UNIVERSITA’ DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE ECONOMICHE ED AZIENDALI “M.FANNO” CORSO DI LAUREA MAGISTRALE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION TESI DI LAUREA “DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES OF LUXURY FASHION BRANDS IN CHINA: THE GUCCI BRAND” RELATORE: CH.MO PROF. PIERGIORGIO DAL SANTO LAUREANDA: TRANG LE XUAN MATRICOLA N. 1174338 ANNO ACCADEMICO 2018 – 2019 Il candidato dichiara che il presente lavoro è originale e non è già stato sottoposto, in tutto o in parte, per il conseguimento di un titolo accademico in altre Università italiane o straniere. Il candidato dichiara altresì che tutti i materiali utilizzati durante la preparazione dell’elaborato sono stati indicati nel testo e nella sezione “Riferimenti bibliografici” e che le eventuali citazioni testuali sono individuabili attraverso l’esplicito richiamo alla pubblicazione originale. The candidate declares that the present work is original and has not already been submitted, totally or in part, for the purposes of attaining an academic degree in other Italian or foreign universities. The candidate also declares that all the materials used during the preparation of the thesis have been explicitly indicated in the text and in the section "Bibliographical references" and that any textual citations can be identified through an explicit reference to the original publication. Firma dello studente _________________ ACKNOWLEDGMENT First and foremost, I am especially grateful to Prof. Piergiorgio Dal Santo, supervisor of this dissertation. He is an enthusiastic Professor who fuelled my passion for marketing through his inspiring and interesting lectures. In addition, he guided me to write this thesis with the devoted instruction which is much more than my expectation. I also specially thank my family who has always supported me and believed in my passion and abilities. I am also thankful to my friends in Vietnam for their love and support which motivated me to work harder every day to reach the goals. My gratitude also goes to my colleagues at Padova University and my friends in Padova for their sharing, support and encouragement. They are always beside me when I need as a second family. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Department of Economics and Management “Marco Fanno”, Padova University, for providing me with all the necessary facilities. Lastly, I humbly extend my thanks to all concerned person, who directly or indirectly cooperated with me for the completion of this dissertation. Trang Le Xuan TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Part I Digital Marketing Management of Luxury Fashion Brands .................................... 3 1 Definition of Luxury Fashion ............................................................................................... 4 1.1 What is Luxury? ............................................................................................................ 4 1.1.1 The Luxury Brand .................................................................................................. 4 1.1.2 The Luxury industry .............................................................................................. 6 1.2 Definition of Luxury Fashion ........................................................................................ 6 1.2.1 The Fashion industry ............................................................................................. 6 1.2.2 Definition of Luxury Fashion ................................................................................ 8 2 Global Luxury Fashion Industry .......................................................................................... 9 2.1 Industry Outlook ........................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Key Luxury markets .................................................................................................... 11 2.2.1 USA ..................................................................................................................... 11 2.2.2 Japan .................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.3 China .................................................................................................................... 13 2.2.4 Europe .................................................................................................................. 14 2.3 Key Luxury Fashion players ....................................................................................... 15 2.4 Success drivers of the industry .................................................................................... 18 2.4.1 Millennials ........................................................................................................... 18 2.4.2 Sustainability ....................................................................................................... 20 2.4.3 Technology Adaptation ........................................................................................ 21 3 Digital Marketing Management of Luxury Fashion brands ............................................... 25 3.1 Digital Transformation in the Luxury Fashion industry ............................................. 25 3.1.1 Luxury Customers ................................................................................................ 25 3.1.1.1 Who are Luxury Customers?............................................................................ 25 3.1.1.2 Luxury Customer Journey ................................................................................ 26 3.1.2 Distribution .......................................................................................................... 28 3.1.2.1 Brand E-commerce Channels ........................................................................... 29 3.1.2.2 E-commerce Marketplaces ............................................................................... 30 3.1.3 Communication .................................................................................................... 33 3.1.3.1 Social Media Marketing ................................................................................... 33 3.1.3.2 Social Media Platforms .................................................................................... 34 3.1.3.3 Luxury Fashion brands on Social Media Channels .......................................... 37 3.2 Strategic Marketing Trends ......................................................................................... 39 3.2.1 Experimental Digital Marketing .......................................................................... 39 3.2.2 Omnichannel Marketing ...................................................................................... 41 3.2.3 Influencer Marketing ........................................................................................... 42 Part II Digital Marketing Strategies of Luxury Fashion Brands in China ....................... 45 1 Chinese Luxury Fashion Market ........................................................................................ 46 1.1 External environment .................................................................................................. 46 1.1.1 Context of the Economy ...................................................................................... 46 1.1.2 Impact of Chinese Society ................................................................................... 47 1.2 Chinese Luxury Consumer .......................................................................................... 48 1.2.1 Chinese Millennials ............................................................................................. 49 1.2.2 Chinese Luxury Consumer Behavior ................................................................... 51 1.3 Luxury Fashion Brands in China ................................................................................ 54 1.4 Counterfeiting.............................................................................................................. 56 2 Digital Marketing Strategies of Luxury Fashion Brands in China ..................................... 58 2.1 E-commerce ................................................................................................................ 58 2.1.1 Brand Owned Website ......................................................................................... 59 2.1.2 E-commerce Marketplaces................................................................................... 60 2.1.2.1 Tmall.com ........................................................................................................ 61 2.1.2.2 JD.com.............................................................................................................. 64 2.1.2.3 Secoo.com ........................................................................................................ 65 2.2 Social Media Networks ............................................................................................... 66 2.2.1 Weibo ................................................................................................................... 66 2.2.2 WeChat ................................................................................................................ 67 2.2.3 Youku Tudou ....................................................................................................... 71 2.3 Digitalization