Information Technology Reference
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prefer English? In this case, if the website content is local, then the non-
local language speakers would be excluded from what the brand has to offer
that particular market. In the case where the language choice is according
to language preference irrespective of location, then the brand would have
no choice but to provide a universal content for all markets even if there are
special programs designed for specific markets. And, of course, there is the
additional challenge of providing language options according to the avail-
ability of e-commerce on the website and the markets of e-distribution. In
this case, the brand that decides to sectionalize languages according to its
e-retail markets will be forced to segregate the visitors who are not in the
markets of e-distribution and deal with compensating them for exclusion.
The majority of luxury brands are still far from this dilemma as the issue of
language choices is yet to be given the attention it deserves. However, two
brands that have taken strides in dealing with the language challenge, albeit
through different approaches, are Louis Vuitton and Cartier (Figure 4.19).
The former, which has integrated e-retail in eight countries, has opted for
the “language equals location” approach, while the latter, which also has e-
retail in multiple countries, has gone for the approach of “language equals
choice”. The difference between these two approaches is that Louis Vuitton
is able to provide their website visitors with a clear and short path to making
online purchases while experiencing the brand's universe on their way to the
e-boutique. Cartier on the other hand enables their website visitor to create
a large part of their own experience on the website while plunging them into
the universe of the brand in which they could also discover the collections
for subsequent purchases. Louis Vuitton is apparently seeking to optimize
both experience and sales, while Cartier is seeking to optimize experience
and relations, which could also lead to more sales. From which of these
websites are today's clients most likely to purchase? And with which of
these brands are they most likely to build a long-lasting relationship? I hear
your answers.
An additional usability element that several luxury brands seem to be
struggling with is how to use cookies to capture user information for both
personalization and statistics without making this obvious and breach-
ing client privacy. Although cookies are generally accepted by the average
Internet user, due to their highly personal nature, this could also be a sen-
sitive issue. Just to clarify, a cookie enables a web server to identify users
of its website through their computers by capturing some information pecu-
liar to each computer and storing this in a text file which is retrieved each
time that computer is used to log on to the website. Several websites apply
cookies without informing the website visitors, while others even go as far
as imposing the enablement of cookies on computers before their websites
may be accessed. Due to the fact that cookies collect information from all
types of computers, including personal ones, several web users prefer to be
informed about the cookie set-up of each website. I have come across some
