It's a gloomy, overcast day in midtown Manhattan, but shoppers persevere inside Saks Fifth Avenue. Lisa Roth of New York City examines herself in the mirror as she lifts her arms sheathed in a beaded cream-colored Vera Wang wedding gown. She shakes her head: "I won't be able to dance." Two blocks away at the Coach (COH) store, a saleswoman straightens a display of retro handbags while customers breathe in the rich scent of leather that hangs in the air.
Purchasing high-end goods is about more than just a transaction. When consumers shop for a Fendi clutch or a Hermes scarf, they're buying privilege, quality and luxury. They're also purchasing an experience: fingering the cashmere and silk, lingering over the choice of color, examining the craftsmanship. "For high-ticket items, you want to be able to touch what you're buying," says Arlene Brickner, VP of creative services at Coach.
Why, then, have retailers like Coach and Vera Wang built Web sites? It's all about marketing. An increasing number of fancy designers and purveyors of fine goods have found that a Web site can be a powerful tool for creating awareness, if not necessarily a vehicle for sales. Shoppers generally prefer to buy luxury goods in person, but many are now browsing - and being enticed - online.
But not any old site will do. For a Web site to drive traffic to Tiffany's, Holly Golightly must want to spend time online as well as on Fifth Avenue. "If you're going to use the Internet for brand awareness," says Heather Dougherty, online retail analyst at Jupiter Research, "product presentation has to be well executed."
Although some luxury-goods Web sites, such as Coach.com, are upscale e-commerce destinations, most, like VeraWang.com, are more like electronic brochures. Wang's homepage features an elegant young woman in a floor-length strapless gown gazing at her reflection in a mirror. The site has the style and panache of a fashion magazine. Likewise, the Versace site displays a colorful Flash-based series of runway shots with techno music thumping in the background.
One strategy exclusive retailers adopt is to ensure that their Web sites dovetail with ad campaigns and other promotions. In January, Coach's site echoed its ad celebrating '60s designer Bonnie Cashin. In February, when the stores shifted to a Valentine's Day motif, the site followed suit. "We try to have a very consistent message online and in print," says Coach's Brickner.
Measuring the impact of product-marketing Web sites is difficult. After all, there are usually no shopping carts and therefore no sales figures to measure. But the value of these sites is apparent to retailers. Saks bridal consultant Sasha Watkins says customers routinely arrive toting printouts from various Web sites.
"For every dollar spent online," says Dougherty, "there's an additional $7 spent offline as a result of [Web] research." Which means a well-designed site can be the ticket to in-store sales of even the priciest goods.
