Luxury Brands’ Digital Business: Necessary Conditions and Strategic Pathways for NFT-Enabled Brand Loyalty

Abstract

As tokenized digital assets, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are becoming part of luxury brands’ digital business infrastructure. Yet it remains insufficiently understood how NFTs can be configured to foster enduring brand loyalty. To address this issue, we integrate necessary condition analysis (NCA) with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) using survey data from 620 luxury consumers. The framework combines customer-based brand equity conditions with NFT value cues. NCA indicates that all conditions are necessary for high loyalty, with perceived uniqueness, authenticity, and scarcity particularly critical. fsQCA complements this necessity logic and shows that high loyalty arises from multiple equifinal configurations, not a single dominant driver. Four propositions summarize these routes: Proposition 1 (reputation-driven strategy) demonstrates that brand capital can anchor loyalty through awareness and image even when NFT cues are less central; Proposition 2 (limited-access engagement strategy) indicates that scarcity-based access amplifies the loyalty effects of reinforcing associations, experiences, and image; Proposition 3 (privilege lock-in strategy) suggests that tokenized privileges translate engagement into durable attachment via uniqueness and psychological ownership; Proposition 4 (end-to-end assurance strategy) shows that technology adoption aligns authenticity verification with tokenized uniqueness and ownership to reduce friction, build trust, and sustain loyalty under high awareness. The findings position NFT attributes as boundary conditions and configurational ingredients rather than linear drivers of luxury brand loyalty. NFTs build durable loyalty when they serve clear infrastructure functions, such as verification, controlled access, or portable membership. They are most effective when deployed through a configurational strategy that fits brand capabilities and customer readiness.