2 minutes
Luxury e-tail increasingly popular with French Millennials
According to a survey by MatchesFashion.com and the French Fashion Institute (IFM), no less than 76% of French luxury goods consumers now order their products online, compared to 70% six months earlier, and younger consumers are the keenest online shoppers.
The survey analysed the behaviour of 1,030 luxury goods consumers in France of all ages, and showed that 8% of them now buy luxury goods exclusively online (+2 percentage points) and 26% of them make regular online orders (+2 percentage points). The share of those who never order luxury goods online fell in the same period from 30% to 24%.
But the new survey's main finding was that 49% of 18-24-year-old consumers who buy luxury goods do so exclusively and regularly online (+8 percentage points). The increase in this cluster was higher than that in older consumer segments, in which 40% of interviewees have a similar purchasing behaviour (+7 percentage points). Unsurprisingly, younger consumers are also those who have a higher share of mobile purchases, 40% of them compared to an average of 23%.
Though a comparison with data from only six months earlier must be taken with a pinch of salt, it does corroborate several trends observed by luxury professionals. Such as, for example, the rising influence of multibrand sites, now the primary source of information for 29% of interviewees, compared to 22% earlier in the year. The reason for this is that 75% of consumers choose a website based on the selection of brands available.
"Luxury goods consumers want to be surprised," said Ulric Jérôme, CEO of MatchesFashion.com. "Social media have profoundly shaped consumers’ expectations in terms of luxury e-tail. Having a range of choices is a must. And so is an editorial approach. Labels are now aware they can elevate their image via the broader impact made through multibrand [sites], while they will achieve more limited results through their monobrand strategy.”
Matchesfashion.com was recently bought by Apax Partners, after Permira, KKR and Bain Capital also expressed an interest in the fashion e-tailer. Last year, the website generated a revenue of €245 million, up 61%, and its operating income grew from €4 million to €23 million.
Copyright © 2024 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
