A look at how luxury brands are trying to create great experiences online as well as offline…
Luxury brands have traditionally excelled at creating an special experience for customers in stores, to differentiate themselves from the ‘average’ retailer.
This includes factors such as beautiful store design, great personal service and advice from store staff, and even little extras such as offering shoppers a glass of champagne. This quality of service, added to the quality of the products, provides potential customers with the best possible store experience.
However, luxury brands have faced challenges when attempting to recreate the in-store customer experience online, or to at least create an online experience which matches the brand image, and they have not always succeeded.
Some brands, for this very reason, have been reluctant to sell online. Some have felt that ecommerce cheapened the brand, or made it less exclusive. For example, Chanel only starting selling online in 2015, having previously stated that ‘to be able to wear Chanel clothes, you need to try them on.’
Online, it’s different. While the sheer look and feel of a luxury store tells high street shoppers it’s different to Primark, ecommerce is a more level playing field in many ways.
Online, any brand can provide a great user experience if it works hard enough and understands its customers. In this space, it’s harder for a luxury brand to stand out, and the challenge of making a website seem luxurious is a really tough one.
Some luxury brands have failed this challenge in the past, attempting to differentiate through bold design. This meant sites often looked good, but could be awful to use, as visual design was given more importance than usability.
Whistles is one such example. It relaunched its site back in 2009, with the company declaring:
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