Comments on: Fashion 2.0 | Luxury Interactive reveals online luxe race

By: Anjo

Anjo — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:07:11 +0000

Thanks for your kind words, BoF, and a final comment about the continuing development of offline retail. You mentioned spas, restaurants and concierge services, all of which are well and good, but not, I think, terribly new, or a real counterbalance to the development of online retail. You can combine two previously separate services (shopping + spa) and it is more convenient but it isn’t revolutionary. Obviously there are elements of seasonality in every store- the window displays, for example. Imagine a store that is redone every six months to reflect in every way the designer’s vision for that season, probably based on his runway shows. This store would be less a place for commerce than someplace people would come to fully inhabit that brand’s world, which would of course translate into a desire for product. Think about it as an extension of the photographic ad campaign, but instead of a simple image in a magazine into which the viewer can project him or herself, imagine an entire space that fulfills the same concept. Maybe with concierge service. Like I said, some parts of this are already in practice, and obviously brands take care that their retail spaces closely reflect their brand image. But this would be a fundamental shift: instead of prettying up the retail space so it can move product more effectively, the retail space would be a statement of brand identity in its own right, an advertisement you can walk into, with the vast majority of business taking place online. Anyway, just an idea, a madcap projection of the future. One among many I’m sure.

By: The Business of Fashion

The Business of Fashion — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:53:34 +0000

@Anjo: Thank you for your insightful comments. You’re right — the model for an in-brand luxury network has yet to be ironed out. And, in the words of Seth Godin, the last thing a luxury customer wants is a meatball sundae (look up his book of the same name to see what we’re getting at). That said, if certain brands are able to create an online environment which speaks to the heart of the brand (and not only to their products), there may indeed be people who want to affiliate themselves with a branded network, particularly if the community provides them with something they value and cannot find elsewhere. We’ll see how it all works out, but one thing is for sure. In brand communities will only make sense if they bring something new to the table — not just a place to talk about products. There are already plenty of places on the Internet like that. As for your thoughts regarding real world retail, you are right on the mark, in our view. Stores may indeed become more about the luxury brand’s experience. Already we are seeing brands make an effort to make the in-store experience truly unique. We may see, for example, more services such as spas, restaurants and concierges as part of the in-store experience.

By: Anjo

Anjo — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:23:04 +0000

There are parts of this I’m skeptical of. Mainly, I’m not sure what the prospects are for an ‘in-brand’ network; supposedly it’s worked for cars, but cars are very different from fashion because they demand so much more from their owners in terms of maintenance, being very complicated, beautiful machines. This model wouldn’t apply to fashion. I don’t know how keen consumers would be to frequent an online community in which the main thing they have in common with each other is owning Louis Vuitton bags. I think the most interesting consequence of Web 2.0 will be in the realm of real-world retail. I don’t think flagship stores and boutiques will disappear, but the emphasis will shift from selling, first and foremost, to promoting the brand’s image with selling as a second priority. We’ve been hearing for a long time that shopping needs to be made more exciting, a more unique experience. In the future I think actual stores will come to be advertisements for goods which can then be bought online. At the same time, this will create room for truly unique shops to capitalize on the pleasures of the offline shopping experience by making that experience even more interesting and personal. So this creates lots of new opportunities both online and off. I want to make myself clear: I’m not a technophobic crank. I’m writing this from the heart of Silicon Valley. But I’ve seen a lot of very interesting ideas which were supposed to be the future of the web or social networking crash because talk is cheap and promising ideas often don’t work out. So, the prospects for a new marriage of fashion and the internet are very exciting, this blog not least among them, but one thing at a time.

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:16:38 +0000

This is a growing trend. I’ve found some elite luxury social networks on http://findasocialnetwork.com

By: Vikram Alexei Kansara

Vikram Alexei Kansara — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 05:01:45 +0000

Thanks for another great post… It’s important that marketers don’t see social networks as just another place to advertise. They need to enable conversations about their brands and products in a way that empowers consumers to participate in new experiences. If they do it right, consumers will market to each other.

By: Caricouture

Caricouture — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 21:54:27 +0000

Interesting – but what nobody seems to be asking is what impact direct online selling by luxury brands will have on offline retail, particularly in multi-brand stores. If a company such as YSL for example can get full retail price for something in both its offline stores and via ysl.com, surely this will impact on to whom it sells wholesale. No third party retailer, online or off, is going to be able to carry as broad a range as the company’s own store or website.

By: katlin

katlin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:44:41 +0000

Wow, great interview. Very insightful. It made me really think of the power of social networking sites and how all kinds of industries and brands are popping up on them. I regularly use MySpace and Facebook and I have noticed the increased prevalence of advertising for all kinds of products ranging from movies to shampoo. I just finished a marketing plan project for a class and I had briefly discussed the power of social networking sites. Wish I had this post to use in my discussion!