By: Suhaila Sinn

Suhaila Sinn — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 23:00:53 +0000

Interesting article on personalisation and luxury.
The question that immediately came into my mind though is: Isn’t the human dimension the most significant diversifier of a luxury brand? Creating an emotional bond and customer delight has to have a interpersonal exchange.
Personalisation is based on creating a product or service that is made ‘just for you’. How can a live chat substitute a genuine smile, a gesture of empathy or a handshake? Personalisation is supposed to create a feeling of customer uniqueness. But the mere fact that an online presence is based on a global scale and not on a one-to-one interaction excludes this memorable, long lasting emotional experience that creates loyalty and delight.
I agree that many brands don’t know the ABC of utilising their data available to get even the basics right. This would correspond to the functional/efficiency dimension.
However I don’t agree that a live chat or digitally generated preferences are critical for a luxury purchase.
This is ‘stuff’ for a premium brand where the high price needs justification by its function or efficiency or benefit.
For a luxury brand personalisation needs to happen on a human dimension.

By: Robert B. Herrmann

Robert B. Herrmann — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 17:57:33 +0000

Thank you so much for this article, it’s long overdue! I’ve had multiple experiences with both Dior and Chanel online, and the experiences are night and day. Dior’s web presence and savvy are truly archaic, and often it takes in excess of 5 days for a representative to get back to you if at all. After being told to “buy it in the store” by one operator who went on to explain that they really weren’t set up properly for e-commerce, I’ve never gone back. Chanel was better, often returning calls in 24 hours and dispatching merchandise within 48 hours. Much better.

Comments on: Luxury industry is severely missing personalization in online experience

By: Suhaila Sinn

By: Robert B. Herrmann