State of Lux

An interesting report out by Precepta has shown that in 2009 only 3% of total global luxury sales were online. They predict this to rise to 3.8% this year and 4.7% in 2011.

This is strong evidence that despite the PR surrounding a lot of the online activity luxury brands are engaging in, the online conversion rate is still low. One of the key factors hindering growth is the inferior customer experience when compared to its offline counterpart. Many major luxury brands still have online shops and brand sites that are unrepresentative and sometimes damaging to brand perception. And until this is addressed, online’s share of the €7bn global luxury will not be fully realised.