How Can Luxury Brands Successfully Navigate Digital Disruption Without Compromising Their Status? Even the most venerable luxury brands confronting daunting new competition in today\’s warp-speed digital world. The trend towards online engagement and e-commerce is undeniable. However, luxury brands need to strike a fine balance where they do not lose the prestigious high-class feel whilst still embracing these digital changes. How can luxury brands curate that connection and still excel in the market? Let’s explore this in detail. Luxury Brands are in a Secure Position
When you think of luxury brands, exclusion, heritage and quality come to mind. The attraction of luxury is a rarity, expert artisanship and a curated shopping experience. This creates a dilemma in an era driven by the reach and suppleness of digital. But how do these luxury brands balance this while trying to be forward-thinking and digital savvy? Luxury brand Burberry offers a compelling example of how to successfully respond to this digital disruption. Formerly best known for its iconic trench coats, Burberry was completely reinvented under CEO Angela Ahrendts and creative director Christopher Bailey. Here\’s how they did it:
Burberry – Digital Engagement: Burberry has been leading the way with a complete digital strategy among luxury brands since early in its inception. Their Burberry Acoustic platform showcases emerging local musicians dressed in the brand, connected with younger consumers. The Jung sisters were early adopters of Social Media: They made good use of social media like Instagram, and Snapchat with exclusive previews and live-streaming runway shows. It created the right kind of buzz by creating a degree of exclusivity. E-commerce — when luxuriously executed, e-commerce preserves tradition and image while providing the most self-fulfilling experience possible with enough privacy to feel comfortable. Customer Facing: They launched the Burberry Bespoke service, enabling customers to personalize their trench coat online by marrying digital utility with craftsmanship. Burberry: Burberry One of the interesting revolutionary things in Burberry\’s success is that being digital doesn\’t have to be bad for luxury – on the contrary, it can turn scarcity into new types of exclusivity. Real-world example: The emergence of E-commerce at Louis Vuitton
Luxury powerhouse Louis Vuitton, which is often a prime example in the space, really represents this balancing act of wanting to remain elite while embracing digital:
A Thoughtful E-commerce Launch: Louis Vuitton Released carefully crafted e-commerce to make sure their online store offered the same level of client service and product presentation as in-store. Sharper Way to Buy Online: They stepped up and set a standard for an immersive e-commerce website with product videos, full 360 views and custom subject recommendations based on your preferences. The omnichannel approach: Planned seamlessly without compromising the quality of an Omnichannel experience, which means a scope to browse online and then back home in-store any other way. The fastidious nature that Louis Vuitton took with their digital output allowed them to increase the prestige of their brand online rather than dilute it. 1. Brand reputation equity on the Internet
Luxury brands also need to retain their essence in the digital. This includes:
Message Consistency: Make sure your online messaging is on brand with the tone, values & stylism of the company. Hermès, on the other hand, keeps up with its luxury image through every digital touchpoint from its website design to social media posts. Exclusive content: Offer exclusive, branded-related and unique-to-brand-type-of-content. Not only has creativity stirred this pot, but so too have brands developing deeper brand stories (as seen with Chanel\’s Inside Chanel video series). 2. A Commitment to Quality Digital Craftmanship
Luxury goods are made with the details of an artisan – and so should be the digital experience:
Website Excellence: Purchase a visually rich website with high-grade graphics, easy navigation and interactivity Gucci is a good daresay for clinging to that avant-garde spirit, providing an engaging call throughout their online store. 2- Virtual Personalization: Provide personalized online experiences with technology. For example, Tiffany & Co. provides a digital virtual tool enabling you to easily check out how their engagement rings look on your fingers when just about buying them. 3. Use Data to Deliver Personalized Marketing
Personal Service – this is the expectation of luxury consumers. Personalization to a degree never before possible (digital channels)
Tailored Campaigns: Develop tailor-made marketing campaigns to appeal to certain segments of your customer base. Many a times, you would have seen this kind of email from Cartier which emphasizes on his/her past purchases or areas he/she has visited. 4. Make Digital-Only Collections
Digital-exclusive products can create buzz while preserving a sense of limited availability;
Exclusive Additions: Offer exclusive products/collection available only online. For instance, this is something Dior has masterfully accomplished through their online-exclusive capsule collections. Special Collaborations: Special editions with digital influencers or artists. In the initial weeks, Moncler sold out of exclusive digital launches orchestrated to only include A-list fashion influencers. 5. Engage Through Storytelling
The Digital Age: A Time for Storytelling in Luxury Branding
Develop Narrative Content: Create content that tells a story about the brand and its history, craftsmanship, values! Jimmy Choo employs immersive storytelling in their online and mobile channels to express the brand\’s enduring craftsmanship; Ralph Lauren tells stories that harken back to timeless American elegance. Behind the Scenes: Show behind-the-scenes hidden features of luxury items. Discover Bottega Veneta Artisanal Excellence Behind their digital modality, the European house shows what is behind this craftsmanship depth. Immediate Implementation Practices
DIGITAL AUDIT: Periodically audit your digital touchpoints to guarantee that they reflect the luxury standards of your brand I am referring to the website, its video and content-based strategy; monitoring social networks as well as dealing with customer service on-line. It will retain well when you hover over it and use high quality visual items with some animations to make digital assets look better. High-quality images scans, videos and virtual toursGuess connected well in the online luxury experience
Create a Digital Content Calendar: This enables you to design a series of content that tells the story of your brand, shout out your products and offer some behind-the-scene assets. Initiate a Digital Only Campaign: Formulate an online exclusive limited edition or collaboration product campaign So, run targeted social media ads and email marketing to promote it. Quote for Inspiration
Your brand is what other people say about you when your not in the room. – Jeff Bezos
The importance of online brand presentation for luxury brands is vividly illustrated by this quote. It is not as if the brand doesn\’t have amazing products but it encompasses an entire digital experience through its narrative. Lesson: Tactfully Embrace Digital
With luxury branding, digital disruption is a double edged sword; you need to be equal parts traditional and innovative. The part of a brand that has to remain anchored and not-so-altered, but with the use of digital tools can give an upper hand in being recognised for what you stand. Luxury brands can learn from the likes of Rolex, Bentley Motors and Burberry to find their place in an always-on world without losing any exclusivity by creating high-quality content that tells a story. Do you want to get your premium brand online? Leave your thoughts or experiences in the comments and let us know what you think. Plus be sure to check out Meticulous Marketing for more on being a High-End Brand in the Digital World.
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