This is my personal pain, mine and that of many of my clients when I did personal shopping.
LVMH-owned Celine has the best-fitting jeans ever. But you won’t find out until that very moment you try them on in a boutique. Just like you won't find out how cool that silk dress is or the amazing quality of that lightweight tweed jacket until you try them on.
With only 178 stores worldwide (according to LVMH), this French brand has one of the most user-unfriendly websites ever. Besides failing to provide essential information for an easy online shopping experience, it also lacks engagement with potential customers and neglects to utilize possible touchpoints to introduce itself. Interesting thing in an era where billions are invested in marketing and advertising.
screenshots from Celine official website (UK)
You might even mistakenly think it’s the website of another brand. It seems like with creative director migrations between Celine and Saint Laurent (owned by Kering - and with amazing-fit denim too), their IT developers moved along with them. The design of the websites is so similar, that even the font is the same.
screenshots from Saint Laurent official website (UK)
When I scroll through the official websites of luxury brands, I often ask myself why. Why, when it seems like the question of developing an online platform has one and only answer - yes - these websites are still far from what is widely used in positioning "luxury experience"?
Does luxury fashion actually need official website?
Luxury fashion have long nurtured a marketing strategy focused on unique, in-person boutique experiences. For a long time, their digital presence was rather formal. However, COVID-19 disproved this notion. It happened in 2020, amid limited (if not restricted) travel, when e-commerce truly came into its own, proving to be a black swan in the omnichannel approach.
Moreover, starting a few years ago, many brands began tightening their grip over price control and implementing a no-discount policy. This led to a reevaluation of existing partnerships, resulting in a smaller group of collaborators. In the case of LVMH, major brands such as Dior, Celine, or Louis Vuitton have never been present on any other online platforms except their own websites (with the exception of a small selection on LVMH-owned 24S and Celine menswear on MrPorter).
This naturally led to a greater focus on their own websites. Issues with Farfetch, Richemont's attempts to divest from loss-making Yoox Net-a-Porter, and the failing of Matches have further reinforced the reliance on proprietary resources.
The priority is definitely opening physical stores. Through all the reports I looked through it was mentioned that brands aim to open and directly operate their own locations. Richemont operates 2300 monobrand boutiques, Kering has 1771 directly operated stores, LVMH has 6097 stores around the world (but because we can't see the breakdown by business group, so apart from Fashion and Leather goods it includes cosmetic shops, wines & spirits etc), Hermes has a network of 294 exclusive stores. Prada Group (Prada, Miu Miu, Church's and others) have 606 directly operated stores worldwide.
But let's face it - they can't cover or locations, all even very attractive cities. In terms of business, I would mention the concept of risk redistribution - if you can distribute eggs into two baskets instead of one, why wouldn't you do that?
Actually they do.
e-Commerce and digital precense development
Prada Group reported brand e-commerce sites, the corporate website as part of communication strategy for direct and immediate engagement with its audience, mentioning that:
E-commerce platforms complement the physical stores, offering a dynamic and integrated shopping experience.
Talking figures, Kering, parent company of GUCCI, Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta, mentioned that in 2023, online sales accounted for around 12% of retail sales on average (three points less than in 2022).
Apart from increase in traffic and sales over online shop Hermes reported the following:
The hermes.com platform is also an important recruitment vehicle: in 2023, 65% of customers making purchases on the site were new to the House.
And here lies the answer. Yes, I could search for more figures (no breakdown from LVMH, just like always:). I could tell how much I love online shopping and how my clients, when I actively did personal shopping, preferred it as well. However, my Logic university teacher would tell me that it contradicts logical principles by prioritizing the personal over the general.
The key point is introducing the brand to newcomers, whether they come across it by chance or intentionally seek to learn more. I mean, when Gucci pays for buses to be rebranded into this season's burgundy colors or Loro Piana hangs a not-so-quietly huge ad in front of Harrods, what do they expect? They expect attention. They want to introduce themselves to those who are not aware and remind those who may have forgotten of their presence.
Yes, someone will go to the boutique - and this is what brands aim for. But someone will go to Google. And Google will give theit official website on top of list. It will represent a brand and tell its story, it will engage with those who interested, whether it was direct intention or nutruted one. At the end it will sell, and doesn't matter whether it will sell online (if option is available) or in a boutique.
For instance, Chanel still sticks to the policy of no online sales (except for beauty). However, they have worked on the website pretty well, showcasing the latest news and collections. It is still not perfect though. Oh, my eye for detail :)
Should brands devote more time to their official websites and online shops?
And then I go to the Celine website, which gives me no relevant information on the collection. Then I switch to Saint Laurent, and I get lost with definitions. Is it still Celine? Or is it something different? The brand identity is blurred. Well, okay, if I just like the jeans, I don't care about identity (I don't care, but why don't you make me interested?). Can I buy them? I go back to the page and try to understand the fit. Am I provided with the information?
I browse websites a lot. I can definitely see significant steps towards talking with website visitors, engaging with them, and trying to sell at the end. I saw Gucci making changes a while ago, Hermes devoting more time to its online presence. But on every single website, doesn't matter if it's Prada, Miu Miu or Louis Vuitton I still see a lack of what makes a great website - telling a story, providing essential information, and engaging with a visitor. Not even mentioning the art of online sale.
I tried to think of the reasons. Which actually made me happy that I will always have a true value as an e-Commerce consultant to offer. Those who make websites have a one-sided approach - most probably they didn't shop online or didn't search for some more information on the brand or item and focused more on the technical side. Which is still important, but as a self-evident mechanism. As we can see the approach is so similar that sometimes it may seem IT-specialists migrate in between the brands.
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So, do luxury fashion brands need to devote more time to their official websites and online shops? Well...