Okonkwo Prelims

The offline retail location choice of luxury brands is often in the most

exclusive and prestigious districts of the world’s fashion capitals, and the

same principle of exclusive retail location ought to be applied online through

exclusive websites. Streamlining offline and online retail strategies is crucial

to generating online traffic and retaining brand loyalty.

Option six: limited e-retail

This e-retail strategy option recognizes the value of e-retail in specific

markets while overlooking other markets. Luxury brands that adopt this

option implement e-retail in a single or few markets and often leave an

unfilled market gap in other regions with a ready online consumer population.

Limited e-retail also provides a narrow range of products online, rather than

the complete product range. This strategy is currently the most widely

adopted by the few luxury fashion brands that have implemented e-retail. For

example, luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Dior (Figure 6.11) have

e-retail activities for a few markets while other brands like Giorgio Armani

(Figure 6.12) and Hermès provide a limited range of products for their online

boutiques although the brands have plans to extend their e-retail offers.

However, the limited e-retail approach is akin to telling consumers that ‘we

know it is possible to make life easier for you but we won’t’. This strategic

option indicates a rather low level of commitment to e-retail.

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luxury fashion branding

Figure 6.10 Glam.com provides a combination of fashion, celebrity, trends and

style news with direct links to e-retail the websites (May 2006)