When High-End Designers Partner with Low-Cost Retailers: Bridging the Access Gap

When high-end designers work with low-cost retailers to create co-branded collections (e.g., Karl Lagerfeld for H&M), such alliances are referred to as designer-for-retailer collaborations. Though extant research suggests that successful brand alliances’ rely on high brand fit (Simonin and Ruth 1998), practice shows that designer-for-retailer collaborations generate positive consumer response. The current work explains the success of designer-for-retailer collaborations by introducing the construct access gap (i.e., the magnitude of the difference in consumers’ ability to access products from the collaborating parties). Specifically, low-cost retailer’s customers are typically unable to access the high-end designer’s products due to budgetary constraints. Designer-for-retailer collaborations bridge this access gap by pairing mass distribution and affordable prices with designer products. Across four studies, we show that access gap, rather than brand fit, explains consumers’ increased willingness to purchase (WTPR) designer-for-retailer products through anticipated conferral of status benefits (ACS). We explicate the roles of designer creative control and retailer’s pricing strategies.