The world of high end fashion can be an exhilarating place
to shop in. Whether you prefer going to fashion week to see the latest collection
from your favorite designer or you would rather spend your time on 57th
Street getting lost in the shiny displays and flabbergasting price tags, high
end fashion is appreciated not only in a shoppers world, but in the artistic
community as well. The fashion world is one of the forerunners in international
business, creating things from every day wear, to Olympic uniforms, to the next
trends to be passed down for years to come. However, in such a dynamic and
competitive world, an online presence can mean everything. In this article, I
will examine several examples of excellent e-marketing efforts, as well as
examples of some companies that might need to reevaluate their marketing
strategy online.
One thing you can say about high end fashion is that it isn’t
cheap. Clothing that we have a problem spending $50 on might sell for over $3000
at a “couture” company. The people who shop at these stores want to look and
feel like royalty. While these stores usually do make a large portion of their
sales in store (after all, why buy a $1500 pair of shoes unless you can show
off to the people outside the store), there is something to be said for a store’s
online presence. First let’s look at the good examples: Marchesa, Louis
Vuitton, and Christian Siriano.
Marchesa, although a lesser known company too many, is known
for its posh looks and bold details and textures in its designs.
The homepage of their website continues with this theme by
showing various textured dresses in a black and white theme giving the site a
feel of elegance. When you click on the various pages, you the dynamic colors
of their collections grab your eye on the neutral backgrounds they are placed
in. Their social media pages are easy to find from the home page, and all of
their information is displayed neatly. One of the only downfalls of this
website is that you cannot buy items online. This however makes the most sense
for this company due to the uniqueness and types of clothing they sell, which is
mostly dresses. They are also one of the few companies that have a Pinterest account,
which gives their customers (or wishful customers) a more personal experience. Personalization
can be a useful tool in marketing and it is a trend among some of the top
brands in the world. Although there is not much item personalization in the
high end fashion world, Marchesa does something slightly more unusual on social
media that has boosted their online presence. They run their Instagram as a personal
account, posting not only pictures of new designs, but reposting from the
founders and designers accounts, posting from events or accounts where their dresses
were featured, and their Fan Fridays. Fans of the company from all over the
world can post a picture of their own personal designs with the hashtag
#marchesafanfriday and they might have their design featured on the Instagram
page. It not only gets their customers involved, but is a great way to create a
personal experience for everyone involved in the company.
Another fashion forerunner is Louis Vuitton, who not only
uses minimalism to create a sleek design for their website, but also strives to
make their customer experience personal and fun. Their website is not only easy
to navigate, but also makes the average shopper feel more at home. Members can
easily sign in as well as browse new collections or catch up on the latest news
with the company. Focusing more on neutral tones and a minimalist feel, the feel
of the site seems to match the look of the clothes being displayed on it. Although
online shopping is also not a main point for this company, there is a way to
find out more about an item or in the case of certain things, call for
availability of the product and see its price.
With
8 different forms of social media, Louis Vuitton wants to make sure the world
knows about them in a big way. Something that makes their company unique is
their use of Snapchat to promote their brand.
This allows the brand to stand out among competitors and
gives them a fun way to make their company more personable to their customers.
Lastly,
in our frontrunners is Christian Siriano. While this website is less visually
appealing than some (white and light blue or black text doesn’t exactly scream
come shop here), they do have a thriving Instagram account, as well as a way to
shop online. They have clearly established what they are selling and what their
customers want and they work to meet that demand. The company even sells prints
of its designs online and they ship worldwide reaching various markets at once.
Their site is easy to navigate and their Instagram account features funny
pictures of employees as well as focusing on the latest designs the company
produces.
Now that we’ve seen some good examples of e-marketing in
this industry, we will look at some poor examples of e-marketing and how the
simplest things can not only harm a brand’s image, but also be off-putting to
potential customers.
Let’s
start by looking at Givenchy. Givenchy is known by Givenchy Paris but right
when you open up the home page, you are greeted with an American flag causing
some question about not only how the brand is being marketed, but what their
overall objective is. Earlier we looked at how Marchesa used black and white as
a form of elegance. But here, Givenchy uses a black and white theme and it
looks dull.
Furthermore, the page is not only difficult to navigate (I
couldn’t even figure out how to get from one design to the next in their
collections) but their pages look like there was not really a plan for any sort
of organization. Their social media tabs aren’t even prominently listed, but
instead, one has to search the site and go under the “More” tab to find them.
Once on their social media pages, you’re greeted with more of the same black
and white images from their website. And the biggest faux paux of the site is
that there is a timer that pops up as your pages are loading, which not only
cheapens the site, but also shows how slow it runs in comparison to most other
websites.
There is no place to shop online either but instead, when
you click on the E-Store tab, you are redirected to a page telling to download their
app in order to shop from a remote location.
Givenchy is not the only company who is not staying
competitive online. Chanel and Manolo are two other companies who are
struggling to keep up appearances online. While I cannot put a picture in this
post that completely shows the struggle of navigating Chanel’s site, I have
included the link to the website so you can see for yourself. Each move of the
mouse pointer moves a part of the page which is not only dizzying but also makes
it difficult to click on the tab you want to go to. A good concept gone wrong
in other words. Once again, the social media is found under the chanel.com page
down at the bottom, which might take some searching to find.
Manolo’s site is no better using barely any color (or dull
colors) and offering few ways to navigate the site and no place to shop online.
Instead, their collections are just placed at the bottom of the page where you
can scroll through. The only tabs on the page are either there to show you the collections
at the bottom or to put you on their mailing list or contact them. Even their
Twitter page is more dynamic and designed to catch the reader’s eye.
As you can see, effective use of websites and social media
can not only help a brand establish their presence, but also promote the
objective of their company and help them relate to customers. Creating a
personal experience for customers so that they can feel like the company
relates to them is important in marketing and can help gain rapport and boost
sales. Although in the high-end fashion world, there is a higher demand in
stores than online for an actual shopping experience, this just goes to show
that sometimes, a little work online can go a long way.
Side Note: Two runners up for poor examples also include YSL
and Ralph Lauren whose websites need some work.
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