Open Access

Philipp Lindenlaub

• The purchase of luxury goods like mechanical watches is experiencing steady growth and it is increasingly shifting to e-commerce platforms, also due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, there are culture-related different motivations to purchase those items. One size fits all? According to this question it was investigated if there can be several cultures detected and if they show a different purchase behavior along the customer journey that can be explained with one of the six dimensions of Geert Hofstede (2001). Therefore, several hypotheses along the customer journey are set to find out if there are still ethnical backgrounds that have an influence on the buying process of the U.S. customers. The focus for this research lies on Asian Americans and Hispanics in comparison with the 'Rest of the USA', including ethnic groups like White Caucasians, Afro Americans, and many more. In order to answer the research question, a quantitative study was deducted with the help of Google Analytics. It provided several Key Performance Indicators like for example sessions, bounce rates, session durations, purchased brands, and many more on Chrono24’s marketplace in the USA. The study shows that the observed cultures in fact have different characteristics along the customer journey, but not every hypothesis could be explained conformingly with one of Hofstede’s dimensions. Consequently, a one size fits all customer journey does not exist. Additionally, the work suggests how further research and cultural adaptions can lead to optimized customer journeys on a marketplace.