Access to the luxury brand myth in pop-up stores: A netnographic and semiotic analysis

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• We study motivations of French customers towards pop-up luxury stores retailing.
• Netnographic and semiotic analysis reveal the luxury retailing and customer typology.
• Pop-up luxury stores reinforce mythical semiotic significance of French luxury brands.
• Pop-up luxury stores characteristics: informality/friendliness/ludicity/accessibility.
• Pop-up luxury stores are a new form for selling attracting middle class novices.

Using semiotic analysis and a netnographic approach, this study examines the motivations of luxury buyers toward pop-up stores in France. It reveals their motivations in relation to this new kind of retailing in the luxury sector, and the advantages of new technologies for meeting the growing demands of a clientele eager for new purchase experiences. We show that pop-up luxury stores add new features to the traditional luxury sector: informality, friendliness, ludicity and accessibility in the context of shared emotions. The key results from this study reveal that the commercial activities of pop-up stores complement those of their luxury parent Houses, in that they contribute emotionality and playfulness, while at the same nourishing the brand's mythical aspect.