Monday, September 27, 2010

The convenience of online luxury shopping

By Ingrid Chua-Go 
Philippine Daily Inquirer



Shopping for luxury brands has gone high-tech, but has also been democratized
SOME 10 or so years ago, when you needed serious retail therapy, you got dressed, braved a little traffic, and headed to your favorite mall. And if what you wanted was not available at your local mall or department store, you had to rely on personal shoppers that charged a fee to shop for you.

Today, when you need to have that latest designer bag or sky-high heels, you don’t need to change or be stuck in traffic, nor do you need to pay black market prices to get it. Arm yourself with a computer and a good Internet connection, and you can already satisfy that spending urge by shopping—online.

And unlike your local mall or department store, online boutiques are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ready to provide you with an unparalleled shopping experience sans haughty-looking sales attendants and the prospect of lugging around heavy shopping bags back home.

For Luisaviaroma.com, it all began in 1930 when a Frenchwoman named Luisa Jacuin opened a small hat boutique on Via Roma in Florence, just a stone’s throw away from the city’s famous Duomo. Her son expanded their business to include clothing, and, eventually, Luisa’s grandson Andrea Panconesi worked at the shop, taking care of the “dressing” and visual merchandising for the shop’s window while he was in college.

The reputation of Luisa for its shop window has since become legendary in Italy because of the artistry and creativity behind each installation. Today, Andrea is the distinguished gentleman behind the success of Luisa, a multi-brand, multimedia and eco-friendly concept store which fills three floors, stocking the latest and literally up-to-the-minute designer fashions in Florence.

Panconesi is also to be credited for putting Luisa on the Internet 10 years ago. In an interview with Firenze Made in Tuscany Magazine, Panconesi stated that there are easily over 10,000 items to choose from on Luisaviaroma.com “even before they [become] materially available.”

10th year

For the store’s 10th anniversary online last June, influential fashion bloggers such as Bryan Yambao of Bryanboy.com, Jane Aldridge of SeaofShoes.typepad.com, Wendy Lam of Nitrolicious.com and Tommy Ton of JakandJil.com were invited for the two-day celebration.

The high-profile party for bloggers was the first of its kind in the retail industry. Luisaviaroma.com, with its aggressive marketing and smart utilization of social media, has become one of the most widely recognized shopping websites for luxury labels, insider brands, and unique tchotchkes worldwide.

Labels that are stocked by Luisaviaroma.com include Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler, Mulberry, Christian Louboutin, Herve Leger, Fendi, Balmain, Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, Rick Owens, Lanvin, Nicholas Kirkwood, as well as other new and up-and-coming designers.

The jewelry section is particularly interesting because of the wide array of designs and styles by new designers not featured before in the online marketplace.

As of last July, Luisaviaroma.com offers free expedited shipping and “landed” prices to shoppers in the Philippines—meaning everything you buy from the online boutique already includes Philippine taxes and duties in their price, so the merchandise gets shipped by FedEx straight to your doorstep without any hassle from Philippine customs whatsoever.

Online mag

It was also in the year 2000 when a pregnant Natalie Massenet, once editor for a publication under Condé Nast, launched a magazine-like website that allowed people to shop: Net-a-porter.com.

Working out of the small Chelsea studio in London with three friends, Massenet has revolutionized the way people shopped for luxury goods. Designer clothes and accessories which were previously difficult to obtain are now made available online to fashion savvy shoppers who have otherwise no access to certain brands where they live.

Massenet, wary of dotcom failures like another online e-commerce retailer, boo.com (which had spent a staggering $135M in 18 months), started small. But according to a recent interview at the Sunday Times in the UK, Massenet “never thought [net-a-porter] wouldn’t work. I never once thought it wouldn’t be huge.” True enough, Net-a-porter.com became huge. In April of this year, Massenet sold her online company to Geneva-based retailer Richemont, for an estimated £50M, but will remain as executive chairman.

Net-a-porter.com attracts over three million visitors a month and has generated sales of £120M in the year to January, according to the Daily Mail in the UK.

Labels stocked by the site include Alexander McQueen, Alberta Ferretti, Anya Hindmarch, Balenciaga, Philip Treacy, Julien MacDonald, Smythson, Donna Karan, Etoile Isabel Marant, Vionnet, Vivienne Westwood, RM by Roland Mouret.

Prices quoted on this site are in UK pounds-sterling, and also already include Philippine taxes and duties to provide you with a hassle-free shopping experience that will take your purchased merchandise online straight to your doorstep.

These two online boutiques alone are enough to keep you busy. In the months to come, more luxury retailers will put their stores online to ride the wave of new online shoppers with purchasing power but have limited time to go through brick-and-mortar boutiques. Luxury shopping has gone high-tech, but has been democratized.


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