Reporter | Zhou Fangying
Edit | Xu Yue
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As the importance of e-commerce continues to escalate, luxury brands continue to increase their online service experience.
Recently, Gucci Gucci, Burberry Burberry, Van Cleef & Arpels and other luxury brands officially launched official after-sales service on Tmall. Consumers can enjoy these services in the form of express delivery, without having to go to an offline physical store to complete it.
Interface fashion through the search for Tmall luxury products found that after-sales service will be based on the situation of different brands themselves to wake up and configure themselves.
For example, Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery products offer comfort adjustments free of charge for 3 months from the date of purchase, after which comfort adjustment services other than ear clip spacing cost 1,300 RMB. Burberry provides a laundry care service within six months of purchase, as well as the maintenance of some leather bags.
Image source: Tmall
In fact, as early as the 2021 Tanabata Festival, Tmall Luxury has launched a "worry-free shopping" service. Multiple brands launch exclusive customer service for videos, custom gift boxes or provide various luxury after-sales services.
For example, the watch brand Vacheron Constantin once launched an exclusive video customer service service through the live broadcast room, inviting 10 users to experience in a targeted manner; Gucci also launched a belt punching service, but the brand customer service said that the punching service is limited to full leather belts, and it takes about four weeks to punch up to two holes.
What can be seen is that even online after-sales service has a long waiting period like offline. The aforementioned Van Cleef & Arpels comfort adjustment service also took two weeks. For some anxious guests, they may not be able to enjoy the speed of e-commerce as desired.
But it is undeniable that luxury e-commerce is becoming a new model of normalization shopping, and luxury brands' attitudes towards online channels are becoming more and more open, even actively embracing.
Interface Fashion has analyzed that an obvious signal is that the cooperation between the head luxury brands and the two major head e-commerce platforms in China is becoming closer and closer.
With the official opening of the Hermès Perfume & Beauty Tmall flagship store earlier this year, Tmall became the first e-commerce platform to cooperate with six luxury groups including LVMH, Richemont, Kering, Chanel Chanel, Hermes and Prada Prada. On the other hand, JD.com has launched in-depth cooperation with the head luxury group LVMH, and its brands Louis Vuitton, Bulgari Bvlgari, Dior, and Loewe have successively equipped jd.
It is worth noting that Jingdong has also launched its own luxury maintenance services. Its advantage is that regardless of the brand coming and going, JD.com can guarantee a unified after-sales experience on the consumer side. This has also become the help of Jingdong luxury power membership system. In the JD Luxury PLUS Black Gold Card, the two high-end luxury care washes were listed as one of the rights that members can enjoy.
Image source: JD.com
For luxury brands, high-end service is an important part of ensuring the high added value of their products. Therefore, once the online channel is listed as a key development channel, luxury brands will do everything possible to replicate the sense of atmosphere and experience of the offline store, so that the same tone is maintained between different channels.
Therefore, digital display forms such as VR trials and exclusive live lectures have become a new means for luxury brands to test the water of e-commerce. At the same time, the online stores of luxury brands often enrich the form of product display through video, 3D interaction and other ways.
For luxury brands, the more important uniqueness of online channels is that they can be combined with marketing content in addition to sales. Storytelling around the brand's long history and product characteristics is a consistent approach of luxury brands to maintain high-end.
Therefore, e-commerce platforms are obviously also strengthening the construction of luxury content marketing. During the double 11 period in 2021, Tmall Luxury was re-revised, and the brand calendar form of "new events" was launched to deliver new product messages in real time, including information such as product creation background.
Although offline retail is still the focus of luxury brands, with the gradual increase in the proportion of online performance, luxury brands will further increase their investment in online channels. The recent explosion of NFT luxury goods is a good example.