For years, the strategy of nearly every premium fashion designer aiming for the luxury segment has been similar: begin sales in one of the most prestigious boutiques and fashion houses. Stores such as:

• Harrods,
• Selfridges,
• Barneys,
• Bergdorf Goodman,
• Harvey Nichols,
• Neiman Marcus
• or Saks Fifth Avenue

are some of the most exclusive stores of this kind. Living off of clothes sales, all of them have operated their own online stores for years. They are a catalyst of new technologies for the luxury fashion industry, putting their emphasis on omnichannel retailing in order to adjust their business strategies to the changing market conditions. This is how traditional stores work right now and this is why you could try out interactive mirrors at Macy’s long before Rebecca Minkoff had them installed in her store.

Selfridges Online (Source: Selfridges.com, Printscreen – October 2015)

The first, still excisting online-only luxury clothing stores were Net-a-porter and Yoox (which acquired the former a few months ago), in operation since 2000. Today, there are many more. The most interesting one seems to be Farfetch – a worldwide community of 300 fashion boutiques selling luxurious clothing. It is one of the hottest startups, answering the needs of both customers and fashion brands. During 5 financing rounds, it was supported with $195 million by 19 investors. One of them is Conde Nast, a strong supporter of the startup’s activities. Today, the startup is valued at about $1 billion.

M-commerce and social media to the rescue of luxury brand retail