awareness level in the global fashion society and beyond and this global pres-
ence is reinforced on the internet. The internet also contributes to attaining a
higher level of brand equity and creates multiple opportunities for developing
deeper relationships with consumers.
However, the Internet has evolved from a medium for enhancing brand
awareness and disseminating information to an essential channel of retailing.
Although the online sale of general consumer goods such as books and CDs
have been highly successful, the sale of luxury goods online has been the
subject of constant debate. Since e-retailing of other goods became promi-
nent, there has been a wide credence of the near impossibility of successfully
retailing luxury fashion goods on the Internet. This is as a result of the percep-
tion that e-retail has a strong negative impact on the innate attributes of
luxury brands such as ‘prestige’ and ‘exclusivity’. Also the sale of luxury
goods relies heavily on aesthetic and sensory appreciation and this factor has
raised questions regarding the reproduction of a prestigious atmosphere and
the sensory attributes of luxury products online. These issues are yet to be
fully addressed. However, several advancements in e-business strategies have
made the e-retail of luxury goods currently feasible. The tools and techniques
that enable this are extensively analysed in the following sections of this
chapter.
As earlier indicated, the adoption of the internet as a sales channel is now
essential for luxury brands that aim to maintain a competitive edge. The
important nature of the internet is being propelled by several factors, such as
the increasingly complex and accelerated nature of global retailing and the
rapid dissemination of information. The internet has also closed the informa-
tion gap and consumers worldwide now have uniform awareness of products
and services in real-time. This means that if Givenchy launches a new prod-
uct in Paris today, consumers in Dubai, Tokyo, Mumbai or Johannesburg are
aware of the new product uniformly, mainly through the internet. The direct
consequence of this is that the consumer desire for additional information and
purchase possibilities of the product and instant gratification is heightened.
Since the product information is uniform and accessible globally, the expec-
tation of product availability is also uniform, irrespective of the geographical
location of the consumer. One of the most effective means to providing global
consumers with products and instant customer satisfaction is through e-retail.
The fast flow of instantaneous information across the globe has also
provided the luxury consumer with a wide variety of choices in product offer-
ing and more access to viewing and purchasing them through the internet. To
illustrate this point, a standard scenario involving a luxury consumer who
lives in Mumbai, India is reproduced below:
A wealthy consumer buys a fashion magazine where she sees the advertisement of
a new product of Christian Dior. She immediately visits the Dior website and to
her delight finds the product and its exact specifications. As a devotee of Diorchapter 6 179digital luxury