Luxury and digital a mismatched couple ?

The distribution of luxury brands is evolving day by day. The development of e-commerce and digital by the biggest brands in the sector has modified the buying process of customers. Indeed, they are no longer required to go to a boutique to buy a Dior bag or a Tiffany necklace costing more than $100,000. This shows the evolution of luxury that we all know, before the Covid crisis. A luxury that no longer exists totally. 

LUXURY AND DIGITAL

1 word, luxury. What does it mean to you? Luxury is something expensive that is pleasant to have but is not necessary. The interesting thing about luxury is that it remembers something different in each person. Luxury is defined by Geert and Veg-Sala as “a way of being, a way of living, but also a way of buying, consuming and using”.

            2^nd word is digital. Yes, in 2023, everyone knows what digital is. We use it in our daily life, with smartphones and social media.

When we put them together, the luxury and digital, it is not working, like a mismatched couple. Luxury is rarity and refinement, digital is profusion, free and standardization. It is avant-gardist by essence. Indeed, they were never supposed to meet. But it happened. Beyond the intrinsic utility that emerges from a luxury good or service, today’s consumers are indeed looking for experiences that are meaningful to them and that could give them pleasure. This is where digital comes in.

DIGITALIZATION OF LUXURY

Due to the Covid crisis in 2019, luxury industries have accelerated their digitalization. Even during a hard time between 2019 and 2020 luxury industries gain on their digital maturity. Online shopping represents more than 37% of luxury sales in 2021 because they were able to change and review their business model. Antonio Carriero from Breiling said: “Before Covid, e-Commerce was considered the icing on the cake, since then it has become the cake.” This clearly shows the impact of digital on luxury houses, it changed their mindset about digital.

Indeed, luxury houses previously felt a sense of incompatibility between their values and those related to the digital age. They have to find a good balance between the scarcity of their houses and the universality of digital.

RSISING OF WEB 3

With Web 3.0, data is no longer centralized on servers belonging to companies. It is decentralized and held by a community to which the user belongs. It is the principle of the blockchain that makes this possible. Indeed, blockchain reinforces the notion of digital trust. Pioneers in this field, crypto-currencies rely on this new technology, allowing financial transactions to be carried out outside the conventional banking circuit. But the potential applications of blockchain go far beyond virtual currencies.

This “new” internet has as master words, ownership, community, emotion, and immersion. It is also the new playground for luxury companies.

Web3 questions the nature of luxury, are we seeing the birth of a new luxury? The expressions of the luxury/digital couple have evolved according to the trends. First, luxury and digital are two different elements that everything opposes. The digital luxury, symbiosis and interdependence are established to arrive at Luxury 3.0 no difference between the two. Luxury 3.0 enriches traditional luxury with its new technologies.