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The purpose of this paper is to understand and compare Generation Y’s knowledge and perceptions of cashmere as a luxurious fibre.

Dual qualitative-quantitative approach, comprising interviews with cashmere farmers and suppliers plus a structured questionnaire completed by 334 young Italians and Americans. Data were analysed statistically for comparison and interpretation.

Interviews confirmed the literature and provided insights why cashmere is “branded” as luxurious; e.g. comes from combing the undercoat of cashmere goats thus it is rare, expensive, very warm, light, and soft. Quantitative analysis showed: the majority (+85 per cent) of the young Italians and Americans perceive cashmere fibre as luxurious and expensive, although statistically Americans participants perceive it as more luxurious and more expensive. For example, 75 per cent Italian, 85 per cent Americans think it is expensive, (µ=2.914/4 and µ=3.156/4, respectively). Americans do not perceive it as being as rare as the Italian group. Italians were more able to answer the question about richness of the fibre. Lastly and surprisingly both groups knew very little about the origin: 40 per cent of both groups thought it comes from sheep whereas 20 per cent from Alpaca.

While neither sample knew the source, they both mentioned they would like to know more about the origin, attributes, etc., opening the door to marketing experts.

This study complements and enhances the relatively limited body of knowledge in the academic and professional literature and provides useful information for producers, suppliers, retailers, and especially marketers of cashmere.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the motivations that lie behind the choice of the “temporary store” as a marketing tool, with particular reference to the fashion sector in Italy. In the UK and the USA, the more usual terminology is “pop‐up store”.

The study adopts a qualitative approach, in the form of case studies of two fashion brands using temporary stores in Italy. Data were collected by in‐depth interviews with senior representatives of the two firms, backed by available documentary evidence and observation. Similarities and differences between the two sets of findings were identified and analysed, and conclusions drawn.

This exploratory study points to the need for further investigation, but its findings provide researchers and practitioners with new information about the use of the temporary store as a marketing tool, and the managerial implications. Though still in its infancy in Italy, it is becoming increasingly common elsewhere, especially in the form of “pop‐up stores” in the USA and the UK.

The study provides interesting and relevant information for marketing planners considering the use of temporary stores, in the fashion sector in Italy but also more widely.

The temporary store has been studied from an exploratory perspective, not simply described, as is the case in of the rather limited material available in the specialist media. Therefore, the study makes a significant contribution to the body of knowledge in the field.

A destination's ability to attract tourists is associated with the visitor experience and, in recent years, visitors have increasingly used virtual environments and digital innovation, such as social media platforms, to communicate their experience of tourist destinations. A positive well-communicated tourist experience improves the reputation of the destination and has relevant consequences for both the destination's attractiveness and its competitive advantage. On the contrary, when the destination's reputation is negatively affected by visitors' experiences, comments and reviews, such destination might compromise its ability to attract new visitors. Studies in this field agree alike that the tourist experience is negatively affected by overcrowding and overflows phenomena occurring around the visited city attractions. The present research, merging the aforementioned observations, investigates whether visitor density affects the online reputation of the Uffizi Gallery, estimated by extracting visitors' opinions and feedbacks on the city's main attractions from TripAdvisor ratings and from Twitter posts, by applying sentiment analysis to evaluate whether the text is positive, negative, or neutral. The city of Florence is an ideal case study, as the city records almost 16 million tourist overnight stays per year hence highly exposed to the risk of tourist overcrowding and overflows. The research findings reveal that Uffizi Gallery experiences and mood are influenced by the number of visitors insisting and if tourists live a negative experience, this is further exacerbated by the growing density of visitors themselves. We find that, if tourists have a negative experience, this is exacerbated by the density of visitors to the Uffizi Gallery. The results reveal also that tourists' experiences are even more influenced by any general dissatisfaction they experience in the city of Florence in a broader way. Practical implications and theoretical contributions are discussed.