An Internet based distribution strategy of luxury products and services grounded on qualitative Web discourse analysis

Nowadays Internet userspsila behavior when using Web 2.0 technologies is mostly ignored in marketing research, and therefore is, in particular, absent in the luxury internet strategy literature. This paper contributes to answering the following research question: Can Netnography be used as a research method and how can it be used efficiently in order to design internet strategy such as online communication and distribution? Different blogs dedicated to luxury products were analyzed in order to test this research method in the luxury sector. What Internet users interested in luxury goods and services were saying and writing in different blogs dedicated to luxury products was analyzed with the netnography methodology. Postings discussing luxury watch brands, luxury cars, luxury travel and art objects were analyzed through the frequency of particular terms in order to give an idea of the most stated opinions and the perception of the products and services. Results showed that Web 2.0 can no longer be ignored and should be fully integrated in the communication and distribution strategy, even in the case of luxury products and services.