Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The 360º e-retail experience
Luxury is no longer viewed the way it used to be in the past since the
Internet came along. Luxury websites can now be accessed by anyone who
desires and at any time. Information about luxury products is diffused online
as soon as they hit the stores and in some cases even before they arrive at the
stores. The images and videos of the runway shows of luxury fashion brands
often show up on blogs and e-communities before media websites or the
official websites of the brands. Luxury hotels are no longer able to keep the
styling and decorations of their master suites secret as the images are now
divulged rampantly on travel and hospitality blogs and communities. Luxury
brand information, corporate practices and manufacturing methods can now
easily be found online as well as special projects and collaborations with art-
ists and designers. It is also now common to find multiple “making of” vid-
eos of luxury advertisements and the like on websites such as YouTube and
DailyMotion. This is a reality that we must accept and deal with. It is, how-
ever, not the end of the world and it doesn't mean that luxury is now avail-
able to everyone and that luxury has been “democratized”, as several parties
are prone to claiming. Although you may be able to access all the informa-
tion you want about Boucheron online, you still need to have 23,000 euros in
your pocket to be able to purchase the Caméléon ring.
The accessibility of luxury information online is actually a positive rather than
a negative factor. It provides the brand with a unique opportunity to set its web-
site and e-boutique apart from the countless websites that provide information
on the brand like blogs, social networks, third party e-retail websites and other
user-to-user communities. Let's say that you're looking for information about
the Cartier Love collection and you type this keyword in Google, you're most
likely to have a list of thousands of website references that feature information,
images, discussions and exchanges on the Love collection. If you decide to skip
Cartier's official website but opt to read independent commentary and reviews
from blogs and user forums, you are likely to discover people's opinions, judg-
ments, validations, recommendations, ratings and perhaps also rejection of the
collection. If you decide, however, to visit the official website of Cartier after-
wards and find yourself immersed in a highly pleasing online environment with
a luxurious atmosphere that promises to lead to a magical shopping experience,
you are likely immediately to draw the difference between Cartier's website and
the others. But if your experience on Cartier's website is the same as the one
you had on the blogs and social networks, then we could say that Cartier has a
problem with optimizing its website experience (which, by the way, is not the
case as I write).
The easy access of luxury websites coupled with the progression of online
experiences towards “shared” rather than “individual” experiences has led to
a different way of interacting with the Internet and with luxury. Online con-
sumers no longer rely on information from corporate websites; neither do they
