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.
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.
more.madame by Chanel
more.madame is a new website by Chanel & Le Figaro. The high-end digital mag promises new content each week, under the categories of fashion, culture, travel, video games and art. The current instalments include an animated fashion shoot entitled ’24 heures chrono’ and a selection of interviews with French creatives. A separate Chanel Joaillere section contains a series of movies based on Chanel product range. At present only two are available, one focused on the craftsmanship of Chanel jewellery, the other showing a range of watches.
The site is very well produced and certainly conveys a sense of luxury. But the experience is a very linear one and the site lacks any interactivity at all. It’s positive news to see brands such as Chanel engaging with user via digital channels. But to truly benefit from the web they need to relinquish some of the control that for many years has underpinned the very nature of their brand.
Roberto Cavalli launches transactional website
Roberto Cavalli today launched its first online store, which is transactional in 46 countries across Europe, the US and Asia.
The luxury label’s website at www.robertocavalli.com launched with the autumn 09 collections from its Roberto Cavalli men and womenswear labels, as well as watches, pets and Roberto Cavalli Underwear lines.
The site is powered by the Yoox Group, which is also the internet partner for fashion and design brands including emporioarmani.com, diesel.com, valentino.com, missixty.com and dsquared2.com
From Drapers.
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