009). Many studies use the semiotic square as the main representational device of the analysis (Floch, 1985; Greimas and Courtés, 1986; Marion 2003; Silhouette-Dercourt et al., 2013), returning to classic or basic dual oppositions. Others focus on the structural analysis of the story or on the actantial model (Propp, 1970; Heilbrunn and Hetzel, 2003). In the present study, we opted for another methodology that is more innovative and more suitable for netnography. Syntagmatic semantics is the axis of succession of linguistic units expressed by a speaker during a discourse or an oral or written enunciation. After analyzing the messages exchanged on Internet forums and identified recurrent items, we built a semantic corpus and produced a semiotic interpretation of it (Table 1). In the first column of Table 1, “Lexical Semantics”, we present the words as graphic representation and supports for meaning, while in the second column, “Syntagmatic Semantics”, we transcribe the users’ comments in a discursive manner and with a more or less structured enunciation.
4. Results The interpretation of consumers’ stories of experiences in the luxury parent Houses and popup luxury stores, posted on the Internet, enabled us to better understand their perceptions and purchase motives. 4.1 Perception of parent luxury companies • The location and premises of specialist luxury goods Houses are magnificent and unusual and give rise to respect or even intimidation. • The overabundance of items displayed, designed to recall the history of ancestral know-how, is experienced by the uninitiated and some consumers as pointless excess, a tedious overload that does not attract them. In addition, the exuberance and immoderate profusion of certain details in a given luxury item can be interpreted as outrageous. • It is undeniable that the price of most luxury products is unaffordable. Luxury has to assume other features to attract and, if possible, charm women consumers. • Traditional luxury may be viewed as outdated, not only because it evokes a bygone age, but also because its codes are no longer relevant. In order not to be seen by part of the population as antiquated, old-fashioned, out-of-date and obsolete, luxury has been restyled in the guise of pop-up luxury stores. 4.2 Perception of pop-up luxury stores • Originality of the location In Paris, these ephemeral luxury stores are located either near the brand’s main store, as in the case of Hermès, 17 rue de Sèvres, or far from the traditional locations on the grand avenues of the fashionable quarters of Paris (Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Avenue Montaigne, Champs-Elysées), the obligatory destinations for tourists from rich and emerging countries. This urban geographical distance from the parent House facilitates the access of novices to pop-up luxury stores, and as a corollary, the accessibility of luxury goods.
Table 1. Semiotic interpretation of the semantic corpus Classification Syntagmatic semantics by semantic (comments from forums) field
Interpretation
Luxury House
rejection of bourgeoisie rejection of rich old-fashioned intimidating
parent
Luxury store products Pop-up luxury stores
Pop-up products
luxury
Perception of experience in a pop-up luxury store
Typology of customers in popup luxury stores
Opinion of costumers won over by luxury Ambivalent opinion
“it’s for the bourgeoisie”; “it’s for ultra-rich tourists who shop on the fbrg st honore”; “it’s for my mother”; “it’s difficult crossing the threshold” “prices too high” “won’t last long (2 months)”; “you have to keep an eye on the information”; “it’s not tourist luxury”; “it’s small, but it’s conceptual, it’s unusual, it’s often minimalist, but well presented.” “unique products you don’t find elsewhere”; “there’s a special designer”; “you can find a new range”; “it’s a limited creation and so it’s exceptional”; “you have to check the information”; “The products are top quality in terms of design and materials and the price is reasonable for this quality”; “the price is perhaps lower because it’s not the real store or the same products” “it’s very desirable; this store creates my desire” “you have the brand, you have the myth, distinction, history, but it’s fun, it's cooler” “it’s great / light / it’s beautiful but not heavy” “there’s a different atmosphere / more play in the finds, more events, I enjoy myself / it’s more exciting / you have a ball; different codes / it blows away the cobwebs / it’s a different reality/” “New trend”; “it’s exceptional / really unique / really great / completely crazy”; “I like the attention they pay to me, I’m welcomed, they let me come in, then they help me, without stressing me too much or intimidating me”; “The codes are more mine, the saleswomen are more friendly” / “it’s suited to my generation” “I’m young, addicted to change and desire; suited to my generation”; “I’m curious, I think it’s different, new, fun… I have fun but I also find things”; “I think it’s more 21st century “; “I’m the only one who has these boots, so that distinguishes me, that’s important” “I’m Parisian, I’m fashionable, I’m ahead of ideas, trends, I don’t follow them, I’m there before it’s over”; “I’m waiting for a new pop-up to open.” “I adore this brand, a bit in love with it, so I’m prepared to make big sacrifices, it’s spending for pleasure that makes me happy”; “I’ve fallen in love with the brand, really passionate.” “During vacations I like finding shops, but not really this popup style.”
inaccessible price Short-lived regular monitoring accessible luxury cocooning effect exceptionality originality preview privilege regular monitoring excellent quality good quality/price report attraction tradition, myth relaxation simplicity playful, ludic and youthful atmosphere events trend great atmosphere relaxed welcome feel comfortable intra-generational trust
Clientele: 21st century; dependent on trends, having fun; avant-garde; hip; eager for new experiences and originality. Strong emotions. Deep links, closeness to the brand. Hesitation or refusal
• Relation between limited space and visit duration Unlike the parent Houses, pop-up luxury stores make do with a smaller area, which is therefore more welcoming and less intimidating, especially for young customers with little experience of the luxury sector. A small space (for instance, the 80 sq. meter temporary Hermès store) or minimal space is experienced as intimate, informal, comfortable and protective (the cocooning effect). • Atmosphere Compared to the luxury parent Houses, the ambience and environment of pop-up luxury stores are simpler and lighter. As a result, the effect they have on the people who visit them (potential customers) and the impressions they produce are distinctively different. Pop-up luxury stores are more restrained in two respects: - Simpler decoration. The luxury parent Houses are viewed by the Internet users as excessive and overloaded with traditional luxury items and products. Whereas pop-up stores, in their opinion, have the advantage of being more informal and lighter, and therefore attractive and encouraging for the initiatory path of a beginner in the luxury sector. - Stripped of all outdated and/or bourgeois connotations. The products are displayed in a more attractive way and are easily accessible to the touch, sense of smell and intuition of the consumer, who can try them (on) directly. This is experienced as greater proximity to luxury items. As a result of this twofold restraint, pop-up stores have a different, lighter atmosphere. The ambience of pop-up luxury stores is perceived by customers as “fun”, i.e. “pleasant, amusing, agreeable” and sometimes as “odd, funny”. In the semiotics of “pleasant” one implicitly finds the noun “pleasure” and the verbs “please” and “get pleasure [from something]”, which ultimately are the objectives of luxury: to please others and to please oneself. • More relaxed welcome In pop-up luxury stores, as well as the more relaxed atmosphere there is also a more relaxed welcome, described as “cooler” (in the sense of “more hip” rather than “colder”). Some customers may feel intimidated on approaching traditional luxury stores, because of their size, ostentatious design and the presence of imposing doormen at the entrance of the store. Whereas the simplicity, friendliness and, at the same time, youth and laid-back style of the welcoming staff of pop-up luxury stores constitute an invitation to easily enter these ephemeral stores. The calm, relaxed and welcoming demeanor of the sales staff vendors is transmitted to the clientele and puts them at ease.
• Access to luxury products is facilitated by the atmosphere and relaxed welcome (Table 1). Consequently novice customers more readily buy luxury products in pop-up luxury stores. 4.3 Interpretation of the semiotic analysis grid From the semiotic interpretation of the semantic corpus (Table 1), we developed a semiotic analysis grid (Table 2). This grid is used to bring out the dichotomy of type and “world” between traditional luxury stores and pop-up luxury stores and the convergent unity of common and complementary characteristics of luxury (assembled in the two lower rectangles of Table 2). At times, the dichotomy between the parent House and the pop-up luxury store is only apparent because both are synchronic during the lifetime of the pop-up. The graphical layout of this semiotic analysis grid (as a static tool) allows us to better visualize, firstly, the semantic (sense and meaning) articulations between words and semes, and secondly, the links (of gradation, synonymy, antonymy) established. It also has the advantage of facilitating a double reading: - a horizontal, syntagmatic reading - a vertical, paradigmatic reading. The analysis leads naturally to revealing the presence of three elements indispensable for any act of consumption: supply, demand and a good vendor/customer relationship. With regard to luxury, there is an added value resulting from the contribution of intangibles: accessibility to the dream of luxury and pride in possessing a unique object of exceptional quality and great distinction. There is also the convergent unity of the common goals of the parent Houses and pop-up luxury stores (the sale of luxury goods) and their complementarity (strengthening the image of luxury brands), reflected in the following two characteristics. • The exclusiveness, exceptionality and uniqueness of luxury goods As with traditional luxury shops, pop-up stores can make the miraculous happen: simply by going through the door of a pop-up store, in a flash, the dream of access to the myth of luxury can become reality. • The mythical and magical powers of luxury, otherness and identification with the brand Once a luxury item has been bought, the purchaser feels content not only through the pleasure of realizing her dream, but also by virtue of feeling unique and privileged.
Table 2. Semiotic analysis grid. Dichotomy and complementarity between parent Houses and pop-up luxury stores.
4.4 Typology of customers in pop-up luxury stores From our sample we conclude (Table 1) that the female clientele of pop-up luxury stores are women anchored in the present (21st century), eager for new experiences and originality, dependent on trends, searching for fun, and think of themselves as avant-garde or "hip". These conclusions agree with the results of our netnographic study, namely the demographic characteristics of our sample (Table 3): - the youngest respondent was 22 years old and the oldest 43 years old; - 41.5 % are single and 58.5 % married; - 54.2 % of 20-29 age bracket and 31 % of 30-44 age bracket are single; - women consumers most interested in the pop-up luxury stores belong to the 30-34 age bracket (23/53 = 43.4 % of total); - married women consumers most interested in the pop-up luxury stores also belong to the 3034 age bracket (16/31 = 51.6 % of the total married of our sample). Table 3. Demographic results of our netnographic study in comparison with French demography Age brackets
Total (T)
Married (M)
Single (S)
M/T (%)
S/T (%)
S/(S+M), France (%)
T/A (%)
Women, France (%)
20 - 24
11
7
4
63.6
36.4
69
20.8
18.94
25 - 29
13
4
9
30.8
69.2
38
24.5
19.13
30 - 34
23
16
7
69.6
30.4
27
43.4
19.65
35 - 39
2
2
0
100.0
0.0
26
3.8
20.56
40 - 44
4
2
2
50.0
50.0
28
7.5
21.72
All ( A )
53
31
22
58.5
41.5
—
—
—
20 - 29
24
11
13
45.8
54.2
—
45.3
38.07
30 - 44
29
20
9
69.0
31.0
—
54.7
61.93
5. Discussion In netnographic studies the researcher is compelled to work exclusively with data found on the Internet. His ability to interact for guiding the search, without influencing the responses, is limited. Despite the numerous Internet users connected online, there is no guarantee that we can obtain adequate responses to a particular survey. Once a series of comments are collected, one needs to keep only those that are actually useful to the proposed research. However, a
limited number of valid responses may hamper the viability of the statistical results, because the final sample may not be representative of the population being studied. Even though our netnographic study is based on 53 valid responses, the independent but complementary analysis based on the semantics and semiotics of the responses of the Internet users allows us to obtain conclusions that are consistent with the demographic characteristics of the sample, thus establishing a posteriori validation of the corresponding statistic, which is explained at the end of this discussion. Our results underline the importance of pop-up luxury stores for the luxury sector as an additional way of selling luxury products. The analysis of comments, as well as the terminology used by the purchasers about pop-up luxury stores, attest to the curiosity and excitement sparked off by the announced opening of a pop-up store, and the great pleasure of being able to go there and be the first to buy this or that bag, perfume, pair of shoes or cosmetics product, which are so special and unique. Our study thus shows that this type of store reinforces the myth of the luxury brand, while exercising another kind of attraction. Pop-up luxury stores enhance the mythical history of the brand, through its uniqueness, rarity and preciousness. Thus they contribute to the development of the charismatic attraction of the luxury store, as has already been pointed out for other types of stores (Dion and Arnould, 2011). Through the perusal and linguistic analysis of our sample of online messages, our analysis shows that the women who have recounted on the Internet their experience of pop-up luxury stores attach great importance to their sensations and experiences. The lexicon, syntax, concepts, sememes and orthography used allow us to conclude that we are in the presence of a specific type of consumer, who are newcomers to luxury. This new luxury clientele is made up of active young women, from the middle class, including the traditional middle class as well as the upper middle and lower middle class, all of whom wish to make an “incursion” (Anido Freire, 2010a), and not an “excursion” (Bastien and Kapferer, 2008), into the luxury sector. They are eager to be able to regularly display themselves wearing a luxury brand and thus to have experience in this area. Luxury pop-ups also generate a supplementary bond of seduction between the brand and the customer. Pop-up stores in the luxury sector have developed new greeting, orientation, negotiation and sales techniques targeted at younger customers who prefer short, focused yet repeated exchanges (for confirmation, cancellation, additional information and advice) capable of
reassuring them. These “digital natives” are increasingly appealed to through NTI (SMS, MMS, emails, comments on blogs and forums, etc.). To attract them to the luxury sector, luxury brands may invite them to partake of an exceptional experience in an original event and discovery context, namely pop-up stores. Their models are presented in brightly colored stores (with walls and displays in the brand’s colors and images featuring their flagship products), even though they are destined to disappear before long. This semantic and semiotic analysis is supported by the demographic characteristics of our sample (Table 3), which are a little different of those of the French population as a whole (Daguet and Niel, 2010). We compared the proportion of women by 5-year age brackets, relative to the total number of women (between 20 and 44 years). In our sample, the proportion for the age brackets 20-24, 25-29 and 30-34 (T/A) is much higher than that of the general population (last column, Table 3), whereas between 35 and 44 it is much lower. We conclude that young women are more attracted by the experiences of luxury pop-up stores. Furthermore (Table 3), the proportion of singles attracted to luxury pop-up stores, of age 25-29 (69.2%) and 30-34 (30.4%), is higher than the proportion of single women in the French population (38% and 27% respectively). The predominance of single women in this type of Internet exchanges is surely due to the fact that they have more free time and can focus more easily on window shopping, visiting ephemeral stores, purchasing luxury products and sharing their experiences on the Internet, because they do not have strong family constraints. 6. Conclusions This research contributes to a better understanding of the evolution of the luxury sector and of its specific marketing and communication techniques as well as the behavior of consumers of luxury goods in the parent House and pop-up luxury stores. It sheds light on consumers’ motivations and buying behavior with regard to these new pop-up luxury stores. Although the netnographic study we conducted is based on a limited number of useful responses (Table 3), the independent but complementary analysis (based on the semantics and semiotics of these responses) helps confirm the demographic results we obtained (see Discussion). • Luxury pop-ups strengthen the brand’s mythical aspect In their quest for exceptional and mythical products, some consumers are caught up by the
charm of pop-up stores’ attractive and innovative "mise en scene" of luxury products. The time constraint – the limited lifetime of pop-up stores – is a structuring factor that intensifies the need to acquire the coveted luxury item as quickly as possible. • Perfect adaptation of the offering of pop-up luxury stores to potential demand Our second contribution is to show that pop-up luxury stores add new features to the traditional luxury sector: informality, friendliness, ludicity and accessibility (to luxury goods) in a context of shared emotions. The success of French pop-up luxury stores is attributable to innovative presentation and display of mythical luxury products targeted at a specific clientele (middle class novices, particularly young and single), eager to have exciting, multi-sensory experiences, whose apogee is reached when the consumer manages to acquire the object she desires through an impulsive, ephemeral act. Therefore, pop-up luxury stores develop new ways for selling luxury. • Complementarity of parent Houses and pop-up luxury stores Our third and final contribution is to underline the importance of these ephemeral stores which become complementary to their parent Houses by participating in building the brand’s prestige. The two channels mutually support each other because, by broadening their clientele, outlets, offerings, interior design and product presentations, they enchant not only customers already loyal to the brand with high awareness but also younger novices, eager for new experiences, that allow them to pass through the initiation rite and themselves become loyal consumers of luxury goods. Managers and retailers will thus be able to turn to their advantage the development of pop-up luxury stores and in this way create an emotional shopping experience. References Andréani J-C., Conchon F., 2002. Les techniques expérientielles: vers une nouvelle génération de méthodologies qualitatives, Revue Française du Marketing, 189/190, 4-5, 5-14. Anido Freire, N., 2010a. Singularités de la communication du luxe, CRISC, N° 28, p. 11-37. Anido Freire, N., 2010b. El Turismo sensitivo sensorial (TSS): una propuesta para España, in Renovación de destinos turísticos consolidados, Tirant lo Blanch, Valencia, 661-680. Arnould E., Thompson C., 2005. Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): twenty years of research, Journal of Consumer Research, 31, 1, 868-882.
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