Italian luxury brands use the web to boost holiday sales
An interesting article in this week’s Bloomberg discusses the huge shift towards e-commerce by Italian luxury brands who have until now resisted the temptation to sell online.
In recent weeks online stores have been opened by Valentino, Armani, Roberto Cavalli and Ferragamo. All four have opted for a strategic partnership with an existing e-commerce provider. Valentino and Cavalli have opted for a relationship with Yoox, whilst Armani and Ferragamo have gone with Neiman Marcus. Whilst the operational benefits of partnering existing operators undoubtedly make the transition to selling online more manageable, a clear downside is a lack of differentiation between the various offerings.
Gucci set the benchmark for a luxury brand’s e-commerce site a couple of years ago, with a beautifully designed, Flash-free website. Since then we’ve seen a dearth of innovation in the field and sadly these recently examples do little more to impress.
At the less formal end of the fashion spectrum, Aussie Surfwear giant Billabong have also embraced e-commerce via an acqusition. See:
http://internationalbs.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/why-dont-more-producers-sell-on-line/
[...] such as Armani, Roberto Cavelli, Valentino and Ferragamo, to build their presence online (link c/o State of Lux). This quote sounds pretty [...]