Video calls, personal shopper services, making sales on social media – pandemic forces luxury brands such as Prada, Louis Vuitton and Moncler into ‘distance selling’
- Gismondi 1754 sold a US$359,000 diamond ring to a wealthy Swiss client via social media; meanwhile Moncler streamed video of its latest jacket collection
- Other luxury brands have turned store assistants into personal shoppers for their biggest clients, or sent curated collections for VIP customers to pick from
As Italy entered a new coronavirus lockdown and shut shops in March, Genoa-based jeweller Gismondi 1754 turned to messaging service WhatsApp to sell a €300,000 (US$359,000) diamond ring to a wealthy Swiss client.
At the same time, sales assistants at luxury puffer jacket brand Moncler were arranging gourmet dinner deliveries to customers’ homes so they could dine in style while watching a video streaming of the brand’s latest collection.
The pandemic has forced luxury goods companies to use social media, video and virtual showrooms to woo their wealthy customers in Europe and keep them shopping at a time when tourists, especially from China, have been absent for more than a year.
Retailers reopened in Britain and most of Italy on Monday, but they remain shut in France and access is restricted in Germany, where in Berlin, for example, a negative Covid-19 test is required to go into most shops.
Senior executives in the industry said this trend of selling outside the traditional store network, while not replacing the need for physical shops, is here to stay.