Consider LVMH, the €37.6 billion French-based group marketing top-quality, upmarket brands like Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, Tag Heuer and more than 65 other brands (soon to include Christian Dior Couture).
LVMH had a previous ecommerce venture, eLuxury, but eight years ago, during the great recession, the company closed the retail function and transformed the site into a digital fashion magazine.
Now LVMH is launching a new ecommerce venture. This new business (both online and app version) is 24 Sèvres, named for the firm's Paris street address. The business will go live in mid-June.
'Increasingly consumers want pictures over words', says LVMH's chief digital officer, Ian Rogers, mentioning the rapid rise of Instagram and Snapchat. Therefore, he says, 'if you look at our site, we lean far further toward visually-led merchandising than the more editorial skew of our competitors'.
Instead of brand-specific sites and apps, this new online retail platform will feature multiple LVMH brands--and some non-LVMH brands as well, with a visually innovative customer experience. Rogers says: 'There is . . . currently a major focus on omnichannel and experience, and we are moving from a mass culture to a mass of niches'.
