The resale of luxury goods in the second-hand market: how emotional detachment and professionalization involved in resale affect consumers' perceived value of luxury brands ?

This research focuses on consumer behavior in the luxury secondhand market from the perspective of consumer's resale. More specifically, it examines the different stages of resale chronologically, and identifies its implications within the consumer-luxury brand relationship. Through the analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews with French luxury consumers, it confirms, on the one hand, that resale is experienced as an emotional detachment by the consumer. To do so, consumers go through various rituals, and evaluate its results as their relationships with other individuals. Thus, this study demonstrates that the act of reselling luxury products contributes to the construction of consumer's identity. On the other hand, the present research reveals a professionalization of consumers, who establish resale strategies to recreate a luxury experience. More broadly, it shows how resale affects the consumer's perception of the brands' values by altering the symbolic and utilitarian dimensions of luxury brands.