Online Luxury Retail Caters To High End Clientele For Handbags and Fashion Shopping

Have you ever heard of Natalie Massenet? Or should I say Net-A-Porter? When Natalie Massenet was trying to raise money for a online luxury  retail fashion boutique, no one wanted to listen.  Investors were throwing  millions of the dollars (and in her case pounds)at almost any web company. Unfortunately  as soon as they heard the combination of  women, fashion and Internet  they turned up their noses at the opportunity. When will the world stop under estimating women? Online luxury retail is here to stay because woman are successful and have money to spend.They are busy and love the time savings offered by online luxury retail. They carry high end clothing, jewelry, shoes and handbags. In fact Reward yourself with Made in Italy fashion.

That didn't stop Ms. Massenet from opening a fantastically successful luxury brands online fashion store.Take note all aspiring online stores. What is the secret to the success  of  Net- A-Porter. Just  as in a normal brick and mortar store, a sales force is needed . Her store used  the greatest innovation in online marketing called affiliates. In the case of Net-A-Porter , affiliates are essentially an online sales force that only get paid when they send someone to your store and a purchase is made. They help get the word out.

Luxury Brands Online Shopping Is All The Rage

Other brand stores need to recognize that high end consumers want convenience of shopping online with a uncomplicated checkout, plenty of quality product pictures and comprehensive descriptions to make purchasing easy and uncomplicated. I can't understand why some brand names would pass up such a low risk way of bringing consumers to their sites .Public relations should now include affiliate marketing as a great strategy. Ms. Massenet announced an increase in sales, referencing 80.5 percent increase from 2004 . 400 orders per day and growing was reported from just the London office.  The  company currently has distribution centers in London and New York.New York was just opened this year.
The online luxury retail store attracts an average of 90 new customers a day from 101 countries (including Fiji and Greenland), who each spend an average of at least 700 dollars and then some.
The total of all U.S. online retail ­revenue is expected to top 200 billion dollars. Surprisingly apparel is one of the fastest growing. Europeans that purchase clothes online are expected to grow to 73 million by 2009. It is approximately 39 million at this time.It should not surprise the business world that millions are spent online  for luxury clothing,shoes,handbags and jewelry. 

Other Designer Online Luxury Retail Stores

Another one of the successful luxury brands online is  conglomerate  LVMH, the group that owns luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Celine, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Donna Karen, Dom Perignon, TAG Heuer  and  eLUXERY.This list does not mention all their brands.Believe me, it is a long and familiar list of designer brands. How about that for market share? At the time of this writing , the only place online one can purchase Louis Vuitton merchandise is at their authorized website eLUXERY. However many of their other brands are sold in Net-A-Porter. 


Another notable brand is Gucci.They have been selling online in the US for over three years. Gucci also sells high end clothing, jewelry,shoes and handbags.
Neiman Marcus.com and eLuxury.com are smart marketers at the online luxury retail game, but Net-a-Porter still has the edge. Ms Massenet 's site is a magazine with everything for sale and delivered worldwide within 48 hours. 

 High End Customers Love Special Attention

Many customers receive weekly notices by email when new products are available. Some are emailed to customers according to their favorite designers. Email is free and quite a cost effective way to pamper those that request to keep informed. Leave it to a woman to figure out what women want. A great selection of fabulous authentic online luxury retail , individualized attention and convenience all rolled into one online luxury retail store.

Christmas  shopping season will be the best ever for online luxury merchants. Wealthy and upscale shoppers are too busy making money in their own businesses too drive around and fight the Holiday shopping madness. Online Luxury retail is here to stay.