“Selling Luxury”, “Luxury Brand Management”, “The Luxury Strategy”…..the focus on selling and brand management of luxury has been covered by thought leaders and has been put into practice by most international luxury chains/boutiques with great results as seen in the enduring nature of its business even in recessionary times. However we fail to realize that with sales, the efficient fulfillment of the sale is also extraordinarily important for high value products for two major reasons:
· Customer Satisfaction: High brand value is crucial for customer perception and satisfaction in the luxury goods sector. A Product that is not available (stock outs, out of season etc), lacks good after sales service, does not meet compliance standards (organic foods, location specific goods like champagne) etc will have a negative effect on the brand and CSat levels
· Cost: Though the perception of luxury products are of high price/ low costs/ high margins, this is almost always not so. Costs are typically high due to high quality production and exceptionally high costs involved in branding and marketing compared to regular markets. Thus managing costs and maintaining quality becomes especially important to the sustainability of a business – so for how long can a business be run by selling $50 tea bags which cost $55 to procure and bring to the market?
 |
Premium Tieguanyin tea at £1,700 per kg ( $1,500/lb) |
The key to managing a successful luxury business will be in not only managing the sell side of the business in marketing and brand management but also in running an efficient supply chain catering to the exclusive needs of the luxury industry – SCM-luxe
This blog will continue to develop the SCM-luxe model by looking at metrics of importance, strategies for functional and innovative products, SCOR framework, outsourcing, inventory etc in SCM-luxe through discussions and case studies. Look forward to your comments and inputs…
No comments:
Post a Comment