Correspondence: Giacomo Gistri, Dipartimento di Scienze della Comunicazione, Via Armaroli, 9, Macerata 62100, Italy

¹is an assistant professor at the University of Macerata (Italy). His primary research interests are brand management, consumer behaviour and marketing communications. His papers on these subjects have been published in academic journals such as Advances in Consumer Research and European Advances in Consumer Research, among others.

²is an associate professor of Marketing at the University of Sassari (Italy). Her interests are branding and consumer behaviour. Her work has been published in Advances in Consumer Research, European Advances in Consumer Research and the Journal of Product and Brand Management, among others.

³is an assistant professor of Marketing at the Bocconi University (Italy), where he earned his PhD in Business Administration and Management. His current research interests include brand communities and services marketing. His international publications include papers in journals such as International Marketing Review, European Journal of Marketing, European Management Journal, Qualitative Market Research, European Advances in Consumer Research and Group Decision and Negotiation.

⁴is an assistant professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy). Her primary research interests are consumer behaviour, branding and marketing communication. Her papers on these subjects have been published in academic journals and have been presented at international conferences.

⁵is an assistant professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy). Her primary research interests are consumer behaviour and branding. Her papers on these subjects have been published in academic journals such as Advances in Consumer Research.

Received 8 September 2008; Revised 8 September 2008; Published online 6 February 2009.

Abstract

Counterfeiting is an expanding and increasingly relevant phenomenon in contemporary markets that has a particular impact on luxury branded goods. Most academic literature to date has focused its attention on the determinants of purchase, underestimating the consumption phase. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating how people consume counterfeit luxury products. Our results help us to better understand the phenomenon as a whole, with the objective of providing useful insights for the companies that produce luxury goods, and assisting them in realising effective policies for stemming counterfeiting.