The luxury goods industry always regarded the web as a
medium of marketing and a tool to create brand loyalty and awareness amongst
its customers. However growing online sales indicate that customers are slowly
beginning to adopt e-commerce for luxury products as well. A Mckinsey study for
digital marketing in 2013 shows the following:
·
20% growth in online sales of luxury goods in
2013 in a stagnant market
·
$12.5 billion online sales of luxury products in
2013 and expected online sales of $27.8 billion in 205
·
65% of online sales driven by fashion
accessories across digital devices
·
66% of customers in brick and motor stores would
like to interact with a sales associate armed with a mobile device
·
Multichannel customers (buying both online and
in-store) spend more than in-store customers. For example Sephora multichannel
customers spend 5 times more than old economy customers who bought exclusively
in-store
The above numbers simply indicate one important message “The
Web is being integrated into our lifestyles and the luxury goods industry can
no longer insulate itself from it”
The previously held sacred belief of web for marketing and
stores for selling will need to change. SCMluxe should now look at both digital
marketing and sales. Access across mobile devices, online loyalty, e-commerce,
click trough rates, e-campaigns, SEM/SEO will gain importance and SCM luxe
needs to be prepared for it. In the next post let’s look at some of these terms
in more detail
