Social Commerce: A Luxury that Luxury Brands CAN Afford [Presentation Download]

Interesting post by Jennifer Vano over at Brand Channel “Social Commerce: A Luxury that Luxury Brands Can’t Afford?” asking whether for luxury brands social commerce is an opportunity to be embraced or a threat to be avoided.

The main argument against social commerce for luxury brands is that it might undermine the exclusivity and elitism that luxury brands feed off to make margin. Luxury and social just don’t make good bed fellows – it’s as simple as that.

Social media is conversational, so involves listening as well as talking – and that’s not elitist, and most social commerce involves offering fans and followers exclusive discounts – and that reduces margin.

So luxury needs social commerce like a bullet in the head, right?

Wrong.  Whilst it’s a legitimate concern, many luxury brands are applying creativity to social commerce platforms successfully to build brand value rather than undermine it – and without a promotional discount in sight.

They’re doing it in one of three ways

• Exclusive access (Louis Vuitton)
• Exclusive information (Tiffany)
• Exclusive experiences (Jimmy Choo)

Here’s our presentation, showcasing luxury brands which, in our view, are doing social commerce right – and demonstrating that social commerce is a luxury that luxury brands CAN afford.

Jennifer, over to you…