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sample sale competition from independent retailers? What about the price trans-
parency that is supposed to rule online? Does it make sense for a luxury brand
to have an online store with full-priced items while providing stock to sample
sale websites to be retailed at discounts? Or should luxury brands follow this
direction by launching their own discount-based websites just as they do offline
through private sale events? Wouldn't this make more sense instead of having
sale reductions on the same website as the full-priced items? Would this not be
the same as launching a lower-priced range just like Armani has done with the
“Exchange” or Valentino with the “Red”? The questions abound and answers
must be established before luxury e-retail can move on to its next phase.
Luxury brands have no choice but to acknowledge and accept sample sale
websites and find a way to work with them to achieve the common goal of
higher market performance and brand enhancement. Finding a position of
compromise in this scenario is a real challenge as several brands are yet to
define an integrated e-retail strategy. Even as this segment remains in its
infancy, the following factors should however be considered by both luxury
brands and sample sale e-retailers for a mutually beneficial relationship:
1. Online sample sales have an impact on consumer psychology, no mat-
ter the format in which the sample sale website is presented. Although
controlled access and restricted sale periods help to maintain a level of
exclusivity around the sale, the reality is that everyone knows that it is
possible to obtain certain brands' products at a significantly reduced price.
Before jumping on discount websites, a luxury brand should first evaluate
the potential impact on client perceptions and make a value assessment to
ascertain if the long-term impact on the brand could be traded off for the
short-term benefits of sales returns.
2. Sample sale websites fuel the desire that a value-driven client segment has
for luxury brands and products and introduces them to luxury brands and
the world of luxury consumption. The websites also serve a segment of old
luxury clients and enables them to be flexible with their brand choices.
3. The sample websites that will bring the most tangible and intangible value
to luxury brands are those that understand how to be a brand themselves.
Luxury brands offer symbolic benefits to clients that are derived from the
universe created around the brand. Only an e-retailer who understands and
respects this will be able to apply the luxury codes to their service to lux-
ury clients. This doesn't only mean presentation and merchandizing but
also includes packaging and communications.
4. Offering a fantastic online shopping experience on a discount website infuses
some magic and ensures that shoppers return. Although the low prices may
initially attract them, it is the customer service that will top off the experi-
ence. This means a great product assortment, visually stimulating display,
high-impact and appealing images, rich information, instant assistance
and overall entertaining and fun content. These features are even more
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