Big News: Chanel is Finally Launching E-Commerce
Online shopping is, for some, one of life’s greatest joys but it looks like it’s about to get a little more dangerous, at least for Chanel devotees: After refraining from selling its goods online, the luxury brand is reportedly planning to launch e-commerce. Yes, that means sometime in the near future, you’ll be able able to impulse-buy a 2.55 with the click of a button.
Though details are scarce, Chanel’s President of Fashion, Bruno Pavlovsky, told WWD that the online store could open at the end of 2016, explaining that the decision stemmed from the needs the modern, digital-savvy shopper (according to a 2014 McKinsey study, three out of four luxury shoppers own a smartphone, and about half of them own a tablet.)
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“It’s not so much a shift. It’s an evolution to better serve our customers,” Pavlovksy said. “Some of the customers are able to come into the boutique. Sometimes they don’t want to because they want to go faster and they know exactly what they want, so it should be able to better respond to the customers’ requests. So it’s more e-service than a pure e-commerce approach.”
Okay, so why is this such a big deal? Chanel is one of the few high-end labels left that’s managed to maintain its stature in the world of luxury goods by not catering to the masses—the brand’s clothes, shoes, and bags aren’t sold anywhere but in Chanel boutiques. Shoppers can buy Chanel sunglasses, makeup, and fragrances online, but that’s because those products are licensed to other companies.
Plus, the brand has been quite vocal in the past about resisting e-commerce. “Our clothes are quite sophisticated and one of our strengths is alterations,” Pavlovsky told Vogue in 2012. “To be able to wear Chanel clothes, you need to try them on. You need to be in the fitting room. You need to have a tailor who alters the clothes to fit exactly to your body. I think it’s part of Chanel … What we want today—and the way we use digital—is to have more and more people come to the boutique to see the product, to touch the product, but also to try the product.”
Bottom line: E-commerce might dilute a brand in terms of exclusivity, but it’s a big money-maker: The aforementioned 2014 McKinsey report found that online luxury sales are growing twice as fast as the overall market, and if they continue that way, could reach 20 billion euros in five years.
