trend report: luxury brands online

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September 2012 Trend Report: Luxury Brands Online



The luxury goods market presents an intriguing place to investigate what it means

to create a captivating and resilient brand. This is especially true of luxury apparel

and accessories, where brands over a century old have made a tradition of

breaking tradition, delivering cutting-edge design that has the power to impact

consumers from all walks of life. And while it may seem that the exclusive nature

of high-end luxury would be at odds with the democratic spirit of online, the

opposite is true. Many luxury brands are in fact leading the charge with digital

marketing and gaining devoted new customers along the way. Their ability to

innovate and thrive serves as a template for growth, and the numbers are there to

prove it. Global sales of luxury goods are expected to grow another 6%-7% in

2012, surpassing $255 billion1. Luxury e-commerce growth is not only poised to

outpace the average but to drive sector growth overall, as online accelerated to a

25% growth rate in 2011 from 20% the year before.² To explore these topics

further, a look at trends within the luxury apparel market follow: brand sites' unique

online visitors, online demographics, top search terms, social media strategies, and

omnichannel marketing presence.

THE STUDY

2

Methodology & Data

46 luxury apparel and accessories brands (excluding jewelry) were selected to serve as a benchmark for the sector. Some

considerations included brand heritage, price point and dominant customer profile. A few well-known brands with

insufficient online traffic data were omitted. A conscious attempt was made to include newer brands and designers who are

redefining luxury for the 21st century, alongside prestige brands, many of which are 100+ years old.

Much of the data in this report, excluding data primarily gathered by PM Digital, has been sourced from Experian Hitwise

North America. For more information, please refer to About PM Digital & Experian Hitwise at the end of this report.

In This Report

Findings & Implications 3

Brand Overview 6

Online Market Share 10

Demographics 12

Sources of Traffic 14

Search 18

Social Media 24

Tablet & Mobile 44

Comparison Shopping 51

Email 54

About PM Digital

& Experian Hitwise 61

1Bain & Company, May 15, 2012 press release 2American Express Business Insights, February 10, 2012 press release



FINDINGS

3

The five largest luxury brands capture 75% online

market share, based on total visits to 46 luxury brand

sites studied for this report. These include Ralph Lauren,

Gucci, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton and Chanel.

Most luxury brand websites support e-commerce

(85%), and online traffic favors them. Brands with

online stores get 98% of all traffic to luxury brand sites.

Search engines remain the largest source of traffic

to luxury brand sites (37%), with Google alone

accounting for 29% of referrals (10x as much as Bing).

Cross-traffic to other online retail sites surges

during holiday, temporarily surpassing search

engines as the largest traffic source.

Luxury brands rely more on search engine traffic

than the average Apparel and Accessories site, but

with a smaller ratio of paid search. Some luxury

brands still appear to have no paid search strategies.

Shoes and handbags are the most popular products

driving search clicks for luxury brands. Handbags

drive more clicks for luxury than they do overall.

Social media accounts for 8% of traffic to luxury

brands, with Facebook driving half of this. Facebook

was the second highest referring site after Google, referring

4% of total visits to the category.

Even as Facebook likes continue to grow, social media

is diversifying for luxury brands. YouTube, Pinterest,

Instagram, Twitter and Google+ all play a role.

Fast-growing social outlet Pinterest refers nearly as

many visits as Twitter, a nice source of incremental

traffic that didn’t exist even one year ago. Most luxury

brands have official Pinterest pages, plus consumers create

their own pages and pin their favorite luxury products.

A growing number of luxury brands are also embracing

Instagram, the fast-growing social photo app purchased by

Facebook in 2012.

Social media’s growth will piggyback on the growth of

tablets and smartphones. Parallel to this, email’s

effectiveness for luxury brands will also grow. Email

remains a proven, measurable sales channel that already

integrates well with mobile commerce and complements

social media’s branding power.



IMPLICATIONS

4

Luxury Goods Are Both Product and Experience. Marketers of luxury goods have the same imperative as luxury

service providers, such as hotels or spas: to create a total experience. Consumers demand it. At its core, e-commerce

in this sector rests on successfully translating the exclusivity, authenticity and indulgence that is the essence of luxury

from the real-world flagship or boutique to the virtual store. Social media, video, display ads and other digital media

exist as much to reinforce and shape this brand experience as to drive traffic and sales.

Paid & Organic Search Require Balance. Paid and organic search perform at their peak when both are operating

within an integrated master strategy to convert search queries into clicks and ultimately into shopping cart checkouts.

Yet one-third of luxury brands shun paid search completely, which means fewer online sales, lost opportunities to drive

foot traffic and in-store purchases, and forfeiting control over brand messaging in a ubiquitous medium that reaches a

global audience on a daily basis. At the other end of the spectrum, a few brands rely so heavily on paid search that

organic traffic, the low-hanging fruit for any brand that sells direct to consumers, is presumably going elsewhere.

Social Media is Growing, Diversifying and Migrating to Mobile. Facebook will remain a major force for luxury

brands as its users increasingly shift from PCs to tablets and smartphones. The social giant has stated publicly that it’s

focusing laser-like on mobile as its path to growth now and into 2013. Facebook will contribute to shaping the total

brand experience, and as new ad targeting capabilities are rolled out, will further impact brick-and-mortar as well as

online growth. Simultaneously, most luxury brands are embracing new forms of engagement—such as fast-growing

social photo app Instagram and its equally visual counterpart, Pinterest. Both platforms provide an ideal stage for

covetable high-end goods, allowing consumers ample opportunity for admiration with little overt marketing. Luxury

brands are wisely jumping in early in the evolving, increasingly visual and mobile ecosystem of social media.



IMPLICATIONS (CONTINUED)

5

Email Thrives in a Social/Mobile World. Alongside search engines, email helped build online commerce in its

earliest days, and this remains as true as ever in today’s socially-engaged, always-connected mobile world. Email’s

strength lies in reaching the right customer at the right time with the right offer (which may sometimes be no offer at all,

e.g. a first look at the new season’s runway). With 24/7 access to email on smaller devices, this medium could play a

similar role in the growth of mobile commerce. Its targetability already complements the branding power of social,

display, mobile display and apps, and even print and mass media.

Mobile Is Not a Channel. Rather, it’s all channels, the entire Internet accessed from non-PC devices. Mobile is search

(paid and organic), social, email, display, site design and customized apps. No digital ad format or sales channel will be

unaffected as web users migrate to tablets and smartphones, and as e-commerce morphs into m-commerce. The high-

income demographics of early m-commerce adopters means that luxury will be at the leading edge of this transition.

Google Shopping Changes the Game for Comparison Shopping. Comparison shopping sites like Beso,

DesignerApparel.com, ShopStyle and Shopping.com allow consumers to shop for an item across many sites at once,

often in search of the best price. Comparison sites, including those operated by Bing, Yahoo! and Google, are normally

a good source of new customers for the average retailer, but present a challenge for luxury brands: a shopper seeking

a discount on a coveted handbag or pair of ankle boots, for example, will more likely be referred by a comparison site to

department store sites and other multi-brand retailers rather than to the brand site. There, she not only potentially

receives her discount but also recommendations to shop competitive brands. This increased exposure combined with

downward pricing pressure from this source of traffic (not insignificant, especially during holiday) means that luxury

brands need to carefully manage what share of customers they can afford to “lose” to wholesale partners via

comparison sites without cannibalizing their full-price direct business. Google Shopping, recently integrated with

Product Listing Ads into a unified, search-based platform, offers one way for brands to gain back some control over

positioning, price, and most critically, placement vs. wholesale competitors.



Overview of Luxury Brands

Covered in This Study



Online stores for beauty and fragrance only, not apparel and

accessories.

7

ONLINE LUXURY FASHION BRANDS

BY E-COMMERCE CAPABILITY

WITH ONLINE STORES WITHOUT ONLINE STORES



E-COMMERCE CAPABILITY BOOSTS MARKET SHARE

FOR ONLINE LUXURY BRANDS

8

Data source: Experian Hitwise North America, July 2012

85% of luxury brands have online stores. This 85% receives 98% of traffic.



1999

At this point, luxury brands mostly shun online

stores, unconvinced of their value. Giorgio Armani

S.p.A. launches e-commerce, but only in the U.S.

for Armani Exchange, its most accessible brand.

2007

Armani finally expands online shopping to

premium lines—first is Emporio Armani.

2009

m.armani.com launches mobile

commerce for Emporio Armani

(which today also supports

Giorgio Armani).

Fall 2011

Giorgio Armani and Armani Collezioni finally get

online stores, joining other major luxury brands.

ARMANI EXTENDS E-COMMERCE CAPABILITY

TO LUXURY PRODUCT LINES

9

Sources: Armani.com, WWD.com

Until Armani added e-commerce for its most prestigious brands, less than a year ago, it was one

of the few e-commerce holdouts among luxury brands. It was faster diving into mobile commerce.



ONLINE MARKET SHARE BY BRAND

10

The five largest brands

capture 75% of online

market share in the U.S.,

based on total visits to 40+

luxury sites in July 2012.

Luxury brand leaders

include contemporary

American designers

alongside iconic European

houses, some founded in

the 1800s.


Ralph Lauren taking the largest share of

web traffic speaks to the brand’s successful

integration of the luxury lifestyle concept

across diverse product lines ranging from

exclusive to mass-market. A similar

dynamic is at play with Michael Kors.

“Other” includes an additional 26 luxury brands.



Site July 2011 % Share July 2012 % Share

Céline 6,291 0.1% 24,115 0.3% 283%

Sergio Rossi 6,482 0.1% 17,024 0.2% 163%

Proenza Schouler 2,012 0.0% 4,218 0.1% 110%

YSL 41,493 0.5% 83,398 1.1% 101%

Michael Kors 481,146 6.2% 931,382 11.8% 94%

Bottega Veneta 19,438 0.3% 36,936 0.5% 90%

Nanette Lepore 6,423 0.1% 11,501 0.1% 79%

Emilio Pucci 5,495 0.1% 9,491 0.1% 73%

Manolo Blahnik 8,140 0.1% 13,556 0.2% 67%

Lanvin Paris 6,240 0.1% 10,040 0.1% 61%

Givenchy 3,662 0.0% 5,106 0.1% 39%

Hermès 124,605 1.6% 162,849 2.1% 31%

Vince 17,121 0.2% 21,496 0.3% 26%

Longchamp 39,921 0.5% 50,016 0.6% 25%

Chloé 10,462 0.1% 12,876 0.2% 23%

Oscar De La Renta 30,509 0.4% 37,276 0.5% 22%

Marc Jacobs 116,011 1.5% 141,032 1.8% 22%

Gucci 989,255 12.7% 1,119,241 14.2% 13%

Fendi 42,091 0.5% 46,993 0.6% 12%

Alexander Wang 7,220 0.1% 7,938 0.1% 10%

Versace 47,115 0.6% 51,586 0.7% 9%

Moncler 3,008 0.0% 3,280 0.0% 9%

Mulberry 21,037 0.3% 22,466 0.3% 7%

Total Visits YoY

Growth

ONLINE MARKET SHARE – YOY GROWTH

11

Predictably, smaller sites top the list of fast-growing online luxury brands, as higher growth rates tend

to be more common at that end of the scale. The one exception is MichaelKors.com—it is both

the third-largest site in total online market share, and a top 5 site for YoY growth.

Data source: Experian Hitwise North America

Reasons to smile:

Michael Kors Holdings

Ltd. successful IPO.

Ten seasons of

Project Runway

MichaelKors.com

nearly doubles traffic

in one year.



ONLINE DEMOGRAPHICS – AGE

12

Data source: Experian Hitwise North America, 12 Rolling Weeks Ending 7/28/2012

*Luxury Brands is a custom category defined by PM Digital.

Online luxury brands

attract younger visitors

than apparel and

accessories sites in

general. 44% of luxury

visitors are 18-34.

Popular culture embraces

luxury brands as symbols of

success, helping them

resonate with younger

consumers, including

aspirational shoppers.

Michael Kors—at once a

luxury brand, celebrity and

fashion designer—

personifies this dynamic, and

reaches a conspicuously

large share of the youngest

online demographic.



ONLINE DEMOGRAPHICS – HOUSEHOLD INCOME

13



Average household

income of visitors to

online luxury brands

looks a lot like that of the

broader Apparel and

Accessories category.

Some brands are more

adept at attracting high-

income internet users;

these include Jimmy Choo,

Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel

and Ralph Lauren.

What about tablet & mobile users?

Demographic data here is sourced

from traditional web traffic, and does

not include mobile. Research has

shown that smartphone and tablet

users tend to have higher incomes,

so as luxury consumers increasingly

migrate traffic to smaller devices,

brands must be ready to greet them.



Clickstream:

Top Sources of Traffic



KEY SOURCES OF TRAFFIC

15

^Shopping Sites corresponds to Experian Hitwise’s Shopping &

Classifieds category.

*Comparison Shopping sites is a custom category defined by PM

Digital.

Search engines account for the largest share of traffic to luxury sites, well more than

one-third of all visits.


Shopping sites (mainly online retailers)

are next in line after search engines,

referring one-third of visits to luxury

brand sites. This is indicative of the

tendency of online shoppers to visit many

different stores.

Most traffic from other stores can

be classified one of three ways:

general apparel, department store,

or another luxury brand.

Site

July 2012

Clicks

Search Engines 37.09%

Shopping Sites^ 33.17%

Apparel & Accessories 16.49%

Department Stores 8.14%

Luxury Brands 4.96%

Social Networking and Forums 7.61%

Email Services 4.13%

Comparison Shopping* 2.36%

Key Sources of Traffic



KEY SOURCES OF TRAFFIC TRENDS

16

In 2012, search engines

reasserted their lead over

shopping sites to again

become the largest single

source of traffic to luxury

brand sites.

Traffic from other stores

surged during holiday.

Most key traffic sources are

seasonally variable and may

fluctuate week to week.

Social media accounts for

nearly as much luxury

brand web traffic as

department stores (which

compete directly with

brands for the luxury goods

consumer).

^Shopping Sites corresponds to Experian Hitwise’s Shopping & Classifieds category, which is mainly comprised of

online retailers.

*Comparison Shopping is a custom category defined by PM Digital.


Holiday cross-shopping wanes; search regains status as #1 traffic driver.



Site

July 2012

Clicks

Macy*s 1.89%

eBay 1.63%

Nordstrom 1.15%

Amazon.com 1.10%

Neiman Marcus Online 0.79%

Coach 0.71%

Saks Fifth Avenue 0.61%

Zappos.com 0.50%

Bloomingdale's 0.47%

Hollister 0.34%

Dillard's 0.29%

Old Navy 0.28%

BergdorfGoodman.com 0.28%

Abercrombie & Fitch 0.24%

GAP 0.23%

Levi's USA 0.19%

True Religion Brand Jeans 0.19%

Juicy Couture 0.18%

American Eagle Outfitters 0.18%

Tory Burch 0.17%

Shopping Sites^

TOP REFERRING SITES BY SOURCE

17

Google was the top referring

site in July for luxury brand

sites, accounting for 29% of

traffic—this was 10x the

clicks from Bing.

Facebook was the second

highest traffic driver, with

almost 4% of clicks.

Yahoo! properties jointly

beat Facebook, accounting for

nearly 7% of referrals via

search, email, comparison

shopping and various smaller

Yahoo! assets.

^Other Shopping Sites corresponds to Experian

Hitwise’s Shopping & Classifieds category.

*Comparison Shopping is a custom category

defined by PM Digital. Data source: Experian Hitwise North America

Site

July 2012

Clicks

Google 28.74%

Yahoo! Search 3.09%

Bing 2.80%

AOL Search 0.60%

Ask 0.47%

Search Engines

Site

July 2012

Clicks

Facebook 3.88%

YouTube 1.92%

Twitter 0.49%

Pinterest 0.32%

Tumblr 0.09%

Google+ 0.08%

Yelp 0.06%

Instagram 0.05%

BlackPlanet.com 0.05%

Tagged 0.04%

Social Media

Site

July 2012

Clicks

Yahoo! Mail 1.86%

Gmail 1.06%

Aol Mail 0.83%

Windows Live Mail 0.37%

Email Services

Site

July 2012

Clicks

Yahoo! Shopping 0.33%

DesignerApparel.com 0.32%

ShopStyle 0.27%

NexTag 0.19%

bizrate 0.18%

BuyCheapr 0.17%

Shopzilla 0.16%

Bing Shopping 0.16%

Comparison Shopping*



Search



VISITS FROM SEARCH BY BRAND

19

Luxury brands rely more

on search engine traffic

than the average Apparel

and Accessories site.

At the same time, luxury

brands also rely slightly

less on paid search.

At the other extreme,

a few brands rely so

heavily on paid search

that SEO strategy

seems neglected.

^Apparel and Accessories is a category defined

by Experian Hitwise.

*Luxury Brands is a custom category defined

by PM Digital.

Data source: Experian Hitwise North America,

July 2012

Several highly visible

luxury brands get

disproportionately

large shares of

search traffic—and

yet skip paid search

completely—a

strategic vulnerability

since search engines

often change organic

algorithms, potentially

resulting in lost ranking

and traffic.



TOP REFERRING SEARCH ENGINES

20

Not only is Google the top referring site for luxury brands, but that traffic is trending upwards.

The share of visitors from Google to luxury brand sites ranged from 25%-33% over the past year.


In late July, Bing

surpassed Yahoo! for

the first time in a year

to become a slightly

larger source of traffic

to luxury brand sites.

Whether Bing holds onto

this lead over its partner

search engine remains

an open question.

The two engines referred

between 2%-5% of traffic

each over the past year.



TOP SEARCH TERMS FOR LUXURY BRAND SITES

21

For online retail broadly, brand name

search clicks beat non-brand search

clicks by a mile, and luxury retail is no

different.

The names of luxury brands whose

websites see the greatest traffic overall

also shine brightest amidst the

constellation of keywords and clicks that

drive search traffic to the category.

Luxury Brands is a custom category defined by PM Digital.


A Tale of Two Brand Words

“louis vuitton” is the #1 search term

among luxury brand sites, but has zero

paid clicks.

“ralph lauren” grabs nearly the same

share of clicks as “louis vuitton,” but

most of them are paid.

Search Terms

Search

Clicks % Paid

louis vuitton 7.81% 0%

ralph lauren 7.75% 61%

michael kors 6.52% 35%

gucci 5.11% 62%

polo 3.06% 63%

christian louboutin 1.96% 2%

burberry 1.91% 71%

chanel 1.76% 48%

polo ralph lauren 1.74% 31%

hermes 1.10% 56%

jimmy choo 0.96% 38%

dolce and gabbana 0.81% 40%

prada 0.80% 22%

fendi 0.75% 0%

polo outlet 0.74% 50%

michael kors handbags 0.71% 18%

salvatore ferragamo 0.70% 1%

versace 0.70% 0%

polo.com 0.63% 76%

gucci.com 0.61% 69%

louis vuitton handbags 0.59% 0%

hermes.com 0.58% 93%

ysl 0.57% 65%

bottega veneta 0.52% 100%

marc jacobs 0.51% 25%

channel 0.38% 36%

michael kors watches 0.38% 34%

louis vuitton official website 0.38% 0%

alexander mcqueen 0.38% 56%

www.louisvuitton.com 0.37% 0%

Top Search Terms



Top 5 Sites

Search

Clicks % Paid

Chanel.com 59.22% 49%

Coach.com 5.05% 0%

Facebook.com 4.98% 32%

Wikipedia.org 2.86% 5%

YouTube.com 2.63% 18%

search term: "chanel"

Top 5 Sites

Search

Clicks % Paid

Hermes.com 60.69% 55%



lightspeed.dickinsonisd.org 3.71% N/A

Bluefly.com 2.90% 100%

search term: "hermes"

Top 5 Sites

Search

Clicks % Paid

MichaelKors.com 62.78% 35%

michaelkors-handbags.us 3.83% 67%

Macys.com 2.54% 73%

Bloomingdales.com 1.54% 99%

Zappos.com 1.47% 1%

search term: "michael kors"

Top 5 Sites

Search

Clicks % Paid

Burberry.com 69.20% 65%

NeimanNarcus.com 7.38% 100%

LATimes.com 4.25% N/A

Nordstrom.com 4.10% 90%

SaksFifthAve.com 2.12% 100%

search term: "burberry"

Top 5 Sites

Search

Clicks % Paid

Gucci.com 80.29% 61%



NeimanNarcus.com 2.63% 100%

ListVerse.com 2.08% N/A

search term: "gucci"

Top 5 Sites

Search

Clicks % Paid

RalphLauren.com 81.15% 61%

Macys.com 3.32% 11%


RLHome.Polo.com 1.66% N/A

RalphLauren.fr 1.13% N/A

search term: "ralph lauren"

Top 5 Sites

Search

Clicks % Paid

LouisVuitton.com 50.86% 0%


LouisVuitton.eu 3.42% 0%

BagBorrowOrSteal.com 2.62% 85%


search term: "louis vuitton"

PAID & ORGANIC SEARCH WORK TOGETHER

TO MAXIMIZE BRAND TERM OWNERSHIP

22

Exhibit A: LouisVuitton.com

owns 50% share of “louis vuitton”

search clicks. None are paid.


Exhibit B: Leading

luxury competitors own

up to 80% of search

clicks for their brand

terms. All do at least

some paid search.

Verdict? Search strategies

are not one-size-fits-all, but

data here suggests that

LouisVuitton.com is leaving

some search traffic on the

table while ceding click share

for its trademarked brand

name to other sites.



Individual Keywords

Search

Clicks % Paid

shoes 3.53% 28%

handbags 2.87% 19%

outlet 2.37% 44%

men 1.80% 36%

shirts 1.40% 62%

women 1.29% 54%

bags 1.21% 49%

purses 1.00% 47%

sunglasses 0.95% 47%

watches 0.94% 47%

bag 0.93% 9%

sale 0.89% 19%

store 0.78% 41%

belt 0.63% 13%

clothing 0.59% 38%

mens 0.57% 55%

official 0.53% 4%

clothes 0.52% 17%

website 0.52% 0%

baby 0.50% 11%

perfume 0.44% 30%

2012 0.44% 50%

kids 0.40% 61%

dress 0.40% 46%

designer 0.35% 53%

shirt 0.34% 45%

online 0.33% 50%

bedding 0.33% 71%

leather 0.33% 55%

black 0.31% 51%

Non-Brand

TOP INDIVIDUAL KEYWORDS FOR LUXURY BRAND SITES

23

Shoes and handbags remain the most

popular products driving search

clicks for luxury brands, followed by

sunglasses and watches, as search

data broken out into component

keywords reveals.

As “handbags” drive less than 1% of

clicks to general apparel and accessories

sites, this product occupies a uniquely

central focus for luxury brands.

Dresses and shirts are the most clicked-

on clothing terms for luxury brands.

Bold = product words

Other keywords

indicate that

successful

searchers were

looking for

gender-specific

and current-

season (“2012”)

items, sales, and

store locations

including outlets.

The word “official” making this

list reveals a desire to connect

directly with luxury brands—

rather than via resellers.

Luxury Brands is a custom category defined by PM Digital.




Social Media



VISITS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA BY BRAND

25

Social media’s importance to luxury

brand sites is considerable—it

drives nearly 8% of traffic. This

roughly parallels social traffic to the

average Apparel and Accessories site.

As with search, we see smaller sites

relying the most on social media

traffic.

^Apparel and Accessories is a category defined by Experian Hitwise.





TOP REFERRING SOCIAL SITES

26

Even accounting for

Twitter’s mobile traffic

(also not reflected in this

trend line, but reportedly

equal to its web traffic),

it remains a niche

source of traffic. Data source: Experian Hitwise North America

Facebook is still the most important social media traffic driver for luxury brands. YouTube is

also important, especially with video’s ability to bring fashion directly from the runway to the consumer.

Facebook’s traditional web-

based traffic is increasingly

being supplanted by mobile

traffic. The company reports

that its active mobile users

grew 67% this year. (This

chart shows traditional web

traffic only.)



TOP REFERRING SOCIAL SITES

27


Social media traffic is diversifying beyond Facebook. Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram are all

new sources, and represent incremental traffic that didn’t exist even one year ago.

Pinterest is a fast-growing

new social source for

luxury brands which

integrates easily with other

social media. The emerging

platform is well suited for

luxury brands, as its visual

nature allows users to

admire, organize and share.

Instagram users primarily

interact via mobile apps and

splintered offshoot sites (e.g.

Webstagram, Gramfeed and

Instagreat). User numbers imply

that engagement is considerable,

though perhaps more walled off

from brand websites, rather than

being a direct traffic source.



FACEBOOK LIKE COUNTS

28

As social traffic starts to diversify, it’s good to remember that Facebook likes still outnumber followers

of other popular sites across the board. For luxury brands like Burberry and Gucci that are at the

forefront of social exploration, the order of magnitude can be 10s to 100s of times greater.

Data source: PM Digital Research & Analysis, September 2012

Burberry is by far the

largest luxury brand on

Facebook, followed by

Louis Vuitton, Dior and

Gucci.



FACEBOOK LIKE COUNTS – YOY GROWTH

29


Huge growth in Facebook likes

continues for many luxury brands.

Those with smaller online market

share like Bally, Fendi and Proenza

Schouler saw the greatest growth.

Michael Kors saw its Facebook

audience grow by 275% YoY, no

small feat for a huge online brand that

still managed to nearly double its web

traffic this past year. Surely Kors’

social presence helped grow web

traffic, and vice-versa.

A definitive luxury brand with a large

online presence, Louis Vuitton also

stood out with 185% YoY growth in

Facebook likes.

Facebook PageSept 2011

Likes

Sept 2012

LikesYoY Growth

Bally 30,592 170,540 457%

Fendi 318,281 1,750,582 450%

Proenza Schouler 29,169 110,319 278%

Michael Kors 399,525 1,499,579 275%

Givenchy 94,922 335,366 253%

Louis Vuitton 3,269,857 9,323,683 185%

Valentino 90,561 239,885 165%

Bottega Veneta 96,658 240,843 149%

Chloé 272,993 667,014 144%

Donna Karan 63,352 154,031 143%

Prada 798,887 1,898,606 138%

Mulberry 56,390 122,141 117%

Salvatore Ferragamo 104,995 211,578 102%

Jean Paul Gaultier 104,129 208,971 101%

Armani 1,716,359 3,396,361 98%

Emilio Pucci 31,758 61,323 93%

Moschino 53,633 103,535 93%

Hermès 385,275 720,079 87%

Miu Miu 193,832 361,146 86%

Alexander McQueen 426,366 792,557 86%

Stella McCartney 115,276 213,423 85%

Oscar de la Renta 223,799 411,097 84%

Dior 5,168,679 9,208,345 78%

Versace 563,959 998,266 77%

Dolce & Gabbana 3,300,640 5,783,992 75%

Sergio Rossi 40,309 70,048 74%

Yves Saint Laurent 651,185 1,127,551 73%

Longchamp Paris 379,869 657,548 73%

Gucci 5,343,328 8,986,666 68%

Louboutin 801,034 1,340,657 67%

Burberry 8,417,627 13,462,768 60%



OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA COUNTS

30


On Google+ and Instagram, top luxury brands look similar to those on Facebook, with Burberry

leading on all three. On Twitter, Dior has taken the lead this year.

Pinterest followers are far fewer,

but pinning only took off this

year. With the importance of

captivating images to luxury

brands, this may soon grow.



SOCIAL – MICHAEL KORS

31


The tremendous growth in Facebook likes for Michael Kors is no doubt due in part to his long-

running involvement with Project Runway.

Facebook post

introduces the

Fall 2012

collection via

YouTube.

Omnichannel

Michael Kors:

August 2012 print

catalog was also

uploaded and

browse-able online;

“Star” campaign

theme integrated

across catalog and

social media.



SOCIAL – MICHAEL KORS (CONTINUED)

32


The Michael Kors Pinterest page has the most followers (49,087) and the most boards (30) among

the luxury brand sites in this study. In addition to boards focused on products, Kors offers one

dedicated to Karaoke (primarily on YouTube) offering a glimpse into the designer’s personality.



SOCIAL – LOUIS VUITTON

33

Louis Vuitton saw large Facebook audience gains in October and March, corresponding with new

seasonal collections. One involved a Marc Jacobs collaboration.


Facebook posts promoting Spring Summer

2012 Collection and live fashion show.

Louis Vuitton –

Marc Jacobs

Exhibition in Paris.

A Day of Live Events on YouTube.



SOCIAL – LOUIS VUITTON (CONTINUED)

34

Louis Vuitton has also used social media to promote specific marketing initiatives like pop-up

stores. Here, a collaboration with the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

Facebook post promoting

the opening of pop-up store. Twitter post features campy “Spot

the Difference” videos. Videos star

fashion blogger Bip Ling acting out

a poem written by Kusama, and are

designed to promote London's

Selfridges pop-up.




SOCIAL – LOUIS VUITTON (CONTINUED)

35

Louis Vuitton has a worldwide Twitter account, as well as several country accounts. Most

followers (369,129) are for @LouisVuitton_US; another 256,084 follow the worldwide account.


Twitter post promoting Pinterest.



SOCIAL – BURBERRY

36

Much has been written about Burberry’s social media success. Burberry reached 10 million

Facebook likes by the end of 2011, and has since added 3-million-plus. Much of its growth comes

from sharing lots of unique and varied content across various social networking platforms.

Handwritten note from Burberry’s CCO

Christopher Bailey inviting fans to watch a

fashion show. Post with show link below. Post

celebrating

Facebook

milestone.

Other sample posts with behind the scenes

music from ad campaign, gift ideas.




SOCIAL – BURBERRY (CONTINUED)

37

Burberry currently has 17 Boards on Pinterest, covering categories like in-season women’s and

men’s wear, children’s apparel, accessories, and its iconic trench. There are currently 1,000+ pins

and 12,126 followers.




SOCIAL – BURBERRY (CONTINUED)

38

With 1,218,399 followers, @Burberry is also near the top of all luxury brands with Twitter. Like

Louis Vuitton, in addition to this main brand identity, the company operates several targeted country

accounts as well as a separate @BurberryService handle.




SOCIAL – DIOR

39

Dior is also active in social media, with the third largest Facebook following, and the biggest

Twitter following. Sample posts promote the latest collections and connect via celebrities.


Fashion show and

behind the scenes.

Links to DiorMag.com. Celebrities wearing Dior at

the Golden Globe Awards.

Notable attendees at the

Christian Dior Haute

Couture Spring-Summer

2012 show.



SOCIAL – GUCCI

40

Gucci’s social presence is among the most diversified and integrated.


In honor of World

Humanitarian Day,

Gucci shared UNICEF’s

link featuring Beyoncé.

Facebook post links to

“Making of Adv Campaign”

on YouTube.

Pinterest board celebrates Gucci’s legacy.

Fashion show on

GucciConnect.com,

integrated live via

Facebook and

Twitter.



SOCIAL – PRADA

41

With nearly 1.9 million likes, Prada has the ninth largest Facebook following. Amazingly, Prada

was a late adopter of Facebook, having joined only this year in January 2012. Prior to this, an

unauthorized “Prada” page had approximately 800,000 likes (roughly a year ago). Garnering over 1

million additional followers, its growth continues. Prada is not currently using Twitter to communicate

with its brand enthusiasts.




SOCIAL – RALPH LAUREN

42


Ralph Lauren has 24 boards on Pinterest highlighting its Ralph Lauren Collection as well as its

various brands (from Purple Label, Black Label, Blue Label to mass-market lines Polo, Lauren, Home,

Paint, etc.) In addition to the official presence (with 1,310 followers), there are 100s of user-generated

boards like “I Love Ralph Lauren!”



SOCIAL – RALPH LAUREN (CONTINUED)

43


Twitter post celebrating Labor

Day holiday links to Instagram.

Ralph Lauren outfitted the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team and used various social channels to engage

with its audience around support for the athletes.

For every message sent

from Facebook to the

athletes, the company

donated $1 (up to

$25,000) to the USOC.

Links to film on YouTube: In Their Own Words.



Tablet & Mobile



TABLET & MOBILE APPS – INSTAGRAM

45

Newer technology like social photo sharing app Instagram is also being explored by luxury

brands. The majority (60%) of luxury retailers in this study has a presence. Like with Facebook,

Burberry is leading the pack with the most followers (514,000). Marc Jacobs follows with 318,000.

Michael Kors, Gucci, Stella McCartney, and Alexander McQueen all have 100,000+ followers.

Chanel photo from

backstage at Fall-Winter

2012/13 Haute Couture.

The visual nature of Instagram provides an ideal platform for luxury brand marketers

to further engage with consumers and allow fans to create and spread images.




TABLET & MOBILE APPS – INSTAGRAM (CONTINUED)

46

Diane von Furstenberg joined Instagram in August 2012 and immediately promoted a shopping

spree.

Launch promoted via Twitter.




TABLET & MOBILE APPS – DOLCE & GABBANA

47

Dolce & Gabbana’s app is landscape-oriented, and allows users to access women’s wear, men’s

wear, store locations and news via social media feeds.

In addition to presenting

the collections, app

includes fashion show

runway galleries, videos,

and backstage extras.




TABLET & MOBILE APPS – GUCCI

48

Following the introduction of its Gucci Style app, the Italian brand has added mobile checkout

to enhance its in-store shopping experience. Luxury Daily reported that Gucci has equipped store

associates at select locations with Apple iPhone 4S devices that contain a mobile point-of-sale program

to process sales, email receipts to customers, access the Gucci Style app and use a translator and

currency convertor on the spot. The brand is gradually implementing the app in select branded stores

in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Gucci promotes its “shoppable magazine” in email.

Gucci’s point of sale app. Facebook post promoting the

most recent issue of Gucci Style.




TABLET & MOBILE APPS – PRADA & CHANEL

49

2012 Tokyo Fashion show

is available for download on

iPad and PC.

Chanel J12 app is dedicated

to the latest models of the

watch collection.




TABLET & MOBILE APPS – LOUIS VUITTON

50

Louis Vuitton does not have a shopping app, instead devoting this technology to experiential

pursuits. It most recently launched a 100 Legendary Trunks app for iPad, which has been described

as a history lesson of sorts. Exploring the legacy of the brand, it includes unpublished texts and

documents, videos, sound clips and images. Other apps are focused on travel and image filtering.

Louis Vuitton’s free

Kusama Studio app

allows image filtering

(below promoted on

Facebook).

100 Legendary Trunks app sells

for $18.99, a departure from other

apps from Louis Vuitton and other

luxury brands, which are free.

Amble travel app from Louis Vuitton.




Comparison

Shopping Sites



COMPARISON SHOPPING SITES

52

Comparison shopping sites collectively account for 2%-4% share of traffic to luxury brand

sites, and become more important seasonally. Since department stores and other multi-brand

retailers work with comparison shopping sites directly, while luxury brand sites largely do not, this

undoubtedly raises pressures on brands to avoid losing market share at peak times of year—

especially to discounters.

Comparison shopping

sites see their share of

traffic surge during key

holiday weeks, and

again in late January—

last season’s traffic

peaked twice at 4% of all

luxury brand site visits.




GOOGLE SHOPPING & PRODUCT LISTING ADS

53

The merger of Google Product Listing Ads with Google Shopping

elevates the prominence of graphically compelling ads on the

search results page. Luxury brands likely get top placement for

many of their products on regular Google search ads; they ought to

consider efforts to do the same for Google Shopping. Competitors are

already present.




Email



VISITS FROM EMAIL SITES BY BRAND

55

Luxury brand sites continue to

under-leverage email as an online

traffic driver despite its proven

ability to reach brand loyalists at

targeted times of year, such as when

new collections debut.

Most luxury brands have room to

grow email traffic—one third of

brands examined in this study had

no measurable email traffic share at

all, and another third lag behind.

^Apparel and Accessories is a category defined by Experian Hitwise.



Diane von Furstenberg

and Stella McCartney

see notably large

shares of email traffic.



TOP REFERRING EMAIL SITES

56

Yahoo! Mail remains the

largest traffic-driver for

luxury brand sites

among web-based

email providers. Its

traffic share can rival that

of Yahoo! search as well

as Bing, and it outpaces

Twitter and Pinterest.


The share of visits that luxury brands get from email sites varies seasonally, and undoubtedly

increases with targeted campaigns. 24/7 access to email on smaller devices could play a key role as

mobile commerce grows. Its targetability is already complementary to the branding power of mobile

display ads and apps.



EMAIL – FASHION SHOWS

57

Provides links to

videos, galleries

and articles. 2012 Tokyo Fashion Show

live on Prada.com.

Paris-Bombay show on Chanel.com.

Women’s Fall/Winter

2012-2013 Collection

As part of integrated marketing communications, luxury brand sites use email to announce

new collections, for branding and to provide “insider” content.




EMAIL – ANNOUNCEMENTS

58

New Houston Galleria store opening.

New Fendi Kids website.

Includes link to “Watch

Behind the Scenes.”

$1,000 shopping spree promoted to

those who engage with the Fall 2012

Rendez-Vous collection on Instagram.

Email is an effective way to share news, including new product lines and locations, as well as

contests and offers with brand loyalists.




EMAIL – YEAR-END HOLIDAYS

59

Holiday email typically offered complimentary 2 day shipping.

Luxury brands use email to promote specific items and incentives during year-end holidays.

Holiday campaign with limited

time free ground shipping.

Gucci also announced its Holiday 2011 “Giving Back”

initiative to donate to UNICEF’s Schools for Africa.




EMAIL – OTHER HOLIDAYS

60

Chanel and Fendi sent Valentine’s Day greetings via email. Father’s Day email

offered complimentary

ground shipping.

Aside from promoting specific items, email is used to strengthen relationships at various times

of year.




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61

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trend report: luxury brands online

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