The Role Of Country-of-Origin In Luxury Branding

This research addresses the interrelation between luxury branding or the perceived brand image by customers and country of origin, to explore meaningful insights for existing and potential Asian luxury brands. The study, applies categorized analysis on the main players in the luxury world, conducts structured survey and interview towards the existing or potential middle class, concluded the experiences and insights from the successes of European luxury and fashion brands.In the paper, the current development of representatives of Asian (including Chinese) luxury brands are also-assessed, and the data collected in the survey on both European and Asian luxury brands as well as consumers show that country of origin has significant influence on consumers’perceptions and thereon the purchasing intension of luxury goods. However, the COO takes effect not in the form of absolute country stereotype, but lies in other aspects behind the country image, in other words, consumers attitudes towards products from a country are changeable in the long run. In addition, the COO effect is more significant in the classic luxury segment which is dominated by the European brands, while for the fashion segment, the traditional country-of-origin effect is less remarkable, hence, emerging brands are able to compete in this area.