Top 10 Luxury Sites Don’t Work On iPad
PSFK published an article today which covers their research in to the Top 10 luxury sites compatibility with iPad. Not a great result – only Gucci passed. Why? Well obviously due to their dependence on Flash, a technology that Steve Jobs has outlawed in both the iPad and iPhone. While this decision is controversial it can’t be ignored by the luxury sector. The iPad is just about to launch in major luxury markets markets like Japan, where iPhone penetration is 46%. The lag time in not embracing the technology could cost dearly. Let’s hope this isn’t a reflection of past trends the luxury industry has been slow to embrace.
Pokeware & Video Hotspotting
Following on from our last piece, there are some interesting developments around video hotspotting that could have major implications for fashion and luxury industries. Essentially they ustilise the engagement of video and link it to ecom. Pokeware is one of the players which is gunning specifically for fashion. As this demo on Dazed illustrates, there is still some way to go (static links as opposed to dynamic real-time). It’s a space that is going to hot up dramatically in the coming months. BoF have done a nice piece on it here.
Luxury Brands: fashionably late to the ecommerce party
With the news that luxury lifestyle brand Chanel has made the decision to start selling its products directly to consumers via its website, and that Selfridges is soon to launch a transactional website, one could ask if this signifies an online migration for the elite ones, and in short, yes it does.
Pod 1′s Fadi Shuman gives us his opinion about what’s in store for ecommerce in the luxury sector this year.
Full story at Figaro Digital
Richemont bid for Net-a-Porter
Swiss luxury goods group Richemont (CFR.VX) has bid to acquire Net-a-Porter in a deal which values the UK online fashion retailer at about £350m.
Richemont already owns a 29 percent stake in Net-a-Porter and is looking to acquire the remainder of the company from other shareholders including founder Natalie Massenet.
The deal, expected to be completed this week, will see founder Natalie Massenet, a former fashion journalist, become at least £50m richer as Richemont acquires the remaining 70pc of the company it doesn’t already own.
Acquiring Net-a-Porter will give Richemont the channel to sell its own brands including Cartier, Alfred Dunhill and Chloé on the site that around 2m women log on a month to read, browse and buy from more than 200 labels.
The London-based website set up by Mrs Massenet 10 years ago, employs more than 800 people in New York and London. Featuring brands as Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Givenchy, the site delivered a 67pc increase in 2008 revenues to £55.2m.
Having set the standard in luxury fashion commerce it will be interesting to see where full Richemont control takes the brand. Watch this space…
Low level lux sales online
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.
Bell & Ross launch comprehensive online boutique
When Bell & Ross launched the BR01 in 2005 they already had a respectable web presence, which helped them make a credible entry into the luxury watch market – not an easy task. Now they have put their full collection of over 300 pieces online rather than the previous small selection available. This investment in their online boutique demonstrates their commitment to a digital sales channel in spite of the bold message it sends out to their retailers. We think this is sound thinking on B&R’s part. Watches are a luxury commodity for which it is possible to get the full luxury experience online, particularly if you are already familiar with the brand and product. A well architected online boutique can seduce a consumer into making a purchase every bit as well as a retail environment as long as you know which buttons to push.
Gieves & Hawkes opens first online shop
Savile Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes has recently launched its first transactional website.
The site – designed by London based digital agency Pod1 – is aesthetically very impressive and at first glance appears to perform well.
The homepage looks slick, much better than any of the other top-end fashion sites that have launched recently. In fact it’s great to see a luxury brand that conveys the same sense of luxury online as they do in the real world.
An abundance of detailed product photography combined with easy-to-use rollover zoom functionality, takes shoppers close to the products. And whilst not faultless, the product navigation is generally speaking user-friendly.
Something that did confuse us was trying to establish which products were for sale. The new site positions itself as an online shop. And there is some great supporting content that makes the shopping experience more engaging. But when it comes to finding out details about the products you are looking at – or trying to buy them – far too often you are unable to. In fact it appears that the only products for sale are shirts and accessories, this despite the fact that the major focus of the site is the A/W collection.
Having done such a good job developing the site, we would expect the tailors at Gieves & Hawkes to do a better job selling the products they’ve become legendary for, not just the ones that are easy to flog online.
Though product range aside, the new site is a welcome addition to luxury fashion online, and we hope will be a lesson to other brands looking to use the web to enhance their businesses.
Yoox prepares to float
Online fashion retailer Yoox is preparing to float on the Milan Bourse this week, and has set share prices at €4.30 each – the top-end of the range that was predicted by brokers – making the company’s value in excess of €200 million.
The share price has been taken from a multiple of 26 times on expected earnings for 2010, reflecting Yoox’ rapid growth and putting the etailer ahead of Asos which trades at 20 times earnings in London.
The company – which as well as hosting it’s own site also provides an ecommerce platform for brands including Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Jil Sander, Emporio Armani, Valentino and Diesel – expects to raise as much as €126 million when shares start trading tomorrow.
The flotation and top-of the range share pricing will no doubt be a welcome relief to European online fashion retailers following the recession.
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.
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