The Dematerialization of Luxury: From Products to Experiences and Beyond - The Case Study of Porsche -

The Dematerialization of Luxury represents a fundamental shift in value creation, moving from tangible products to intangible experiences and, increasingly, towards transformative interactions. This thesis explores this evolution through a dual perspective: theoretical analysis and practical application. The first chapter reviews the existing literature on dematerialization, focusing on key frameworks such as B. Joseph Pine and James H. Gilmore’s progression of economic value: from products to services, to experiences and, ultimately, to transformations. It also provides an overview of the current experiential market landscape. The second chapter is dedicated to the Porsche Italia S.p.A, as a case study: it examines its historical evolution between the above phases and its experiential current strategies on the whole customer journey. The majority of the information about the company’s strategies were sourced from several qualitative and unstructured interviews with marketing and customer experience managers of Porsche Italia S.p.A and Porsche Retail Italia. It illustrates the increasing importance of experiential value over simply product performance and is particularly relevant for luxury expert sector auto (insight for luxury is a new world, with some of the new entries filled by electrification trying to play against the long-lasting perfection of historic brand by leveraging its own ‘fresh’ approach). The third chapter condenses the results into ten practical guidelines for the shift from experiential to transformative products and services, providing a strategic blueprint for companies to thrive in the upcoming “Transformation Economy”. By integrating theory and practice, this study contributes to defining a strategic trajectory for luxury firms, with a special focus on automotive companies, to cope with future market shifts, without losing their current customer base and their brand popularity.