Designer labels such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton and DVF lead the way with sneak previews, exclusive app offers but there is room in this industry for more big hitters. http://www.exiconglobal.com/report-download/luxury-fashion
2. UPDATE INTRODUCTION
Part of a series of updates on how brands across major
industry sectors are embracing mobile as part of their digital,
markeCng or product strategy.
We have reviewed over 1000 branded mobile applicaCons
and summarized the key findings and trends to give you a
snapshot of who is doing what and how.
This update focuses on the Luxury Fashion Industry.
Other updates for brands will be available for the following
industries:
• AutomoCve (available now) • Banking & Finance
• Airline (available now) • FMCG
• Luxury Fashion (available now) • CosmeCcs
• Sportswear • Food & Beverage
• Luxury Goods • Alcoholic Beverages
• Retail • Hospitality
To automaCcally receive Exicon’s Branded App Updates,
subscribe at hWp://digital.exicon.mobi/reports
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3. OVERVIEW
Luxury fashion brands have
tradiIonally been reluctant to
embrace new forms of markeIng. Key
However, some of the big fashion ObservaIons
houses have made great strides over
the past few years.
Reluctance stems from concerns about: App
• EffecCveness of represenCng brand values Spotlights
• Maintaining exclusivity
• ProtecCng the overall brand experience
Luxury fashion brands have generally played it
safe, opCng for simple and elegant mobile Conclusion
applicaCons.
Future Trends
Shopping on mobile devices accounted for about
5% of US online sales in November, while last
year mobile shopping sales were too insignificant
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to measure. Coremetrics via New York Times
4. KEY OBSERVATIONS
1
1000+ branded apps reviewed to date
% share by industry
More fashion CosmeCcs
apps than other Airline
Fashion
industries
Hospitality 17%
17% of all the apps reviewed in our study
were branded fashion apps, the largest Alcohol
sector to date. Finance
Food & Beverage
The overall fashion category covers
luxury and high street apparel brands,
sports, shoes and outdoor gear. Luxury
Luxury
fashion brands made up 24% of the FMCG
Goods
overall branded fashion apps.
Retail AutomoCve
Many more shoppers are using their phones to
research items and compare prices before
making purchases offline or on computers.
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5. KEY OBSERVATIONS
2
78% of web video is encoded to play on apple
devices.
Techcrunch
The iPhone rules.
Apple’s operaCng system is definitely the
device of choice among luxury brands.
Not surprising considering it is the
coveted device among fashionistas and
celebriCes alike. Our research for luxury
brands in the BlackBerry and Android
store were fairly fruitless, the only
applicaCons available being 3rd party
apps, mostly just wallpapers, icons and
some mini games.
LV released first set of luxury iPhone cases in July
07. Want to guess prices? The Monogram Canvas
case will only set you back a measly US$250.
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6. KEY OBSERVATIONS
3 Err on the side of
cauIon.
This comes across in the simplicity of the
majority of luxury branded apps. Each
generally offers runway photographs and
video footage, a slideshow of the current
season catalog, a news feed, some
background history about the designer
and a store locator. Some, like Gucci and
Diane Von Furstenberg, include a few
novel elements.
Most shoppers sCll use their phones for finding nearby
stores or looking up reviews and comparing prices which
increasingly leads to mobile sales. Forrester Research
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7. KEY OBSERVATIONS
4
M‐commerce will reach US$119 billion in 2015,
that’s about 8% of the total e‐commerce market.
ABI Research
A lack of
m‐commerce
Not many luxury brands have a mobile or
mobile commerce‐enabled site. The top
3rd party fashion apps are either m‐
commerce enabled or use GPS to locate
the nearest store along with an exclusive
offer.
Mobile sites have proven effecCve at
driving traffic and aWendance in‐store,
brand awareness, user engagement and
customer loyalty.
Gilt Groupe has been quick to adopt apps enabling mobile
shopping. Their emphasis of limited Cme deals is perfect for
the mobile – accounCng for 10% of revenue, increasing to
nearly 20% on holidays and weekends. It’s one of Apple’s top
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8. APP SPOTLIGHT
Ralph Lauren
This is a good example of a typical luxury
fashion app. Ralph Lauren’s app includes
fantasCc behind‐the‐scenes video and
photo montages of the design and casCng
processes, archival runway footage and
interviews with the designer. Of all the
apps, its design is perhaps one of the
most elegant. However, without more
engaging elements, this app will easily be
discarded aner one use.
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9. APP SPOTLIGHT
Ralph Lauren
Make Your Own
Rugby
This Ralph Lauren app targeted to a
young adult demographic, integrates
social media with fashion design and
online shopping – it works well, and is
stylish. The designs are rich‐looking and
fun, and it gives budding fashion
designers and preps a way to exert their
creaCvity on some quality apre.
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10. APP SPOTLIGHT
Louis Vui`on
‘100 Legendary
Trunks’
This app is essenCally a pure brand
building exercise with no hint of
commerce. It is a celebraCon of Louis
VuiWon’s great adventure and is focused
on reinforcing the brand’s values and
heritage by showcasing the legendary LV
trunk via slick video presentaCons. It’s a
‘one Cme use’ app and would be beWer
suited as a mobile site.
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11. APP SPOTLIGHT
Gucci
Designed for both iPhone and iPad, this
app has a similar look and feel to Gucci’s
website, however does include some
exclusive features for the iPhone, such
‘sneak peeks’ into new fragrance and
children’s collecCon. Uniquely, this app
allows you to mix and record your own
music and listen to a selecCon of music
through the ‘Gucci Music Channel’, a
conCnuous 3 hour stream. You can also
access a playlist created by Frida
Giannini, Gucci’s creaCve director.
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12. APP SPOTLIGHT
Diane Von
Furstenberg
While many designers with apps remain
skepCcal about mobile commerce, DVF's
app allows users to shop via a "Looks We
Love" secCon or by thumbing through the
collecCons, but purchase requests are
limited to regular business hours. Unlike
other designer apps, DVF offers exclusive
DVF products to the app users and
connects the app with Facebook sharing
and DVF’s twiWerfeed.
"We already do so many things from our
phones, so shopping is a natural progression.”
Diane Von Furstenberg to W Magazine on her app
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13. FUTURE TRENDS
1
“iPad on pace to become one
of the most popular mobile
devices in history.”
Morgan Stanley
iPad Woos
Luxury Brands
The iPad is inspiring marketers to become
more ambiCous. With its large interacCve
screen, tablets like these are beWer
suited to luxury brand markeCng than
the smartphone, especially with their
affluent, educated, ‘early adopter’
customer profile.
Gucci is the first luxury brand to
embrace the iPad, with not one
but two applicaIons.
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14. FUTURE TRENDS
2 Embrace Word of
Mouth
Mobile is a highly interacCve medium
used for primarily personal and social
purposes. Fashionistas love to share and
comment, especially about their favorite
brands. Fashion brands need to capitalize
on this passion. A few brands like DVF
have this feature but the funcConality is
cumbersome. Luxury fashion brands are
having to learn that embracing dialogue
with their consumers can easily
emphasize and enhance the brand
experience. Though not a Luxury brand, Gap’s Stylemixer is a good
fashion app with added community funcCon that allows
users to share the custom looks created on the app.
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15. CONCLUSION
Luxury brands have put their toe in the water and found ways to leverage mobile
devices to allow for deep, rich experiences – both in apps as well as online.
The concern has tradiConally been that the brand potenCally loses its aura of ‘exclusivity’ in this arena.
However, with the rapid expansion of the iPad, marketers are being inspired to develop even more
ambiCous, creaCve applicaCons, driving the luxury fashion industry forward.
Now that luxury brands have had iniCal success, they need to conCnue integraCng mobile into their
broader campaign efforts to add real consumer value by creaCng a truly personalized experience with
the right message at the right place.
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16. WANT TO KNOW MORE?
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Other updates for brands will be
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Let us know which ciCes you’d be interested
industries.
in aWending and we’ll be in touch when
• AutomoCve (available now) • Banking & Finance we’re in your neck of the woods.
• Airline (available now) • FMCG
• Luxury Fashion (available now) • CosmeCcs Go to
• Sportswear • Food & Beverage hWp://digital.exicon.mobi/new/
• Luxury Goods • Alcoholic Beverages expediCon.php
• Retail • Hospitality
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