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a promoter of over-exposure and image dilution. The latter is particularly
linked to price discounting and has led to the question of whether luxury
brands should discount online or not, and if they do, how this should be
approached. With price comparison websites like BuzzFeed, NextTag and
Shopittome, access to prices is now available with one click and price trans-
parency has never been as vital as at present.
For a start, when “sales” are held in the physical stores they are often
placed in discreet corners such as at the back of the stores or upstairs to
avoid reducing the desire for the newer collections and screaming “desper-
ate”. There is no reason why the same discreet approach shouldn't be applied
online. In fact, the Internet requires a higher degree of discretion due to its
wide accessibility. It is quite appalling to visit a luxury brand or retailer's
website and find a wide sign screaming “Sale” from the home page. Some
brands like Valentino have, however, understood that when online price dis-
counting is approached with discretion, it is actually more appealing to shop-
pers and more enhancing to the brand image. Although the brand displays
a sign indicating its sale event on its home page, it is presented in a way
that blends with the rest of the website and not in neon-green or blood-red
to grasp as much attention as possible. Oscar de la Renta has even gone a
step further by creating an entire section on its website called “The Outlet”,
a corner where the brand quietly retails its previous season's stock at reduced
prices. The presentation and display of this section is no different from the
rest of the website and shouldn't be (see Figure 6.10).
Figure 6.10 Price discounting may not always be avoidable for luxury brands
and e-retailers but when it is done online it should be approached in an intelligent
and tactical way to avoid damaging the brand's appeal. Oscar de La Renta which
practices online price discounting has discreetly integrated the “sale” pages
to blend with the rest of the website while e-retailers like Net-A-Porter have
approached discounting with fanfare
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