Customer emotions and their triggers in luxury retail: Understanding the effects of customer emotions before and after entering a luxury shop

Abstract

This research divides customers' on-site luxury shopping experiences into two stages—before and after entering a luxury shop—and then examines the effect of specific customer emotions in each stage. In detail, this study examines the impact of customer emotions before entering the store on their evaluations of in-store service quality, that of customer evaluations of each quality dimension on their in-store emotions, and that of in-store emotions on customer attitudes toward the brand. Further, this research tests the moderating effect of customers' personal attributes such as brand familiarity and shopping motive. Results demonstrate the importance of differentiating and managing customer emotions before and after entering a luxury shop and offer several insights into how to customize luxury customer service efforts to enhance customers' brand attitudes.