Information Technology Reference
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selected retail items including clothing was 40.5 billion euros, in Germany
the figure was 27.5 billion euros and is expected to reach 27.9 billion euros
in France in a few years. Already in France, clothing ranks first on the list of
the most frequently purchased item online ahead of travel and cultural items
such as topics and DVDs. In the US over $2 billion was generated from
online purchases of sensory goods like clothing, jewelry and accessories by
mid-2008. As we know, the luxury segment is well represented in this area.
In Europe, 150 million people make online purchases on a regular basis and
these clients are generally more satisfied with their online purchases than the
experiences they have in retail stores. Mainstream e-retailers like France's
Carrefour and the US's Wal Mart have developed seamless online shopping
experiences through applications that enable the storage of shopping baskets
with pre-selected and pre-packaged products that enable clients to make
purchases with only two clicks. Others like Office Depot have streamlined
online shopping through a multi-segment search tool that enables products to
be found quickly and dropped into shopping baskets instantly. These experi-
ences are being transferred as expectations from these mainstream websites
to luxury e-shopping by the same clients. The clients also expect to have an
exceptional shopping experience on luxury websites in an enhanced online
environment as a result of the high factor of emotions and sensory responses
in the relationship between luxury brands and luxury clients.
Although the issue of selling luxury products online has been visited and
revisited several times in the last decade, the question of the suitability of
luxury products and services for e-retail continues to be raised. This stance is
no longer relevant. Luxury is currently sold online and there is no reason why
integrated e-retail shouldn't be a complementary channel or even the sole
channel for a luxury brand's distribution. It is surprising that this issue, which
was discussed, debated, reviewed and concluded several years ago, is still
being evoked today. With the significant advancement of digital technology,
interactive media, client management applications and sales and logistics sup-
port systems in the last decade, there is no longer any justification as to why
luxury shouldn't be sold online. The Internet has evolved through four main
phases (see Chapter 1), each of them providing an opportunity for assess-
ment, understanding and development of an integrated e-business strategy
that includes e-retail and other dimensions. Those that have been left behind
in this wave of progression, of course, will continue to resort to the same
ten-year-old excuses that luxury is incompatible with the Internet and that
luxury brands devalue their brand equity by being online. If well crafted and
executed, a luxury brand's e-business strategy has the potential to make the
Internet the platform that could propel the brand to a status of global brand
awareness, brand image reinforcement and client acquisition and retention -
all for the fraction of the cost offline.
Of course it is challenging to sell luxury online and this is not in doubt.
This challenge is also enormous and requires expertise in understanding
