How to Sell Luxury Online is NOT What You Think It Is
I was chatting with a sales rep today and he remarked that some luxury stores don't want a basic format website to promote a luxury product. I infer from this that his luxury stores want something glitzier than a traditional website. I once worked at Scully & Scully on Park Ave and 59th Street and the store manager wanted the website home page to be a video of the doors of the store opening and a person welcoming the online customer. A little bit overblown don't you think for a home page? This design would be horrible for the store's Google ranking and it would be annoying upon repeat visits.
Here is what I've learned after working for 15 years with luxury stores and brands online:
Most luxury brands and stores are wrong about online strategy. Here's a brief history of the web and luxury on it:
1. In the early days of the web, luxury brands and retailers said the they didn't want to be online because the web couldn't convey their items. They wanted people to come into their store and not potentially lose a walk-in because the customer saw it online. They thought the web was a Middle America marketplace where only eBay could succeed.
More masses--and more rich people--went online and eventually luxury brands went online. Reason: they were wrong about their assumption. They realized that part of selling luxury is: A. Going where the customer goes. B. Making it easier for the customer to interact with the brand--regardless of how glitzy the medium is.
2. In the middle to late 2000s, the next fallacy that luxury brands insisted on was that luxury brands would not go on Facebook or social media. They said that luxury meant exclusivity, and inherently social media made them too accessible. In addition, how could Facebook's template ever do Chanel or Ferrari justice?
Again, the luxury brands were wrong. They are now on Facebook and other social media sites.
Summary: I don't really put to much faith in what luxury companies say.
I do listen to my clients. Together we can share and make our ideas better. Often, the luxury brand needs to be brought up to speed about how to do things online. I can share that business online is not what is it in a physical store.
Going back to my conversation with my retail friend, I propose that basic websites are a suitable way to get a luxury product across because: A. They are simple to navigate. B. Inherent in a simple design is the de facto point that the product therefore stands out more. We don't need to get in the way of the product. Let the product sell itself. I don't want my design to get in the way of the luxury item.