He joined Columbia University in 1988 and first taught courses in consumer behavior and advertising management.
He first visited China in 1991 and taught consumer behavior in Beijing at CEMI, a predecessor of CEIBS.
He also began his research, with other authors, like Shi Zhang, Yigang Pan, and Nader Tavassoli, on comparing Western and Asian languages.
In 1999, he became the director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia Business School, which runs the annual Brite conference.
From 2000–2010, he spent a sabbatical at the University of Munich, Germany and also taught courses in South Korea and Singapore.
In 2011, he moved to Singapore to become the Executive Director of ACI – a new institute focused on Asian markets and consumers.
Experiential Marketing and Customer Experience Management use theories from sensory, cognitive and social psychology.
Schmitt authored and co-authored more than 60 articles in academic marketing, management and psychology journals.
Schmitt has consulted for Asian companies such as Sony, Sunstar, ADK in Japan; Samsung, Lotte, Amore Pacific, Hanjin in South Korea, Wheelock in Hong Kong and Tata Industries in India.