Burberry rolls out a personalized chat service for select clients

Burberry is rolling out an invitation-only messaging service to strengthen relationships with its best customers.

The British luxury fashion house has teamed up with Apple Pay to launch R Message, which will take the form of an in-app chat service, WWD reports. It will allow select, high-spending clients to shop online with a seamless payment system, as well as communicate with Burberry employees to enquire about products or book private appointments in-store.

"We can offer that luxury concierge experience with this tool," Mark Morris, vice president of digital commerce at Burberry, told WWD. "It has all the basic functionality of WhatsApp, but you're layering on extra elements that are specific to a luxury relationship. You're also doing it in an environment where you own the relationship and it's also secure in a way that it isn't within a generalist chat platform."

According to Vogue Business, Burberry, whose Chief Creative Officer is the designer Riccardo Tisci, will pilot R Message at its Manchester flagship store, before extending it to its 431 locations around the world.

The move is the latest in a series of shake-ups at Burberry, which has hit the headlines recently for its environmental initiatives, such as a pledge to ensure that all of its plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable by the year 2025.