One of the biggest shifts in fashion retailing is the increasing popularity of online shopping. Some brands have embraced the change with open arms, shifting their marketing tactics to social media. Others have struggled and stumbled with the unfamiliar shift, and in the dithering, they've fallen behind their competitors. One of the slowest sectors to adapt is the luxury fashion market.
Luxury brands are well-known for their quality, service and hefty price tag. But incorporating their prestigious presence with the online market has appeared to be somewhat challenging. A report published in 2013 by L2, a website that tracks the digital performance of brands, supports this. According to the report, a mere 11% of luxury retailers had introduced click and collect services - something which high street brands had implemented years before.
Perhaps it's partly because luxury brands want to maintain their exclusive nature. Their products are more expensive, more beautiful and more coveted than imitation items on the high street. They are referred to as "luxury" brands for a reason. Mass brands tend to 'push' products towards their customers. Luxury brands, on the other hand, often 'pull' customers towards them. Such brands appear to be exclusive communities, where only a few people, who share the brand's beliefs, are invited to join the circle. This is the difference between luxury and high street brands. If a customer wants to buy a premium Topshop coat, all they have to do is pay the price and join the newsletter. If a customer wants to buy from Burberry, they have to form a personal bond with the retailer before they can buy one of the coveted trench coats. If a luxury brand starts flaunting their marketing over social media, they increase their accessibility and lose this exclusivity.
In contrast, high street brands aim to be as accessible and inclusive as possible. For example, one of ASOS's aims is to be the world's number one fashion destination by being as synonymous to fashion as social media is to Facebook. The only way they can do this is 'pushing' their presence onto their core audience by broadcasting their values and products over their social channels. Topshop is another - they chose to launch their Spring/Summer '15 collection over social media instead of the runways of London Fashion Week, because they wanted to keep their audience in the loop in realtime. What luxury brand would do that?
Step into a luxury store and you're immediately greeted by a smiling sales assistant who asks if you need any help. In a high street store, they may smile, but they stand away because it's just not their brand's style. Luxury retailers give you a truly personalised experience. Burberry's 2014 My Burberry campaign is a prime example - they allowed the customer to engrave their perfume bottle with their own initials, and monogram a virtual version of the bottle to share on social media. It's not to say that high street brands don't pay attention to their customers - they do, but they take care of everyone and it's noticeable. The luxury retailers make it seem as though it's just you in their spotlight.
Despite these differences, a marketing strategy that covers social media plays an arguably significant role in the fashion business, whether it's the exclusive luxury or the accessible high street. Let's see how the luxury brands fight to catch up.
