4. Empirical Findings
4.2 Internet data from luxury brands
The data collected from luxury brand through the Internet are divided into three different parts. The first focuses on the luxury website itself; it looks at several aspects that help
49%
13%
18%
16%
Do you feel the online experience Iits well with the brand culture and their
physical stores?
Yes
Most of the time Sometimes No
understand the overall user experience. The second table looks at the luxury brand e-commerce and its scope. The third one shows the social media platforms and its overall activity, along with type of content posted to understand their aim (Appendix C, Table 3).
All luxury brands considered have a website, all except four have links to their social media. Celine is the only brand that does not have any social media presence. Most brands have between six to seven social platforms, with Valentino standing out with eight.
When it comes to languages, there are more variations; many having between four to six languages available and a few with over eleven (Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Burberry and Hermes). Cross-integration between the different platforms is quite high. All of the brand websites are adaptive (meaning the format will adapt to the device being used to access it) except for Zegna (which is responsive, it simply responds to make the format fit to the device size).
Brand Website Link to other social media
Number of social platforms
Languages Cross-channel integration
Powered by third party?
Responsive vs. Adaptive
Burberry Yes No 6 14 High No Adaptive
Louis Vuitton Yes Yes 8 13 High No Adaptive
Zegna Yes No 6 9 Medium Yes, YOOX Responsive
Gucci Yes Yes 6 7 High No Adaptive
Prada Yes Yes 4 5 High No Adaptive
Bottega Venetta
Yes Yes 7 5 High Yes, YOOX Adaptive
Chanel Yes Yes 6 15 High No Adaptive
Brunello Cuccinelli
Yes Yes 3 4 Medium Yes, YOOX Adaptive
Dior Yes Yes 7 13 High No Adaptive
Hermes Yes Yes 7 11 High No Adaptive
Loro Piano Yes No 2 4 Low No Adaptive
Valentino Yes Yes 8 7 High Yes, YOOX Adaptive
Saint Laurent Yes Yes 3 5 High Yes, YOOX Adaptive
Balenciaga Yes Yes 4 6 High Yes, YOOX Adaptive
Ferragamo Yes Yes 7 6 High No Adaptive
Givenchy Yes Yes 5 5 Medium No Adaptive
Fendi Yes Yes 7 2 High No Adaptive
Celine Yes No 0 4 Low Yes, YOOX Adaptive
Source: Internet data analysis
The next step is to look at the luxury brand e-commerce site. While most brands join their e-commerce and their website, there are different features on each. The only thing that remains the same is the languages made available. Only two of the brands don’t have an e-commerce, those being Givenchy (which instead offers an m-commerce) and Celine.
Burberry was the pioneer releasing its e-commerce in 2004, while most started after 2010.
The geographical scope includes all European countries, a few Asian ones, USA, and a few in Latin America. Transparency looks at the information given regarding product information, sizes, prices and product care details. The vast majority has high transparency providing most of the information on the e-commerce. Product range and delivery varies from brand to brand, some provide all products and other still continue to offer only accessories and beauty. Delivery varies depending on the country you want it delivered to; some might have a limit on items while others may charge different amounts.
Clicks to buy tends to be the same averaging at about 4, the less clicks the easier it makes it for consumers to purchase online. Live chat is an important way to provide a personal service online for shoppers, making it easier to get advice in real time. However, only three luxury brands offer this service (Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Dior).
Brand
E-comm erce
Relea se date
Geogra phical scope
Transpa
rency Product range
Delivery and return policy
Clicks to buy
Live Chat Burberry Yes 2004 44 High
RTW, Accessories,
Bags, Beauty Both free, flexible 4 Yes Louis
Vuitton Yes 2005 41 High
RTW, Accessories, Bags, Beauty (limited)
Both free, limited flexibility (some
products excluded) 5 Yes
Zegna Yes 2010 55 High
RTW, Accessories,
Fragrances Both free, flexible 4 No
Gucci Yes 2002 28 High RTW, Accessories,
Bags, Beauty Both free, flexible 4 No
Prada Yes 2010 22 Medium
Accessories, Shoes, Bags
Only returns are
free, flexible 5 No
Bottega
Venetta Yes 2010 50 High
RTW, Accessories,
Bags, Beauty Both free, flexible 4 No
Chanel Yes n/a 25 Medium Beauty
Delivery free, no returns, low
flexibility 3 No
Brunello
Cuccinelli Yes 2011 47 High RTW, Accessories,
Bags, Beauty Both free, flexible 4 No
Dior Yes 2010 7 Medium
Accessories, Shoes,
Bags Both free, flexible 3 Yes
Hermes Yes 2002 13 Medium RTW, Accessories,
Bags, Beauty Only returns are
free, flexible 4 No
Loro Piano Yes 2012 29 High
RTW, Accessories,
Bags, Beauty Both free, flexible 3 No Valentino Yes 2008 64 High
RTW, Accessories, Bags, Beauty
Only returns are
free, flexible 4 No
Saint
Laurent Yes 2007 62 High RTW, Accessories,
Bags, Beauty Both free, flexible 4 No Balenciaga Yes 2011 97 High
RTW, Accessories, Bags, Beauty
Only returns are
free, flexible 4 No
Ferragamo Yes 2009 36 High
Accessories, Bags,
Beauty Both free, flexible 3 No
Givenchy
No, m-comm
erce 2013 n/a Medium
RTW, Accessories,
Bags, Beauty n/a n/a n/a
Fendi Yes 2015 28 High
RTW, Accessories, Bags, Beauty
Both free, limited flexibility (max. 7
products) 4 No
Celine No n/a n/a Low
RTW, Accessories, Bags, Beauty
(limited) n/a n/a No
Source: Internet data analysis
The last of the findings of the luxury brand is the social media used by each one. In this paper we focus on seven social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs, Apps and YouTube. The most popular social network used by luxury brands is Facebook. Followed by Instagram, Twitter and YouTube (all but three brands offer this platform). About half of the brands offer Pinterest, which appears to be so that brands can have some sort of control over the posts made. Apps are also being used by half of the brands, some even offer more than one app (intended for different target audience). Most of the apps are mobile ones, usually shown as a magazine featuring the brand products and advertising (Appendix C, Table 2).
Brand Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest Blogs App YouTube
Burberry Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Louis Vuitton Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Zegna Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Gucci Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Prada Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes
Bottega Venetta Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Chanel Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Brunello Cuccinelli Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Dior Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Hermes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
Loro Piano Yes No No No No Yes No
Valentino Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Saint Laurent Yes No Yes No No No Yes
Balenciaga Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Ferragamo Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Givenchy Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
Fendi Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Celine No No No No No No No
Source: Internet data analysis
The findings are a starting point to continue onto the analysis of the data. So far, it is clear that some social media platforms are more important that others, Instagram being in the lead for consumers and Facebook being in the lead for luxury brands. More importantly, the luxury brand need to pay close attention to the website and e-commerce as these are the most frequented for information and actual sales. This is the only place where the brand has complete control over the content and structure. In social media, as implied, it relinquishes control to the consumers. I have also understood that there are different uses for the platforms and these should be compared with the luxury brands aim in order to find out whether there is a gap between the two. If so, how can luxury brands close this gap in order to facilitate the consumer decision journey while fulfilling the consumers’
expectations of an omnichannel service?