Managing heritage brands: A study of the sacralization of heritage stores in the luxury industry

To what extent luxury retailing can be smart?

“…Through the art, design, prestige and creativity expressed in their stores, luxury retailers generate a sense of "adoration" by customers (Cervellon and Coudriet, 2013;Borraz, 2015, 2017), which is not influenced by employees in-store (either negative or positive) behaviours (Wang et al, 2008) and allow highlighting their brand value in unfamiliar markets. Moreover, the luxury brands usually emphasize the iconic and brand heritage of the first flagship store in their collection, communications and products (Dion and Borraz, 2015), by making them points of interest from a tourism perspective, such as the Chanels' first boutique in rue Cambon 31, Paris which collects many positive tourists' reviews on TripAdvisor who suggest to "visit absoloutly! ", or Salvatore Ferragamo who drawed the famous flagship store in Florence in one of the silk scarves in several collections.…”

Fetish, magic, marketing

“…Access is controlled. For example, the Dior workshops 'nestled' on rue de la Montagne in Paris, are referred to as 'the holy of holies' (Dion & Borraz 2015). This forbidden domain (the workshops) both announces and preserves the aura surrounding the site from the uninitiated (Wunenburger 2001).…”

Online Communication and Luxury Heritage Brand towards the E-HBC Matrix

“…Firstly, brand heritage is particularly pertinent for product and service brands having a premium or luxury value position (Fionda & Moore, 2009). Furthermore, heritage is an asset for luxury brands (Dion & Borraz, 2015) and a source of competitive advantage (De Wit & Meyer, 2010), difficult to imitate. It occurs when specific marketing and communication skills allow to activate the hidden potential of heritage (Burghausen & Balmer, 2014) in terms of greater value for consumers and other stakeholders (Wiedmann, Hennigs, Schmidt, & Wuestefeld 2011).…”