Staying Exclusively Connected : A qualitative study on how the modern luxury consumer experience luxury brands in a social media environment

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to study how the modern luxury consumer, Generation Z, experiences luxury brands in a social media environment. The theoretical framework presents previous research that has been on the topics of luxury brands, Gen Z, social media and consumer experience. Since the consumer's perspective was of main interest for this study, this thesis was implemented through a qualitative study which was carried through by ten qualitative interviews with Generation Z respondents with the interview based on findings from chosen literature. Previous research stated that the relationship between social media and luxury brands can be beneficial yet very complicated if not done properly and with the right measures. A thematic analysis was chosen as a tool for analyzing the collection of qualitative data along with the previous theoretical framework. The presented theory together with the empirical findings resulted in presenting a relationship between the three topics: Luxury Brands, Gen Z and Social media. A relationship that based on composition affects which type of Consumer Experience consumers will have in today's prevailing online environment. The study led to the conclusion that there is indeed a paradox in terms of the expected experience versus the actual experience for luxury brands online and that Gen Z does experience the relationship between the brand and social media to be contradictory.