When it comes to luxury brands’ digital presence in China, not all strategies are created equal, according to a new report by digital intelligence firm L2. While many high-end fashion, watch, jewelry, and leather goods companies are lagging at attracting Chinese followers and online shoppers, the firm finds that Hong Kong jeweler Chow Tai Fook is China’s most digitally competent brand in 2016.
The “Digital IQ Index” ranking of 107 luxury brands in China finds that Burberry, Coach, and Cartier have the second, third, and fourth best China digital strategies after Chow Tai Fook, respectively. Calculated with a methodology that analyzes brands’ websites, e-commerce, digital marketing, social media, and mobile presence, the report finds that the majority of brands have “average” or worse China digital strategies, with more than three in five brands classified as digitally “challenged” or “feeble.”
For brands that are succeeding online, however, e-commerce plays a key role. While luxury labels have been known to avoid selling online in fear of losing exclusivity, they’re warming to the idea as 80 percent of brands studied by L2 are now available for purchase online in China.
A solid e-commerce strategy was a reason for Chow Tai Fook’s high ranking on this year’s list, as the brand is active on both the Tmall and JD.com platforms, allowing it to control all first-page brand search results on both platforms—giving it a strong edge over gray-market and counterfeit sales. Burberry, which is also on Tmall, was able to shine on social media as well when it allowed followers to pre-order personalized items directly from its runway livestream video—a move that caused a major stir in the global fashion industry.
(Source: Jing Daily )