04 Luxury Shopping In The Digital Age
Toko Ohmori
26
Luxury shopping in the digital age
The “right” digital strategy differs for every luxury brand, but the essential elements are the same: a strong mobile presence, a selective approach to social media, and a tight focus on carefully chosen metrics.
Linda Dauriz,
Nathalie Remy, and Nicola Sandri
Among luxury companies, conventional
luxury products online, and at undiscounted
wisdom used to be that participation in
prices. Our latest luxury-industry research,
e-commerce—and, in particular, selling
conducted in collaboration with Italian industry
through multibrand retail websites—was only
group Altagamma Foundation, indicates that
for the lower and middle range of products.
luxury companies are recognizing—and, in
The pervasive belief was that luxury shoppers,
some cases, successfully capitalizing on—the
with their discriminating taste and preference
increasingly important role that the Internet
for high-priced goods, wouldn’t buy expensive
plays in luxury shoppers’ purchasing decisions
things online; they would always opt for the
(see sidebar, “About the research”). One telling
personalized customer service and tactile
statistic: while overall sales of luxury goods
shopping experience that monobrand brick-
grew by a mere 2 percent in 2013, online luxury
and-mortar stores provide.
sales increased by 20 percent to an estimated
That thinking has evolved in recent years. The
we project that sales of luxury goods online will
success of ventures such as Net-A-Porter has
more than double to approximately €20 billion
shown that consumers are indeed willing to buy
in the next five years.
€9 billion. We believe this growth will continue;
27
Today e-commerce represents a scant 4 percent
Luxury brands with informative, easy-to-
of luxury sales—but e-commerce is only one
navigate sites optimized for mobile devices—as
aspect of the digital opportunity. Our research
opposed to just standard websites designed for
found that
26
Luxury shopping in the digital age
The “right” digital strategy differs for every luxury brand, but the essential elements are the same: a strong mobile presence, a selective approach to social media, and a tight focus on carefully chosen metrics.
Linda Dauriz,
Nathalie Remy, and Nicola Sandri
Among luxury companies, conventional
luxury products online, and at undiscounted
wisdom used to be that participation in
prices. Our latest luxury-industry research,
e-commerce—and, in particular, selling
conducted in collaboration with Italian industry
through multibrand retail websites—was only
group Altagamma Foundation, indicates that
for the lower and middle range of products.
luxury companies are recognizing—and, in
The pervasive belief was that luxury shoppers,
some cases, successfully capitalizing on—the
with their discriminating taste and preference
increasingly important role that the Internet
for high-priced goods, wouldn’t buy expensive
plays in luxury shoppers’ purchasing decisions
things online; they would always opt for the
(see sidebar, “About the research”). One telling
personalized customer service and tactile
statistic: while overall sales of luxury goods
shopping experience that monobrand brick-
grew by a mere 2 percent in 2013, online luxury
and-mortar stores provide.
sales increased by 20 percent to an estimated
That thinking has evolved in recent years. The
we project that sales of luxury goods online will
success of ventures such as Net-A-Porter has
more than double to approximately €20 billion
shown that consumers are indeed willing to buy
in the next five years.
€9 billion. We believe this growth will continue;
27
Today e-commerce represents a scant 4 percent
Luxury brands with informative, easy-to-
of luxury sales—but e-commerce is only one
navigate sites optimized for mobile devices—as
aspect of the digital opportunity. Our research
opposed to just standard websites designed for
found that