In the world of designer brands, a core group of stores has long resisted the pull of e-commerce. Wanting to remain both exclusive and elusive, designer powerhouses including Chanel, Marc Jacobs and Céline have rejected the digital world and only sold their products in their boutiques.
Yet it seems that the designer world is starting to crack; only a couple of weeks ago, French luxury-brand Chanel announced their plans to launch a form of e-commerce by the end of next year. However, they delivered this far more quickly. As of April 15th one can officially shop the new ‘Coco Crush’ range of jewellery from Chanel through the high-end online shopping site Net-A-Porter. Hoorah.
Coco Crush consists of six pieces of jewellery – five rings and a cuff – in 18-karat white and yellow gold. All feature the brand’s iconic quilted design, and are advertised as ‘exceptional styles’ that will ‘instantly elevate your favourite lace, denim or leather.’
This is the first time Chanel has ever sold anything other than sunglasses, cosmetics, skincare and fragrance online and by the looks of it, the strategy is proving successful: Just 12 hours after the e-commercial launch and the cuff, priced at £13,500, has already sold out. Fast work, Chanel.
Part of Chanel’s reasoning behind entering a partnership with Net-A-Porter is the quality of the digital shopping experience they have provided. Net-A-Porter has gone all-out to create their own digital pop-up shop on the website. This is only open for three weeks and so adds to the air of exclusivity. Along with the usual zoom/angle features we would expect when online shopping, the product description for each item includes a video of the piece being modelled, with care taken to show the intricate ‘Chanel’ inscription on the inside. This ‘Coco Crush world’ is also available on tablet and mobiles meaning that you can shop as and when you please.
So, what changed Chanel’s mind? It was after all just over a year ago that Chanel’s President of Fashion, Bruno Pavlovsky, justified the brand’s decision not to expand online, by explaining that: “Fashion is about clothing, and clothing you need to see, to feel, to understand. To be able to wear Chanel clothes, you need to try them on.”
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It appears that Chanel’s new dalliance with e-commerce is being framed as an “evolution to better serve customers.” Speaking recently with WWD, Pavlovsky recognised that many of Chanel’s current or potential customers do not have the time to go to visit their boutiques, and that having a range of products available online is more convenient. As a result, he describes how their new venture is “more e-service than a pure e-commerce approach.”
And it appears that Chanel is just the latest designer domino to fall to e-commerce, or rather e-service; Burberry, Moschino, Valentino and Yves Saint Laurent are just a few fashion powerhouses who have got on board in the past couple of years.
Fendi has also followed a similar path. Just a couple of months ago, Fendi released its plans to sell its high-end clothing and leather goods online on its own e-commerce site. Prior to this, it had, as Chanel has just done, only sold goods through sites such as Net-a-Porter and Bergdorf Goodman. However, after trialling an e-commerce site when celebrating the anniversary of its classic Baguette bag, it recognised the benefits of maximising its online potential.
There are of course, those who still resist. Despite being worn by some of the world’s most stylish women, Céline remains determined to avoid the temptations of e-commerce to the extent that the brand has neither a Twitter nor an Instagram feed. CEO Marco Gobbetti explains that this strategy has been employed to set Céline apart from its competitors. “I feel fashion has become overcrowded and has made a lot of noise on the Internet,” Gobbetti states, so “being quiet gives more value to what we do.”
In addition, Gobbetti echoes Pavlovsky’s original reservations about preserving the customer’s shopping experience: “We think it is important to touch the clothes—much of what is special is lost on e-commerce. We want to control what we do. We control from the design and the production. If we make mistakes they are our own.”
With these concerns in mind, we are left to speculate about what the future holds for Chanel and the luxury brand’s online presence. It is likely that it may follow a similar path as Fendi and branch out to its own e-commerce site in the near future. Evidently Chanel’s e-commerce escapades do not yet feature the sale of fashion, but with the ‘Coco Crush’ launch as successful as it currently is, surely this won’t be far away in the future. For the French power-house exclusivity is paramount. Whether this will be compromised by going online is something we will have to wait to find out.
