Over the last two years, ecommerce sales have boomed. In 2020 alone, U.S. online consumer spending went up by 44%. Even brands who were slow to adopt an ecommerce sales funnel at first and suffered for it are now much more comfortable providing a digital channel for their customers.
Luxury goods companies were some of those slow adopters, but have been suddenly spurred by the impact of the pandemic. With a host of new imperatives at stake, the major players are realizing that you need more than just a digital presence – you’ll also need to give customers omnichannel services and fulfillment options if you want to remain competitive.
Until recently, groups like LVMH predominantly used digital channels for marketing and promotions. The company’s move to create a new position for a Chief Omnichannel Officer shows that they now understand what opportunities there are from selling luxury products online.
Regular sales funnels focus on numbers of visitors instead of the quality of a specific visitor, and this may be the biggest difference between regular and luxury product companies in the real world as well. In physical locations, similar rules apply.
In regular stores, space is optimized for as much product as possible, each square meter carefully planned.
Luxury stores take an aesthetic approach to how they lay out individual products.
In a regular store, there are few assistants for many customers, while luxury stores will dedicate multiple resources to one customer to close a single deal.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer in the real world, but when you start seeing how they compete online, you’ll note that many luxury goods sellers use the same digital strategies and sales funnels as regular retailers.
Just like in the real world, a luxury ecommerce sales funnel requires you to pay more attention to the finer details. Your journeys should try to create the same emotions as customers expect from a boutique experience.
While bigger numbers visiting your online store is never a bad thing, attracting and converting the right kind of visitors will determine your funnel’s success. High-end shoppers expect a remarkable experience, whether in person or via a digital channel.
Emulating the in-person experience is almost impossible, but that doesn’t mean that luxury goods companies should not pivot to also providing an ecommerce platform.
If you can build memorable online experiences, you can grow sales exponentially, increase average order values, and maintain your elite reputation.
Use these four tips to adjust your ecommerce sales funnel and increase your luxury goods conversion rates.
People buy luxury items to make a statement beyond a simple need. The way the product looks will usually also influence how the person who owns it feels. Bringing the same pizazz to your ecommerce site starts with how you present each product online to evoke those types of feelings.
A stock standard product image won’t inspire the same emotions as a 3D visualization or rendering. The first step to increasing your conversions is ensuring your products look as attractive, sleek, and desirable as they would in a physical storefront.
However, you shouldn’t stop there – brand videos, personalization, and product customization should also feature in your customer journey designs.
Luxury brands can go as far as pre-qualifying shoppers for some additional benefit or special offer. Exclusivity is something luxury shoppers want, and perceived ecommerce limitations don’t preclude you from rewarding your highest-spending customers.
You can build detailed, personalized profiles about your customers and their shopping habits, giving you unique insights that help build valuable, virtual relationships.
You can use these ecommerce funnel metrics to optimize your strategies using:
One of the best experiences you can offer a customer is a seamless transition between digital and in-person interactions. As a luxury brand, you’ll need to focus on building an omnichannel experience that suits your customers’ convenience.
Just like some customers like to order something and pick it up themselves, you can enable visitors to schedule a visit, pre-pick a range of items, and specify any personalized needs. When the customer shows up at the store, your team can be ready with all their exact requests.
If you only run an ecommerce site, you can also partner with local boutiques that stock these items to provide a similar experience (while taking a commission on any sales).
Regardless of how you operate, you’ll need to have all your operations working from the same information to provide a superior customer journey. The primary goal is to make sure the customer feels valued and served during every step of the journey, digitally and in-person.
The level of service that luxury buyers expect is probably one of the biggest factors when it comes to making large sales. While you can use AI chatbots or livechat systems to provide your customers with additional services, it probably won’t be enough when selling luxury goods. The more customers are paying, the more personalized service they expect.
Luxury customers may expect a level of service that goes above and beyond what most ecommerce sites have to offer. The bigger the size of the abandoned cart, the more effort you could have put in to convert the deal.
Luxury ecommerce sites should design their customer services and journey designs as a concierge for visitors, ready to step in and assist at a moment’s notice.
ConfigureID works with some of the biggest luxury brands around the world to provide maximum product customization capabilities, trend insights, and immersive experiences. To make it in the luxury goods ecommerce space, you need to adapt your ecommerce conversion funnel – and you’ll need to accommodate the specific motivations of high-end shoppers during the entire journey.
A product customization platform like ConfigureID assists companies with identifying trends, providing stunning 3D images, and building a memorable customer journey for your ecommerce site.
You can deploy interactive content and provide full product customization capabilities that help drive your conversion rates and grow your ecommerce revenues.
If you’d like to learn more about ConfigureID, request your personalized demo now.
