Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The significance of the Internet is currently influencing behavior change
in luxury brands, their clients and the wider public. The online consumer
society, which has exhibited the highest shift in behavioral change, is cur-
rently driving the direction of luxury online although luxury brands have also
understood the importance of steering the wheel of the online luxury experience.
However, creating an online luxury experience first requires an understand-
ing of the scope and extent of the digital world, which stretches from San
Francisco to Tokyo.
It is no longer news that we now live in a world of hyper-interconnectivity
thanks to Internet and digital platforms that go beyond the computer to
include Smart Phones, PDAs, MP3 players and other peripheral devices.
In several parts of the world, like South Korea and Scandinavia, the rate
of Internet penetration is so high that the cyberworld is now as accessible
as clean water. In countries like Japan, mobile banking and m-shopping is
now standard practice and is so widespread that it is done at several feet
underground by city commuters in the underground train. Several countries
in Asia, Europe and the US, which represent the regions with the highest
Internet penetration in the world, are also Internet playgrounds for millions
of cyber-residents. In these societies, learning how to use the Internet begins
at almost the same age as learning to read and write. With the advent of
Smart Phones, notably the Blackberry and the iPhone, the average consumer
is only a click away from being connected to the rest of the world. When
a friend recently mentioned that she thought the inventor of the Blackberry
should be punished for stealing away our peace of mind forever, I actually
acknowledged the truth in her statement because although the Internet began
with connections through PCs, we are now connected on a 360ยบ level through
multiple devices. Recent statistics from WikiAnswers indicate that a stag-
gering 171 or more billion emails are sent daily. This is excluding the time
spent browsing the more than 180 million websites that exist in cyberspace
or reading the over 170 million existing blogs in practically every language
you can think of, or simply connecting on social networks that are growing
at a mind boggling rate. We are all a part of this change whether you view
yourself as a victim or a victor in this success story of man's advancement.
The general consumer society has not only easily become a part of the
Internet age but now has the power and clout to control marketing commu-
nications and messages from companies and to influence the way fellow
consumers interpret them - something that several luxury brands are still
struggling to accept.
So what are the main challenges that luxury brands are facing in adopting
e-business practices?
First, let's get the definition of e-business right and understand its scope.
e-Business is often wrongly thought to be the same as e-commerce which is
