website or actual product purchase. The goal of direct marketing is to lead
consumers to interact with the brand. Its methods include the age-old mail-
order selling technique through catalogues and direct mail. Others are telemar-
keting and home shopping, although these are rarely used in the luxury sector.
Direct marketing is one of the fastest growing media of communication
among fast moving consumer goods, but their application in luxury goods
promotions is minimal. This minimal use arises from several discrepancies in
its utilization. For example, several luxury brands produce product catalogues
designed for consumers but there is a continuous inconsistency over how,
when and to whom these should be distributed. Several brands such as
Roberto Cavalli and Gucci offer their catalogues to consumers on request and
at no cost. Other brands such as Louis Vuitton sell their catalogue to
consumers for a small fee. Yet others like Coach provide the possibility to
order a free print catalogue from their website, in addition to the online
version. Also, Jimmy Choo provides an online downloadable catalogue in
PDF version that consumers can print. Most of these online and offline cata-
logues often do not make provision for product purchase although they
provide product information.
One of the challenges that luxury brands face in using the direct marketing
strategy is the retention of the ‘exclusivity’ and ‘prestige’ qualities while
pushing products commercial-wise. This challenge raises the question of the
range of products to present through direct marketing.
Direct mail has several disadvantages in addition to its numerous gains.
The first disadvantage is the risk of overwhelming consumers with informa-
tion which they might not be interested in; the second is related to ethical
marketing concerns like seeking consumer permission prior to utilizing
personal details for direct marketing purposes of the brand and its partners.
Personal sellingis the most direct and longest established means of promo-
tion in the promotional mix. It is the presentation of products and associated
persuasive communication to potential clients. Personal selling is widely used
in business-to-business exchanges where products or services demonstrations
are required. However, it can also be an effective promotional tool for luxury
brands.
Personal selling is manifested in several ways in the luxury goods sector.
These include private shopping programmes, special customer events, private
product previews, online privileged information access, fashion show sales
and so on.
Personal selling in the luxury sector usually requires the presence of the
product creator or other specialists that understand the product components,
history, use and care. Specialized information and one-to-one interaction is
the core of the personal selling strategy. It is also one of the avenues of
providing personalized and customized customer relations services. This
strategy is also effective for collecting customer data that could be utilized for
chapter 5 153the art of creating and managing luxury fashion brands