With more brands adopting the digital route to growth, traditional luxury market is in the midst of a seismic transformation. Millennial customers are opting for online shopping which is forcing many traditional luxury brands to sell their wares through ecommerce platforms.

Indian luxury players are also catering to growing digital habits of their affluent consumers as it is influencing the decisions of these high-net-worth individuals. Over the last few years, there has been a considerable change in behaviors of these individuals. They now aspire to buy their LV or Gucci bag even before they buy their first automobile. Therefore, they seek the availability of these brands across online portals. Most of these online fashion portals use discount as a medium to lure customers, whereas, luxury brands stay away from regular discounting practices.

Digital is the future of luxury fashion

In its recent ‘Global Powers of Luxury Goods’ Deloitte highlights consumers now consider digital as being the future of luxury. Over 37 per cent of these consumers, in future luxury products and technology are likely to become more closely linked. Hence, luxury brands need to boost their ecommerce investments to offer a seamless shopping experience. For instance, in its bid to acquire the millennial consumer, Louis Vuitton, recently did live streaming of its ‘Fall Winter 2020 collection’ online.

Luxury brands often ignore reams of unstructured data. This includes consumer comments on social media, reviews, affluent influencers' photo feeds on Instagram, and engagements across multi-channel customer journeys. Brands can mine these to glean invaluable insight into their customer lifestyles, shopping preferences, and purchase behaviors.

Omni-channel emerges a viable option

Brands also need to be extra cautious while choosing an ecommerce platform to launch their luxury mono-brand online store. They need to choose the design, functionalities, ease of use and security of their store wisely as this will help them to deliver an exclusive experience, maintain brand loyalty and increase their sales performance. They should also align this online store to the brand’s global webstores and the physical stores to offer its latest global collection across regions.

Thus, ecommerce is no longer a sole option for brands to meet the evolving needs for their customers. They should instead opt for an omnichannel strategy which is emerging as the most viable choice for modern luxury retail.