Fashion brands fully embraced digitization: Digital Competitive Map

The “Digital Competitive Map – The Race is Speeding Up” was published this January by Contactlab, showing considerable improvements in global performance in the second semester of 2015 by over two third of the brands analysed.

The analysis was enhanced in this edition by two elements, namely checking the possibility of ordering a product online in New York stores and testing personalised advice services offered via online messaging, telephone or email. 85 qualitative and quantitative parameters, 17 criteria and 7 categories were used to position the brands along the two now familiar axes constituting the Digital Competitive Map: “Strategic Reach” and “Digital Customer Experience Proficiency“. All the reported data changes relate to the previous analysis, entitled “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, published in July 2015.
85 qualitative and quantitative parameters, 17 criteria and 7 categories were used to position the brands along the two now familiar axes constituting the Digital Competitive Map: “Strategic Reach” and “Digital Customer Experience Proficiency”. All the reported data changes relate to the previous analysis, entitled “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, published in July 2015.

The study demonstrated that Fashion & Luxury sector has fully embraced digitization. In particular, the increase of cross-channel and personalised services shows that many brands, from the organisational point of view, have overcome the historic fracture between e-commerce channels and physical stores.
A number of brands including Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Tod’s, Valentino and Prada have introduced innovative and functional personalised shopping services, for instance personal shoppers contactable via messaging services, telephone or email, including sales assistants in the establishment of personal relationships with customers via email (clienteling), the opportunity to book an appointment in store and offering “tailoring” services for made-to-measure clothing.
The presence of apps was also mapped, which circa two thirds of the brands analysed offer to their customers. Most choose to develop for iOS, with Android coming in at second place and just a few opting for Windows Phone.

As for most important marketplace, China is the focus of every brand when it comes to digital strategies for defending the online market (websites, emails, e-commerce), although 50% of brands are not on the Chinese online market (Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermès and Prada, for instance). Paying little attention to emerging markets can, however, result in the loss of business opportunities in countries considered to be highly promising, like Korea, UAE, Russia, Brazil and the giant that is India, a country that is rapidly embracing the world of luxury.