CAN YOU RECREATE A LUXURY EXPERIENCE ONLINE?

How do you digitise the multisensory nature of a shopping trip?

“It isn’t necessary to recreate the same experience. I think the way you shop online is different than in-store,” suggests Kristina Fidelskaya, designer and founder of the eponymous fashion brand. Having recently launched her own e-commerce site, the Dubai designer is clear on the benefits of both.

“Online shopping has different advantages, where you are able to immediately see what the brand is all about in one place,” she says. “Each collection has a story … [and] by sharing the inspiration, you involve the customer in the thought process, something you might not be able to do when they are casually browsing in-store.”

The difference between in-store and online shopping has never been more pertinent. With countries only gradually emerging from strict lockdowns, the retail industry is still reeling from having to shut its doors, and watch helplessly as its customers shi ed – almost overnight – entirely online.

For everyday items, this change was easy. But what of high-end transactions? Can the immaculate detailing of a carefully cra ed dress, or the butter-so leather of a bag ever really translate fully online?

Much of the allure of an extravagant purchase is the emotional experience that accompanies it. The hushed surrounds of an architecturally inspired boutique, populated with attentive, knowledgeable staff. Beautifully made wares laid out in expensive cabinets, in a calm and dignified space where even the air is lightly scented. The luxury retail experience is o en

designed to evoke all five senses, so how do you convey that digitally?

The first to tackle this challenge was Net-a-Porter, the high-end multi-brand online site that launched in 2000. Aimed at cash-rich but time-poor women, it stocked the biggest brands, which could be browsed between meetings or a er the children had gone to bed. Succinct and convenient, it prompted others, each offering something unique.

Farfetch connects its customers to the world’s best boutiques, while Moda Operandi enables pre-orders from entire runway collections. MatchesFashion excels because of the tight curation of its founders Tom and Ruth Chapman.

But translating luxury digitally remains a challenge. MatchesFashion’s profits fell by 89 per cent in the year ending January 2019, and while big-name brands have still flocked to join the UAE-headquartered platform Ounass, the men’s division of Moda Operandi closed permanently in April, and the UAE’s The Modist went out of business as Covid-19 hit.

The pandemic has serious implications for the luxury market as a whole, with management consulting company Bain predicting a global slump of $100 billion (Dh367.25bn) and no reprieve until 2022. Yet even before the pandemic, eminent brands were starting to bring online sales in-house, realising it was the only way to retain full control.

Founded in 2014, the Kristina Fidelskaya brand has earned a reputation for sleek tailoring, sharp details and highly wearable pieces. Aimed at the busy,

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fashionable woman, it’s new site reflects the urbane attitude of the clothes, with an easy-to-access format, which, for its owner, is vital.

“Respecting the customer’s time and providing relevant and easy-to-navigate content is crucial to a positive shopping experience online,” Fidelskaya notes.

Both Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior have independently launched dedicated UAE online portals since the lockdown. Presumably months in the making and intended to coincide with Ramadan, sheer coincidence meant both rolled out dedicated sites just as the world was going into quarantine.

Offering what it describes as it’s “first-ever ephemeral digital boutique developed for the United Arab Emirates,” Dior offers a capsule collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri made especially for this market.

Louis Vuitton launched a dedicated, dual language, UAE e-commerce site. Providing access to pre-launches and regional exclusives, as well as personalisations such as hot-stamping and engraving, it also offers its client services team “seven days a week”. Able to place orders, return items and facilitate a er-sales care, the team adds a human element to a digital platform, to ensure customers feel looked a er, even as they click through the website.

Loro Piana also recently launched its own regional platform. The storied Italian house, famous for its ultra-lux pieces (think cashmere, ostrich leather, flax and silk) is aware of the subtle nuances that surround high-end purchases.

“Our customers have a relationship with our brand,” explains Fabio d’Angelantonio, the brand’s chief executive since 2016, and customer for 25 years.

Catering to “stealth-wealth”, Loro Piana offers understated luxury that whispers, rather than shouts. Made of sensual, tactile materials that need to be touched to be truly understood, its products seem ill-suited to a one-dimensional online experience. But that’s not necessarily the case, says d’Angelantonio. Rather than trying to lure new customers, the online focus is ensuring its existing ones are being catered to.

“Our clients are really quality seekers,” he explains. “They are cosmopolitan, they travel a lot, they have the ability to discern real, true quality. When they find us, it is normally an extremely successful engagement, because we know our products and we always say our sense is touch. Meaning that if you touch our products, you never go back.”

Of course, it is much easier to sell online when the customer already knows what a Dh10,000 shawl feels like, and this is reflected in the site. Quietly elegant, it offers an unhurried space in which to browse, with products given ample space to be appreciated. The antithesis of the hard sell, Loro Piana’s site is tranquil

Xand relaxed, where even moving between pages feels languid. The tiny pause before a page, image or wording is revealed, feels like turning the pages of a coffee table book, and is totally in keeping with an upscale experience.

“In everything we do, no matter if it is online or offline, we always aspire to maintain that sense of exclusivity, warmth and luxury that represents our brand, our products and our experiences.”

In addition, to marry online and offline transactions, Loro Piana offers an e-concierge service, with a dedicated team to assist clients during what it dubs the “online journey”.

Fidelskaya holds a similar view. “Luxury has a personal approach, and the shopping experience online should feel the same,” she says.

With its atelier in the UAE, Fidelskaya has the advantage of being able to respond quickly to customers – from shipping worldwide within seven days, to gi -wrapping each purchase, and even including a personalised note. “Most importantly, we must provide a seamless shopping experience. By doing this, I believe we are building a [direct] relationship with our customers.”

Moving forward, offering a targeted, truly personalised service, using carefully managed data and new technologies such as artificial intelligence, will be essential for luxury brands wanting to dominate in the digital space. But that doesn’t mean abandoning bricks and mortar completely.

The traditional shop may evolve to take on more of a “showroom” function, where consumers can physically engage with a brand’s products and culture, before making their actual purchases online, suggests Jonathan Ashmore, founder of design firm Anarchitect. “The shop becomes more of a showcase – a showroom that can control the number of people visiting, or allow them to book appointments in advance. And then offer a more dedicated service.

“It could be more like the culture of an art gallery, where you can create experiences that are more spatial and not just about the brand. It might become more informative – a place to share your background and details about your production stream. From a brand perspective, that’s quite exciting.”

The trick will be in marrying the digital with the analogue, in a holistic solution that places the customer’s needs firmly at its centre.

“Sometimes, I do want to walk into a store, and I do want to try something on and I do want to take my product home with me,” notes Milton Pedraza, chief executive of The Luxury Institute in New York. “That instant gratification and the whole experience that goes with it, we should not lose.”