Paradox of luxury exclusivity in digital retailing

Today, the average luxury shopper engages with brands via multiple touchpoints, half or more of these are digital (McKinsey, 2018). A recent industry report shows that nearly 80% of luxury sales are “digitally influenced”, suggesting that the majority of consumers use digital channels before, during or after making their purchase; this emphasizes the importance of digital touchpoints on consumer’s luxury-shopping journeys as part of their shopping experience (McKinsey, 2018). In fact, all of top 10 luxury brands (London, 2019) are actively running their official websites, providing detailed images of the offerings with price specified, similar to what customers can find in an offline brand store. Among them, some brands (eg, Cartier) utilize 360-degree interactive product displays, allowing shoppers to freely interact in the digital sphere. Acknowledging the increasing digital presence and use of interactive technologies of …