Online Luxury: eLuxury's Missed Opportunity

LVMH-backed e-Luxury recently announced it is to cease its retail operations and will be transformed into an online luxury magazine. The official reason is "(...) because many of the brands it sells have developed their own online presences". Really? I can think of another pretty good reason why the site would fold. How about the fact that despite having the kind of unprecedented access to some of the most desirable luxury and fashion merchandise in the world and the kind of financial heft and expertise only a luxury empire of LVMH's magnitude can deploy, they never became the premiere destination for online luxury shopping they were once destined to become?

As a customer and committed online shopper, I can point to a number of issues with the site that failed to impress. How about the fact that despite being backed by the world's largest global luxury conglomerate, they would not ship outside the United States? In fact, not only would they not ship merchandise outside the U.S., they wouldn't even sell to you if your credit card didn't have a U.S. billing address. Isn't the opportunity to overcome geographical barriers and reach customers who may not otherwise have access to your products one of the most compelling arguments in favor of e-commerce? Why is it that in the nearly ten years of existence, they never extended their services beyond U.S. borders? By contrast, Net-A-Porter has been shipping globally virtually from the day the site was launched back in 2000. So too has BrownsFashion.com, the e-commerce site of London's influential multi-brand boutique. If these sites could do it, why couldn't eLuxury?

And, how about the fact that the site was just not that exciting a place to shop? The most successful e-commerce sites have understood the potential for innovation online and have aggressively pursued it. Compare for instance a shopping experience on eLuxury with a shopping experience on Net-A-Porter. Net-a-Porter goes considerably farther in terms of assisting clients with size and fit of garments (an essential service for any site that sells apparel) and offers countless suggestions for accessorizing and combining various pieces from different labels. Personal shoppers and style advisors are available to answer questions and assist you with your purchase. Similar services are available to customers on BrownsFashion.com. In this respect, these sites have fused the editorial content of a good fashion magazine with the services of a high-end boutique thus providing one hell of a fashion buzz.

Moreover, one senses that buyers for Net-A-Porter and BrownsFashion.com cast a genuine editorial eye over each season's top collections and buy only the very best from each designers' offerings. Customers therefore feel that when they buy from these e-tailers, they're getting cutting edge fashion with no compromises. Not so at eLuxury which, in the early days at least, often left me with the impression that their primary purpose was to move stock that was not selling in stores - Marc Jacobs bags in truly odd colors and Celine shoes available exclusively in size 39.5. In fairness, they did eventually expand both the range of merchandise and brands available but sadly, nothing ever really ignited my passion as a shopper.

But above all and perhaps most damning for a luxury retail site, they failed to successfully brand themselves. The site's look and feel looked and felt like any other retail site. Was I on BergdorfGoodman.com? Saks.com? In short, there was nothing special about it, no defining features, no magic that set it apart from the rest. In the rarified world of luxury, that was perhaps the most costly mistake of all. In the end, when you consider all that eLuxury potentially had to offer customers, you can't help but feel that a tremendous opportunity to shape online luxury shopping was bungled and ultimately lost.

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Comments

[anonymous]

Very good commentary since it always seemed e-Luxury suffered from a bizarre and incomprehensible merchandise strategy coupled with old fashioned website technology. The LVMH press release says they're pulling the plug on e-Luxury because so many of the brands have their own sites. This caused me to count the brands on e-Luxury. There are nearly 80. Only two have online retailing, Louis Vuitton and Dior, but the Dior online boutique does not even sell to the U.S. e-Luxury consumer. Clearly this tells a reasonable person that the press release is a smokescreen and we are left to consider this as a failure to understand the competition from Net-a-porter and Yoox (host of Marni and Pucci and more), but it seems there are other issues, perhaps internal LVMH political issues that did not let e-Luxury succeed ( at least they sold Lacroix and Kors).

[Helene]

Thank you Haute Retail.

I can't tell whether this plan to convert eLuxury into an online magazine is for real or whether it's a smokescreen designed to allow LVMH to withdraw and save face (to the extent that this is indeed possible under the circumstances). My hunch is the latter. Either way, it's really a shame. I for one would have liked to see the considerable resources, energy and talent at LVMH channelled into something truly innovative instead of the stale site and technology eLuxury became known for. Who knows? Perhaps they'll withdraw and come back later with a concept that is befitting their status as the world's largest luxury conglomerate.

Helene

[Haute Retail]

Excellent analysis.

I don't think this e-magazine venture is going to work. For one, can LVMH be trusted to give equal exposure to non-LVMH brands? Also, the internet is already saturated with luxury websites/blogs that are not bias.

[Helene]

Thanks for your comment Dahlia. FYI - there are a few more sites popping up. Take a look at MyTheresa.com (www.mytheresa.com) and IconicChich.com (www.iconicchic.com).

Helene

[Dahlia]

Couldn't have said it better. I was actually waiting for your take on eLuxury's downfall as I had never cared to even browse there at all.

Very good point in bringing up LVMH, I mean, they are THE top luxury group in the world, how could they have messed up this site's reputation so badly?? As far as an e-magazine, they'd really have to ante up the standards, because an e-magazine isn't going to bring in the dollars to replace an online retail business. It's a shame really, there are so few luxury online stores already, I love Net-a-porter, but I would like to see other emerging online luxury stores that can satisfy just as well.