Luxury Online Stores

Despite the impressive growth in both, the luxury sector in general and luxury online sales in particular, a vast number of luxury brands is still hesitant to operate own e-boutiques. Generally, many luxury marketers doubt the compatibility of luxury with the World Wide Web due to the so-called "Internet dilemma" of luxury brands: The Internet is characterized by the ubiquity of its offering and maximum price transparency. The status of luxury brands, on the other side, is based on their exclusivity and a premium price. Nevertheless, research seeking to resolve the Internet dilemma is scarce. Thus, luxury brand managers lack guidance when it comes to the creation of a compelling luxury shopping experience for the growing online customer segment. This work makes a step towards filling this gap. It contributes to the extant literature through the identification of luxury-specific web characteristics. Designing luxury e-boutiques that are aligned with these characteristics enables luxury brands to drive sales growth without the risk of diluting their exclusive status.

Autorentext

Dinara Rosow, MSc in General Business Administration at the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar. Further studies in Business Administration, Economics and Political Science at the Copenhagen Business School and the Institut d'études politiques de Paris.