Title: Exploring masstige marketing strategy between American versus Asian smartwatch brands in an emerging market

Authors: Hayat Ayar Senturk; Rabia Tuna

Addresses: Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey; LUSEM, Lund University, Lund, Sweden ' Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract: The best possible way for the success of masstige marketing is capitalising on consumer insights from the upper-middle-income, mixed-market, emerging economies. However, its exploration has been restricted to specific product groups (i.e., car and smartphone) and geographical regions (i.e., USA and India). Our research contributes to the masstige marketing literature by investigating the masstige strategy in emerging markets and smartwatches as a techno-fashion product. We evaluated the competition among American, South Korean, and Chinese smartwatch brands in Turkey using the masstige mean index (MMI). After conducting validity and reliability analyses, we measured the masstige value of these brands and examined the relationships between the demographic characteristics and perceptions of mass prestige, brand perception, and willingness to pay a premium price. Results show that the US brand's smartwatches earned the highest masstige value compared to South Korean and Chinese brands. Additionally, perceptions of masstige value varied significantly by gender, income, and age.

Keywords: masstige; emerging markets; smartwatches; marketing strategies; brand management.

DOI: 10.1504/MEJM.2025.147311

Middle East Journal of Management, 2025 Vol.12 No.4, pp.456 - 475

Received: 09 Feb 2024
Accepted: 08 Jul 2024
Published online: 14 Jul 2025 *

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