Selling Luxury Online: Fashion People Learn To Tap The Keyboard.

The economist's website published an article entitled "selling luxury goods online - fashion people learn to knock on the keyboard." the Internet is no longer just a plaything for the common people. The main contents are as follows:

A few years ago, the famous fashion brands in America. Oscar When Renta launched a sales website, it predicted that people would buy small objects such as belts and perfume on the website. Last spring, a $80 thousand mink coat order came from a new customer in New Hampshire, who surprised the company. The client obviously could not come to New York in person. Internet customers have been snapping up the core product of the company, the $4000 women's dress. Alex Boren, chief executive of the company, said: "our expectations for Internet sales are really wrong." Although Internet sales still account for only a small part of total sales, they are growing rapidly.

Most luxury businesses are relatively closed. Many people in the industry ridicule. Internet It's a plaything for the common people. A French fashion leader once wrote in a book he published last year that products sold online are no longer luxuries. In early 2008, Forest research company's survey of 178 luxury enterprises in the world showed that only 1/3 companies sell products online. Some professionals estimate that the number of luxury goods companies selling online is increasing, but about half of them still do not make use of Internet sales.

　　 Luxury goods Business executives explained that Internet sales are too popular, and their products need to be tailored to customer requirements. Anyone who can buy online means a loss of individuality. Luxury companies like to use luxury stores and fashionable advertisements to win customers, so they consider beauty and taste, regardless of the price. On the contrary, the network must indicate the price. The manager of a watch business lamented, "that's the last thing I want people to think about."

To a large extent, Internet sales are always linked to low price goods, which is the problem of the luxury industry itself. Over the years, some enterprises have dealt with off-season products in a discounted way through the Internet.

However, there are many indications that buyers of full price luxury goods are keen to make use of the convenience of online shopping. So luxury enterprises are forced to adapt to this demand. In April this year, the Swiss luxury goods group, Net-a-Porter, acquired a professional fashion online retailer, Net-a-Porter, through a 350 million pound agreement.