Is the Digital World a real Eldorado for Luxury Brands? (PDF)

Master's Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: -, Tongji University, language: English, abstract: Recent research has highlighted issues suggesting that Internet and Luxury would be incompatible. It argues that luxury goods have nothing to do online as they are not suitable to the online environment. Others have tried to demonstrate that the Web is exclusively a communication tool and that luxury brands would make a mistake if they decided to go online to sell their products. Most papers thus present Internet as a dilemma or as a tool which stands both as a threat and an opportunity for luxury brands.

The question of how to implement successful digital strategies, however, remains largely unexplored. First, this research aims at filling this gap by giving a broad understanding on how luxury brands should behave online to avoid damaging their brand value. As Internet is today fully integrated into our daily lives, it has become an unavoidable branding tool that luxury companies cannot ignore anymore and must even learn to master in order to become successful online. Second, this paper highlights the necessity of having an integrated approach of all Internet tools because the institutional website, social media and e-commerce all participate in the construction of a brand's online equity. It also highlights the fact that each medium has different audiences and different characteristics, meaning that all media are not able to broadcast the same messages. Yet, this research suggests that all channels should be orchestrated in such a way that they transmit a uniform brand perception, meaning not only that online equity should be in line with offline equity but also that there should be no manifest distinction between them two. Third, this paper aims at showing that the Web can be an appropriate tool both for communicating with Internet users interested in a brand and for selling goods to potential and existing luxury goods customers who have an appetite for e-commerce. Last, this research demonstrates that taking into account the user's needs is an essential parameter to build a successful digital strategy: it is only by combining a coherent brand image throughout all channels with a qualitative user experience that luxury brands will achieve online efficiency.