Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Innovation Calls!

Once upon a time, the keywords in luxury retail were "location, location, location". This was the era when gigantic retail cathedrals in the form of luxury stores were perceived as the key to the success of a luxury brand. Then the internet came along and everything changed. This new digital medium brought opportunities for luxury brands in e-retail, e-communications, digital and social media, online client management, brand awareness and image enhancement and several other forms of interaction. Today, several luxury brands have adopted the internet on different levels and degrees and some are already reaping its benefits. 

Yet the majority of luxury brands view the internet as a separate channel that is mutually exclusive to the real world. Until now, the general consensus in luxury land has been that the digital world exists in isolation to the physical world and that the strategies and approaches applied online should be only for the internet. How wrong!


The second misconception is that technology and innovation in luxury begins and ends with the internet. Again, how wrong! In reality, technology and innovation offer the luxury sector immeasurable opportunities both online and offline. For example, developments and breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence, Applied Technologies, Virtual Reality and Neuromarketing all offer avenues to take digital media and technology powered innovation to the real world. From retail to merchandizing, window displays, dressing rooms, social shopping, virtual dressing, mobile interactivity, product extensions and hunch engines, technology offers luxury endless possibilities to innovate through integrating the real with the virtual worlds.
How this can be achieved is a different story. For this reason, Club e-Luxe has made Innovation the topic of its next annual International Summit, to take place on 3rd June 2010 at the Ritz Hotel, Paris. The event will gather practicing luxury e-business experts, innovators, inventors and conceptors to present and analyze the key aspects of technology and innovation and their place in the luxury business of today, both online and offline. To find out more and to learn how to participate, click here.  

Luxury Online - Styles, Systems, Strategies will also be presented during this event with a book signing slated for the closing cocktail reception at the Ritz Paris private gardens. Looking forward to it!

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