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process. Some luxury brands develop their website creation plans with a
time-frame of three months, which in many cases is not realistic. Sometimes
three months is not even sufficient time to test the supporting back-office
applications and systems needed before the website creation begins. Every
element of the website, whether in the front office or the back office, must be
tested, refined, modified and optimized before the website is launched. Every
text must be read and re-read; every “I” must be dotted, “T” must be crossed
and full-stops applied. Every language translation must be re-read and back-
translated; every image checked and double-checked and every video and
media file played and re-played. These checks cannot be over-emphasized.
The test period could be an internal pilot exercise but is not, however, the
same as the soft-launching of the website.
Step seven: going live online (without soft-launching)
In 2008, Galeries Lafayette, the French luxury retail department store that
has not only become a treasure land for shoppers but also a national monu-
ment, launched its e-commerce website. The highly anticipated event, which
in some parts of France could be equated with awaiting the visit of a states-
man, drew thousands to the online store for a tour and possibly to purchase
some of the delectable goods that are displayed in the physical stores. The
website launch turned out to be an anti-climax. Visitors were disappointed
with the flash-heavy, long home page download, excessive sound interrup-
tions, unnecessary background images, poor navigation and limited brand and
product selection that the website had to offer. Many (including myself) expe-
rienced a “freezing” of the web browser when trying to log on to the website,
as a result of the heaviness of the flash system. When Galeries Lafayette was
questioned over this, their explanation was that it was
“
only a soft launch
”
to
test the market. The public's reaction was
“
How could such a retail institution
get it so wrong?
”
and I would add “after two decades of the Internet!” to that.
I don't know about others but I haven't been back to the Galeries Lafayette
“soft-launched” website since it froze my entire system some months ago and
I lost several unsaved open files. I'll be going back when they decide to go for
the “real launch”. After all, I don't think anyone should buy the prototype of a
luxury product if alternatives of the real thing exist elsewhere.
I don't think that I need to repeat that luxury brands who decide to create
a mish-mash of a website in the bid to soft-launch it and gauge public reac-
tion are on an expressway to fulfilling their death-wish, that is unless they
wish to change their slogan to
“
What were we thinking
?”
The same applies
to brands that decide to replace their home pages with a “beautiful” “Coming
Soon” sign, during the maintenance or improvement of the website, as if the
Internet is the same as an offline store where construction workers have to
block off store entrances and streets to work on buildings. Brands like Versace
and Escada have been victims of this in the past and more recently I've seen
