The Standardisation-localisation Dilemma for luxury Fashion Retailers’ Internationalisation into China

This paper considers the standardisation-localisation debate within the context of foreign luxury fashion retailers’ internationalision into the Chinese market. Luxury retailers must balance the ‘global-local dilemma’, given the challenging trading conditions of an emerging marketplace with low brand awareness and loyalty alongside the need to maintain exclusivity and standardisation of brand image across all markets. Qualitative case study data from 22 luxury fashion retailers provide rich insights that reveal the decision-making process for marketing strategies that support entry into China. findings indicate that foreign luxury retailers balance the ‘global-local dilemma’ in China firstly by locating operational management control within the strategic hub of Hong Kong, and secondly by greater entrepreneurism in marketing communications than seen in other mature markets.