November 24, 2009
By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team
The recession of the past couple years in the US has really hurt overall sales of some of the biggest luxury brands. Luckily leading luxury brands are starting to embrace technology and bring their products to an online ecommerce shop of their own. Many luxury brands have been hesitant to move into the online space because they had concerns about the image of their brand and the possibility of diluting the value as it gets mixed with others selling knock offs. There are still continuing legal battles over online sales of counterfeit goods today, but this is not stopping all brands as they venture into the space to tap into a new revenue stream. Some bigger luxury brands have attempted to launch ecommerce operations in the past, but have been unsuccessful. Where as some brands have sought the help of a company like Onestop Internet that allows you to outsource your ecommerce operation. They already work with amazing luxury brands like John Varvatos, Lululemon Athletica, True Religion Brand Jeans, and Paul Frank.
Many of the luxury brands that are based out of Europe are starting small with setting up local ecommerce shops to test the market before they expand globally. Hugo Boss started sales online in Europe last year and is expected to sell more than 50 million euros of goods via their ecommerce operations within two years, up from a little more than 10 million euros this year. Burberry is another top brand that is pushing the envelope when it comes to what luxury brands are willing to do in order to drive online sales. They recently created a social networking site that allows owners of Burberry’s trench coats to trade stories about them with other owners. A very niche social network, but one that will no doubt have very passionate fashionable shoppers. Over the next year we should continue to see more brands embrace social media and ecommerce together in order to gain market share online and keep overall revenue trending upward.
Scott is an avid fan of all things ecommerce. His claim to fame is that he "puts the Zip in ZippyCart." He considers himself the world-wide number one reader of TechCrunch, C|Net, and The Ecommerce Times. Scott has worked in the SEO industry for many years, but found himself always shifting his focus to review sites and ecommerce blogs. When we decided to start the ZippyCart Ecommerce news, Scott was an obvious fit. He handles most of our OpEds as he is a very opinionated guy. Scott is also our Twitter guy, so don't hesitate to send him a tweet if you see him online.
