Luxury Single- versus Multi-Brand Stores: The Effect of Consumers’ Hedonic Goals on Brand Comparisons

Abstract

To distribute their products, luxury managers are dependent on single- and multi-brand stores; each of them generating approximately half of luxury personal goods revenues. However, both types of stores have specificities that require customized marketing strategies. The purpose of this research is to explore what differentiates single-brand from multi-brand settings. More specifically, we compare consumer decision-making processes in each type of store. We show that multi-brand stores offer less hedonic shopping experiences than single-brand stores, which raises consumers’ desire to engage in exhaustive brand comparisons when purchasing luxury items. We find that activating hedonic goals reduces brand comparisons in multi-brand (but not in single-brand) settings. The effect of hedonic goals on brand comparisons is mediated by consumers’ thinking style and moderated by the salience of consumers’ status goals. These insights have important implications for luxury marketing managers when crafting differentiated strategies for single- and multi-brand environments.