Luxury Brands Need To Become Digitally Competent, Study Finds

Isaac Mostovicz — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:19:41 +0000

L2, the think tank for digital marketing innovation, have carried out a study into the digital aptitude of European luxury fashion brands.

The study found that a third of brands did not support e-commerce despite predicted growth in this sector over the next three years, with those who did support it gaining on average 35 Digital IQ points higher than those who did not. It found that only a third of the brands provided mobile experience, with one on five on the brand websites not loading on a smartphone. Less than half of the brands surveyed were participating in paid search.

As Scott Galloway, L2 founder said:

“Digital could be the differentiator for brands that become iconic, and those that become irrelevant. Establishing direct relationships with end consumers through e-commerce and social media provides an opportunity for European niche fashion brands to punch above their weight class.”

It also found that brands head-quartered in the UK registered higher ‘Digital IQ’s’ than those from other countries, with Italy and France still lagging behind.

Interestingly, none of the brands surveyed received a ‘genius’ grading.

This demonstrates that, although luxury brands are taking steps to become more digital, there is still a lot more work to be done if they are to truly compete in a global market place, particularly in key growth areas such as China that demand a strong level of digital and online presence from brands.

The top ten brands were:

1. Agent Provocateur

2. Ted Baker

3. Stella McCartney

4. Superdry

5. Moncler

6. Moschino

7. Lanvin

8. Emilio Pucci

9. Jean Paul Gaultier

10. La Perla

Taking Notice of Luxury

Isaac Mostovicz — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:03:04 +0000

After two years of lobbying, the European Cultural and Creative Industries Alliance – the overarching European luxury organisation – has finally got the attention of the European Commission (EC) according to this blog post in the Financial Times.

The article notes that it is surprising that this has taken so long, as of the top 25 worldwide luxury companies 17 are from the EU, and Europe is responsible for 75 per cent of the global luxury market, more than €170bn of the worldwide luxury goods consumption and employed in 2010 up to 1 million people in the sector.

Until now, luxury items were classified by the EC under sectors such as ‘fashion’, or ‘textiles’ which does not seem to recognise that luxury is a powerful industry in and of itself – and one which is, for now, growing at a rate which other sectors can but admire, with brands such as LVMH and Hermes posting strong quarterly results.

Hermes Bag

Luxury brands have a history of being innovative – either through their products, stores or, more recently, their digital brand building. This innovation is something which I believe organisations at all levels can learn something from, and I hope that the EC will encourage this innovation and growth as much as possible.

Janus Thinking » europe

Luxury Brands Need To Become Digitally Competent, Study Finds

Taking Notice of Luxury