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communications; neither is it a channel of retail or a channel comprising only
both of these. Some have even contended that the Internet is not a channel at all.
The third challenge luxury e-business executives are facing is the issue of
understanding how to represent a luxury brand's core essence online from its
own website. In other words, how to bring about the effective translation of
the brand's fundamental identity, personality and image on its website. So far,
the pattern of website creation has been to concentrate on creating “pretty” and
“flashy” websites or on copying those of competitors or, worse still, just putting
everything in a black background (as if there was a secret convention where it
was pronounced that black is synonymous with luxury online). In many cases,
the emphasis has been on ensuring as many flash animations, product images,
videos and as much music as possible and, more recently, providing downloads
on as many pages as possible. Although all of these are important design ele-
ments of website creation, they are insufficient in brand image projection and
they cannot exist in isolation without an integrated website design approach.
Luxury website design doesn't begin and end with featuring a video of the lat-
est runway show or the latest store opening but includes a balanced approach
towards key aspects like usability and functionality, content and relevance,
design and aesthetics, as well as creating a luxurious webmosphere (web plus
atmosphere) or, as I prefer to use, our newly coined term the Luxemosphere .
This is why on some websites, like Van Cleef & Arpels, we may find that the
webmosphere is highly represented at the expense of content; other websites like
Dolce & Gabbana, the content may be more developed than the usability, and yet
others, like Prada, may have a strong visual impact while lacking in rich content.
With regards to website design, at Luxe Corp we are constantly asked by
luxury brands to recommend web agencies or website designers to overhaul
their websites. We often discover in most cases that it is not the websites that
need overhauling but the entire e-business strategy (which of course includes
the website) and although several web agencies are generally effective in
design, unfortunately, I have yet to come across one that is also equipped
to provide an integrated e-business strategy plan for a luxury company and
actually execute it to the letter (as much as I respect and enjoy working with
web agencies). This is one of the reasons for writing this topic and for the
existence of Club e-Luxe (see Introduction).
Fourth, the luxury sector is struggling with understanding that the cyber-
space means a whole universe comprising an entire virtual world that
exists beyond a company's website. As I previously mentioned, having a
website is now a given and the reality is that the development of a brand's
own website is just a short baby step towards existing in the cyberspace.
Every luxury brand needs to be appropriately positioned in the cyberspace
beyond its own website and this is where the challenge lies, as cyber-
space positioning means sharing control of the brands' image projection
with cyber-residents or online consumers. The brands that will succeed in
achieving this are those that understand not only the vast scope and immense
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