Liminality and rites of passage in Guerlain’s perfumeries

2018

This research studies the process of creating the shopping experience in Guerlain’s luxury perfumeries in Paris. Our analysis focuses on the intermediate spaces accompanying the crossing of commercial boundaries, and on their appropriation by visitors, resulting in rites of passage. We analyze the shopping experience in Guerlain’s luxury perfumeries in Paris which presents many designs of stores, located in various environments. Our results show that in this context the creation of the shopping experience is a coproduction resulting from the interaction between the types of intermediate spaces delimiting the store, the ritualization of experience and the appropriation process of consumers.