e-people are real people - Luxury Online: Styles, Systems, Strategies - page 259

now more difficult to please and tantalize. Luxury brands have to work
hard to attract and retain the informed client's attention.
3. International . Today's luxury client is increasingly a globe-trotter and it
is not uncommon for them to shop at major luxury cities, where they
increasingly own homes or extended businesses. This means that they
expect recognition and coherent brand experiences at every shopping
location and channel both offline and online.
4. Empowered and influential . The Internet and the arrival of the social web
have given power to luxury clients in ways unimagined. Today, by evoking
a simple conversation or debate on a blog or social network, luxury clients
are able to influence the opinions and perceptions of millions of people
towards luxury brands, both positively and negatively. Luxury brands have
to understand this world and how to represent their brands in it.
5. Demanding, impatient and insatiable . The multiple offerings that luxury
clients are inundated with from different channels of sales and commu-
nications have led them to be spoilt for choice. As a result, they have
become demanding and difficult to please and expect instant gratifica-
tion. Brands now have to woo, court and dance to their tunes.
6. Socially and culturally aware . The world has changed tremendously
and become more global in the last two decades and luxury clients have
evolved with it. The consequence is a convergence of cultures and social
habits and exposure to the differences that make all societies unique.
This has led wealthy people to seek niche brands and products that truly
represent the fine tradition and craft of each culture.
7. Individualistic yet communal . This is one of the paradoxes of today's
luxury client who shares collective experiences with thousands of others
on the social web while experiencing individual interactions with luxury
brands. Their overall feeling towards luxury brands is a result of their
shared linkage between these two channels.
8. Saturated with luxury offerings and information . Today's luxury client
is over-loaded with information and has become a specialist detective in
filtering out the details of brand promises that they deem unworthy of
their time. The luxury fatigue that is currently rampant means that they
are searching for real substance from luxury brands.
9. Flexible attitude . The luxury client of today has undergone an attitude
overhaul. They no longer crave association with only one brand or an
entire collection from one brand; they are prone to defining their own
styles by mixing and matching. They are also open to disposing of lux-
ury products through sales and second-ownership sales as well as acquir-
ing used luxury products, borrowing some and even collectively owning
some like yachts, cars and jets.
10. Convenience-driven . Again, the Internet has provided a most convenient
and less intimidating channel of interaction with luxury brands and this has
sparked an attitude towards convenience as a key factor in accessing luxury