I mentioned that luxury brands have
suffered plenty barrel and challenges in the article”Luxury Guilty”. These
companies may force to be changed because globalization and then they need to
give a direct communication to present their value to consumers. In a market
point of view, it is worth nothing that not just luxury industry but all
business type to focus on‘ customer equity ’ , ‘ lifelong customer value ’ and ‘
being customer-driven ’. so we can see which
industries move to this new evolution, for example, banks, insurance companies,
rental companies, credit cards, services and so on. Move into consumer market
or business to business.
The last brands to make a step in this their
price premium on the attractiveness
and fame of their own names, that is, on their
brand equity.direction have been brands that used to base. Thus, L’ Or é al Paris
started a customer relationship programme only in 2005, with the creation of a
database and with the associated customer relationship management (CRM) that
goes alongside. Last but not least, luxury brands are now starting to examine
the benefits of the ‘lifelong customer value ’ approach, beyond building the
social prestige of their names.
However, Luxury brands have a great and
unique fortune with which they can build customer relationships: they have
their own distribution outlets. So, do luxury brands need to think of building
a CRM program? And what critical they need to follow
WHY LUXURY BRANDS ARE MORE AND MORE
INTERESTED
IN CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Luxury companies, such as Rolex, Cartier,
Louis Vuitton or Chanel, have achieved outstanding and durable worldwide growth
over time, thanks to their heritage, to the prestige of their names and above
all to their taste for quality and their constant flow of creations. Still,
these brands now have to face many challenges:
Competition has got stronger and more complex.
Premium brands have worked on their
products and image, and have given birth to ‘ new luxury ’ – which now
threatens traditional luxury ’ s image and legitimacy, or at least blurs its boundaries.
Classic luxury brands have grown a lot themselves.
They are now selling evergrowing
product arrays on a worldwide scale, and
brands can have a tough time
controlling their image, or even their distribution.
Heavy licensing leading
to less control over their distribution channels
can damage their image in the
long run. Last but not least, customers
have changed. The development of ‘ new
money ’ as well as new buying habits (for
example, ‘ trading-up ’ ) makes it
more diffi cult for brands to address
new, chameleon-like customers. Even the
customers who love luxury now split their
expenses between a growing
number of brands, which can be luxury and
non-luxury brands, or even massmarket
brands such as Zara, Mango and so on.
LUXURY CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
MUST FOLLOW THE ‘ SHOPKEEPER ’ S BENCHMARK ’
To image that if we were a shop owner and
trying so hard to earn customers’ trust, what will we do? What if we are just
running one shop but plenty competitors are around us, what should we change to
face the challenge?
We can see what we call the ‘ shopkeeper ’
s benchmark ’ is a real guideline for luxury CRM. This case is that of a
shopkeeper in the 1950s, who has a restricted clientele, and who knows his
customers by name, remembers their tastes and preferences and addresses them in
a personalized way.
The shopkeeper does not only offer a very
qualitative product: he also initiates a long-term relationship that can go
beyond traditional, commercial interaction. Customers become more loyal: they
give particular value to signs of recognition and gratitude.This ‘ shopkeeper’
s benchmark ’ implies three distinct steps:
The first step is to identify customers. Welcoming
every customer with extreme politeness, calling loyal customers by their name, because
we present the brand and will show the brand ’ s good disposition to start a sincere,
bilateral relationship with its customers.
In luxury hotels, proofs of attention
represent the main part of the
experience.
The second step is to understand the
customer ’ s desires and expectations.
Companies must actively listen to their customers:
they cannot impose anything,
and should only offer relevant answers to
complex customer expectations.
All this can reach its acme with product
customisation – which is the root of prestigious companies like Louis Vuitton
or Aubercy.
The last step is to show the brand ’ s gratitude.
This will be a perfect way to
feed the relationship in the long run –
customers all have a variable ‘ lifetime value ’ .
to sum up, in this red ocean industry,
luxury brands need to find out what is the nature of them, what is the pure
value that they can provide to consumers. In addition, adding more unique characteristic
and extra feature base on their pure value.
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ReplyDeleteHi Benson,
ReplyDeleteI love this Blog's topic, one of the reasons is that I'm some of the luxury brands' VIP member ~ lol.
first thing I want to advice is about the size of your words in this blog... is too small for me to read (maybe is because I using the MAC 13inch PC?)
then, I would like to share my experiments about luxury products. LV and Chanel's Australian stores do lots of promoting, they send the ad email and mail me a new magazine seasonally. I agree with what you had mention in your blog that the luxury brands are getting more attention on CRM nowadays.
Cheers,
Rosa
this is copied from Cailleux et al (2006) Is CRM for luxury brands? Journal of Brand Management, 16 (5/6), pp. 406-412
ReplyDelete