Jul 7, 2015
2 minutes
Luxury in the digital age
Jul 7, 2015
Digital is becoming an increasing player in the luxury sector, with 68% of sales in stores influenced by the web. Added to this are online luxury sales that are quickly growing, as illustrated in the "Digital Luxury Experience" study by consulting firm McKinsey and Italian industry group Altagamma Foundation, presented on Tuesday in Milan.
According to this study, online luxury sales should increase from their current 6%, or 14 billion dollars of a total 224 billion, to 18% in 2025 to reach 70 billion euros of a total 390 billion.
"The penetration of the web in luxury commerce was 2% in 2009. From 2009 to 2014, online luxury sales jumped 27%, whereas they only progressed 7.2% on the other sales channels. The 70 billion estimated for 2025 could represent the 3rd largest luxury market after China and the United States," said Marco Catena, one of the authors of the McKinsey study.
This growth was mainly generated by labels on their own websites (28% of total sales) and department store websites (16%) and led by beauty products and apparel (7.2% of total sales for each category).
According to the countries, the share of luxury sales obviously varies. They are a lot higher in the UK (11%), whereas the web only represents 2% of luxury sales in Brazil, 7% in Japan, 6% in France, China and the United States, and 5% in Italy.
The smaller the brand the more it benefits from online sales. The authors of the study, which was carried out in 8 key countries (Brazil, China, South Korea, France, Japan, Italy, the UK, the USA), did indeed note that once a brand has passed the 6% of online sales mark, its growth accelerated.
In face of this accelerated development, luxury houses have to learn how to adapt quickly. Especially since they are dealing with customers who are very advanced when it comes to technologies and who are active on the Internet and social media site.
"More than just computer users, luxury consumers today are ‘mobiles’, with 95% equipped with at least one mobile device, compared to 60% of the other consumers, and that regardless of age," emphasised Marco Catena.
"On the social networks, labels have millions of followers, who can interact with their comments. Companies no longer have control. The customer has all the power now," concluded the analyst.
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