Benchmark: Luxury Sector eBusiness Adoption

In collaboration with Walpole, Forrester recently surveyed 178 premium and luxury brand and retail executives in Europe, Asia, and the US about their eBusiness and interactive marketing strategies. The findings are intriguing: Only one-third of the luxury sector currently sells online. That's a missed opportunity for the industry, especially as eight out of 10 global affluent and high-net-worth consumers use the Internet daily and also actively research and buy luxury goods and services online on a regular basis. Innovators like LVMH and Orient-Express and Web-only merchants like NET-A-PORTER and Wrapit are leading the luxury sector online and are pulling ahead of their competition. Executives in the luxury sector need to stop trying to duplicate the in-store experience online with poorly functional albeit glitzy sites; they should instead look for opportunities to help customers save time, research and order goods and services, and get assistance online and across multiple channels.