Luxury consumption, Experienscape, Hospitality, Nostalgic memories, Social cognitive theory

Purpose: This paper examines the behavioural determinants of luxury shopping behaviour, focusing on the effect of past experiences and nostalgic memories and how interaction with others influences buying behaviours in light of the social cognitive theory perspective.
Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative method was applied to textual data collected from in-depth in-person interviews with 24 female Japanese shoppers. The software applications NVivo and User Local were used for text mining, and an original analytical framework focusing on the values of luxury consumption (‘conspicuous’, ‘social’, ‘hedonic’ and ‘learning from others and self’) was proposed and discussed.
Results: Consumers identified positive past experiences and nostalgic memories as aspects of luxury consumption and as impactful factors influencing their future purchasing behaviours. When purchasing luxury goods requiring considerable expenditure, consumers reaffirmed the value of luxury goods and the meaning of owning luxury goods in a social context by learning from others who shared their experiences, which helped them to make a decision about their next purchasing opportunity.
Limitations/implications of the study: In order to deepen the findings and understand their implications, work is needed to broaden the scope of the analysis and generalise the output of this study to various consumer segments.
Practical implications: The findings provide a valid argument that aids luxury goods retailers’ development of effective marketing strategies. In particular, we found that luxury goods shoppers highly value hospitality and service at stores and that they learn and use ‘fond memories’ of past purchases that relate to their own (ascertained from talking and exchanging with others in a social context) to inform their own purchase decisions. These findings should be considered when designing companies’ marketing strategies, maintaining and improving the quality of hospitality services, and proposing stimulus packages such as the provision of opportunities for peers to share memories and experiences.
Originality/value: This is the first study to attempt and propose the use of a social learning theory perspective as an extension of the overall approach to luxury consumption. This theoretical suggestion will enhance the academic debate in this area and contribute to the design of effective marketing strategies in the field of study.
 

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