It is not so easy to communicate the authenticity of a brand in an all consistent way in the real world and also to pass on this same authenticity to the internet.
One issue that is subject to controversial views, is the selling of luxury brands over the internet. You see it a lot, therefore you may be inclined to ask, not just yourself but also me, why there is a need to discuss that on a blog.
What you see a lot isn’t necessarily the right way of how to position your brand items. So, let’s have a look at what one of the experts in the sector says first and take it from there.
Acc. to Jean-Noël Kapferer, one of the authorities for the marketing of luxury brands in Europe, it is most important for luxury brands to communicate with their consumers, e.g. to stay in touch with them and update them online and offline. Basically it is essential for the brands to use the many possibilities of the internet with regard to communicating Online Brand Experience to their advantage. However Noel Kapferer, in Kapferer and Bastien, firmly states that the internet should not be used for distribution purposes when luxury goods are involved. He is very opposed to follow the crowds of mass marketing here by affirming that the brand essence of any luxury brand should be about innovation and not copying main stream. (Kapferer and Bastien 247)
The major reason for not selling luxury goods online is that the online world offers many opportunities but it is not to grant a shopping experience involving all the senses of seeing, feeling and touching the product. The ambience created in brand shops and in the retail locations of brand’s authorized dealers is lost online. It cannot be re-created.
Now, why not just follow the guidelines of the expert and not set up an online shop at all? That means granting a maximum of online brand experience and sell in the real world where there is 100% of control over the brand authenticity.
Because in a less than ideal world there are competitors. Here I have chosen the word “competitors” with care, as one of the very principles of a luxury brand is to lift itself above competition. Yet, for 99% of businesses in the luxury range as well there are similar operations around and a brand needs to position itself in a context and is also measured by the consumers in this context.
Now depending on the activities of a brand’s competitors consumers may just build up expectations to find a particular brand online because that’s their preferred medium to inform themselves prior to making a purchase.
Listening to the needs of the consumers should be the only valid reason to “push” marketers in the direction of deciding in favor of an online shop. They are advised to toe the line very carefully. What do your brand customers expect to see on the internet should be the key question to answer before taking sales online.
One aspect is to thoroughly check which of a brand’s product ranges should be on show online. Not all grant the consumer the same amount of online interaction.
Once, the decision has been narrowed in that way, the next step is to concentrate what the consumers really are happy to see online. The reply to this question may most probably be that they don’t want to be able to actually buy a fully customized product but to build a relationship with the brand and the products, interact with and experience it. Instead of going fully down the road to establishing an online flagship store, this “interim” version allows a luxury brand to offer all the information about its selected products and it can re-connect the advantages of the online world with the offline world.
The genuineness of a brand, and above all a luxury brand, largely is decided by the contents that are communicated in both worlds and how well they support the brand essence.
Why control of the brand’s essence is so important when selling online? Find more details in “Being A Control Freak Can Be A Plus”.
