Although there are many brands such as Burberry and Louis Vuitton ticking the boxes for successful digital marketing, many high-end luxury brands are still struggling to connect with their customers online. Below I’ll be listing some brands that can’t seem to get online right, and what they can do to improve this.
It can be extremely difficult to convey luxury on a website alone, and there are some factors that luxury brands can avoid in order to ensure customers receive the experience online as they do in stores. Here are some of the problems…
Painfully slow load times and bad navigation
No one likes to wait. Especially if its on a website that you’re considering to purchase something from or have a leisurely browse. The Dom Perignon site is a prime example of slow navigation and even slower load times.
That dreaded timer that you just don’t want to see when shopping online appears almost every time you navigate to a different page and by the time you arrive where you want to be your patience runs out.
Barriers to entering sites
Research done by Marketing Land (2015), revealed that barriers such as registering, entering location and ads made the customer leave the page within 15 seconds. It is important for the customer to be able to navigate clearly and go to where they want to be. To get into Henessy’s site for example, you first have to select your country and date of birth. Although this is a rule that has to be applied for alcohol companies, the layout and dark colour of the page make it almost impossible to see what you’re typing in.
This brings us to the next problem, colours on the page!
Links to the online store
Many luxury brands such as Chanel choose not to sell online, and some like Dolce and Gabanna have a separate e-commerce website that you can find (try to anyway) on their website. The landing page is full of love and obviously in line with the upcoming Valentines Day vibe, and just below it you see the ‘online store’ link.
Although it is easily found, the big picture above can be confusing and distract customers like it did me. Once you click onto the online store (which takes approx. 2 minutes to load) you are taken to another page with MORE pictures that are just too colourful and a bit overwhelming.
Awful user-interface
The way the website and the customer interact is through the user interface. This needs to be as smooth and clear as possible, without too much effort. Chanel’s website utterly lacks this factor and takes at least 5 clicks to get you to the page you want.
A simple search for a bag can easily turn into a long process when you have to select something new at every page until you finally get to your destination. Although Chanel have improved their website recently, it still takes a longer time than necessary to find what you want.
These are just some of the many problems encountered on luxury brands’ websites, but here are some tips for them to avoid it in the future:
- Get expert help!
Creating a good quality digital presence requires expert knowledge. This can take time and effort and even a big budget but it’s the only and best way to communicate with the customer. According to McKinsey & Co (2014) 45% of luxury sales are influenced by what consumers find online. This means that content and display has to be just as extravagant as a live encounter at the store.
- If you have a website, let customers buy online!
While customers still enjoy the luxury of shopping in store, about 4% of all luxury sales are done online (McKinsey, 2014). There really is nothing more frustrating than having to go through several pages and never see a checkout page. Although many like to just browse, it can be a nuisance for customers that have an aim to purchase something, and not being able to can mean a loss in sales.
- Encourage brand ambassadors
Social media is a perfect way to create engagement with customers that can then suggest the brand to someone else through word of mouth. Using celebrities as endorsements on social media shows that the celebrity associates himself or herself with the brand, which could then encourage customers.
References
Chanel Online. (2016). Handbags. Available: http://www.chanel.com/en_GB/fashion/products/handbags.html. Last accessed 30th January 2016.
Dolce and Gabanna. (2016). eStore. Available: http://store.dolcegabbana.com/gb. Last accessed 30th January 2016
Dom Perignon. (2016). Home Page. Available: http://www.domperignon.com/.Last accessed 30th January 2016.
Kretchmer, J. (2015). Gone In 15 Seconds: The Top 3 Reasons People Leave Your Website. Available: http://marketingland.com/gone-15-seconds-top-3-reasons-people-leave-website-136555. Last accessed 30th January 2016.
McKinsey and Company: The three Cs of customer satisfaction: Consistency, consistency, consistency. [online] Available at < http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/consumer_and_retail/the_three_cs_of_customer_satisfaction_consistency_consistency_consistency>Last accessed 30th January 2016.
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