The International Marketing Strategy of Luxury Food SMEs: The Case of Truffle

ABSTRACT This paper aims at investigating the international marketing strategy of luxury small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a focus on food SMEs operating in the luxury global niche of truffle products. The paper proposes two qualitative case studies of highly internationalized Italian luxury SMEs in the truffle industry. It discusses market selection, entry modes, and international marketing mix in foreign markets. The U.S. and Brazil are considered as emblematic international markets in the empirical investigation. The study shows the need for luxury food SMEs to implement control over the distribution channels. Trust-based relationships with commercial partners are pivotal to this purpose. Moreover, the need to educate consumers and to exploit experiential rely on peculiar promotion strategies. The paper discusses five pillars of the international marketing strategy of luxury food SMEs. Lessons learned from the truffle case can be extended to the study of other luxury SMEs’ international marketing strategies.