Rethinking the retail mix? The impact of Chinese globetrotters on European luxury shops

Purpose: as they travel more, the Chinese consumers are making a rapidly-growing share of their luxury purchases outside the Mainland. Their purchases are now the most part of the sales in the luxury shops in Europe. This paper aims to analyze if and how their buying behavior is affecting the retail mix. Design approach: in order to analyze the influence of Chinese customers on European luxury shops a qualitative research has been developed by mean of 346 observations, in a period of four months, of the buying behavior inside a luxury shop in Italy. We used the mystery sales person approach. The research aimed to verify the consistency of the traditional retail mix of a luxury shop with the requests of these new customers. Findings: the research highlighted that the buying behavior of the Chinese globetrotters is quite different compared to the traditional European and American luxury customers, and that their requests are not fitting with the existing luxury shop retail mix. Research limitation: The research process was heavily limited by the particular situation of a Chinese luxury customer, who doesn’t like to be interviewed. So the research approach should be totally indirect, similar to a mystery research. Only one luxury brand could be included in the sample, while a comparison between more brands seems to be more fruitful. Practical implications: the traditional retail mix of luxury shops, based on long and careful relationship, exclusive spaces and atmospheres, timeless and experiential experiences inside the point of sales are not fitting with the needs of Chinese luxury shoppers. It must be reconsidered and innovate, coping with the paradox represented by traditional European customer desires and new Chinese ones: the same location for two totally different approaches. Originality: in the new era of globalization almost the totality of the previous studies analyzes the strategy of western retail luxury chains in China, focusing on how the West is influencing Chinese customers, skipping the reverse situation. This paper focuses how Chinese customers can influence European luxury shops.