Get ready!
The iPhone is expected to be the shopping norm by December 2010, according to today's news.
Today's Women's Wear Daily reports that YOOX has been the latest to initiate its online shopping portal via the iPhone. Other retailers, such as Shopstyle, Amazon, Sears and SVC have long since developed their own Smartphone applications. In the meanwhile, for those who haven't developed their own iPhone applications, companies such as Demandware are crafting retail websitesย to maintain functionality across a range of Smartphone devices, including the iPhone, BlackBerry, or Palm.
A loophole for luxury?
Even if Smartphones only make up 4% of new mobile phone sales by the end of the year, as predicted by analyst Ramon Llamas of International Data Corp, it makes sense that the majority of those buyers are also luxury shoppers. They're going to be expecting something from their favorite brands, no?
In the land of luxury, trailblazers Chanel and Ralph Lauren have already adapted iPhone applications to display their fashion shows. However, so does the ever-convenient Style.com application- in fact it provides them all, in addition to information on the models, and the Vogue blogs and headlines! (By the way, this app is so fierce that it actually boosted iPhone sales. Check out the comments in this article.)
What does this mean for our luxury players? Their products are available online through various retailers, and brand enthusiasts can watch the latest fashion shows (with added details) and read the headlines on CondeNast's Style.com application. If, by chance, I happen to leave Milan and have a Chanel shopping emergency in Paris, I can google the address, so the location finders are not terribly original either. What I'm saying is this: Props to you at Chanel and Ralph Lauren for getting your own apps out there, but is that all you got?!
Bespoke service & building an online luxe environment
Here's what I want out of a luxury brand: I want the feel of the brand. I want the background story behind the items I love- how it was conceived, how it was constructed; what makes it special. I want to know what music the design team is listening to, and I want to be able to download playlists from fashion week and songs that are related to the collection, whether from inspiration or just setting the mood. If, like in last year's Versace collection, there has been a collaboration with a specific artist, I want to see some images of the artist's original work, and where I might be able to see a gallery exhibit. If I watch the fashion show on a brand's application, I would like some function that allows me to purchase a specific item I see, with my own measurements safely recorded into the brand's vault... I want a virtual reminder of the service I would receive in-store, if in fact, I was in a store. (You know when you're in a real luxury environment, and you should know when you're in a virtual luxury environment, as well.)
Basically, I want the luxury retailing experience that is just-for-me, and I want the insider information on the brands I love (actually, this could be just what is under development with the LVMH spinoff of e-luxury, called NOWNESS). Dolce & Gabbana has made headway on this through the creation of their online magazine Swide.com. Let's get that into an iPhone application, combine it with the online retail capabilities currently being developed for the brand by YOOX, and we're in business!
When leaders become followers
The fashion and luxury industry was once a cutting-edge beacon of hope in the advertising world. The desire and longing it was produced with such buzz now seems like a stale yawn in today's virtual environment, and I think that, unless the big guys step up and start innovating, their current model of following the mass market online will do more to devalue the idea of luxury than any 70% off sales could have done in the early days of the recession.
The fact that most luxury brands have limited to no online presence and retailing capabilities, much less their barely existent Smartphone presence, gives me reason to worry not only about the future of my profession, but also about the future of the luxury industry itself.
Where I see another real promise is in the fashion media industry, and they are definitely stepping up to the challenge. I love fashion and cultural magazines, but I hate carrying them around (especially with today's weight limits for carry-on items). If I can squish my favorite magazines down into my iPhone, well, that's something I'd definitely pay for. I'm really hoping that the rest of Conde Nast's media portfolio and others follow suit. Vogue wins again!