How are Luxury Brands Redefining Customer Experiences?

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the customer journey ends at the point of sale. It’s an approach that has been at the heart of traditional consumer-facing business models for many years. But, it’s a business strategy that is changing, as technological capabilities and shifting consumer demands lead organisations towards seeing outcomes as continuously evolving journeys. 

Brands, particularly those in the luxury sector, that can shape their identity and customer experience around trust and long-term loyalty can build customer relationships that can last a lifetime – or even span generations. 

But building this kind of relationship requires a strategy that allows customers to feel like the brand experience is personalised to their own lives – with a series or touchpoints and, often, the use of digital technologies offering the highest levels of experience.

Customer journeys in the luxury sector

Customers in the luxury sector often have many more interactions with a brand than they would have previously, with research from McKinsey & Company finding that close to 80% of luxury sales are digitally influenced – meaning that a customer is engaging with one or more digital touchpoints during their journey to a sale. 

To ensure the luxury customer journey still feels exclusive, brands such as Hermès are maintaining their traditional customer experience, with waitlists for a Birkin bag sometimes lasting for years. 

When this approach is combined with high customer demand and a product that meets consumer expectations, however, it can turn the act of waiting into a high-engagement journey. 

Similarly, Ferrari has created a customer experience where buying one of the famous prancing horses is synonymous with entry into a family – creating a highly exclusive relationship through the Ferrari Owners’ Club and the MyFerrari app, where customers can engage with other members of the ‘community.’ 

This ties a specific lifestyle to the product, keeping customers engaged and likely to potentially make another purchase to further align themselves with that lifestyle. 

Building brand loyalty 

In the luxury sector, loyalty is often earned by building a seamless and consistent experience for clients. Cartier has mastered this by blending its heritage with digital transformation, to ensure the customer has an experience that feels intuitive, yet true to the history of the brand.

The brand has introduced options for customers to try a product online using AR, and developed an AI application with Google Cloud, designed to identify any watch designed in the company’s 174-year history. This helps Cartier ensure the brand experience remains as frictionless as possible and helps build up trust.

As brands build trust and loyalty through measures such as these, it can build a long-lasting bond between consumer and company, reinforcing brand messaging and improving business outcomes. 

Creating an exclusive and inclusive experience 

Perhaps one of the most complex challenges for modern luxury brands is balancing exclusive experience with new customer acquisition. Brands today are often redefining this experience as one of belonging, by building communities for existing customers alongside entry-level touchpoints to introduce new clients to their product offering. 

Ferrari and Hermès approach this through products such as Ferrari’s fashion collections and Hermès’ perfumes, which can attract a wider audience and potentially build long-term client relationships. 

Brands that can maintain this more inclusive offering while still protecting their reputation for luxury craftsmanship are likely to be the ones best positioned for sustained growth in the 21st century.

 Hermès

Many organisations looking to refine their customer journey will often try and create something that is seamless, user-friendly and, most of all, quick. But not Hermès. The company is synonymous with its scarcity-driven model – particularly in regards to its Birkin bags, with customers needing to build a relationship with a sales associate, create a purchasing history of other Hermès products and express your interest in a specific model before being considered eligible to purchase. 

For new clients, this process can often take between one and three months. This approach has allowed the company to maintain product prestige and global appeal with customers, while sustaining luxury craftsmanship through lower production timelines. 

“Maybe there is another form of relation to the world, which is linked to patience, to taking the time to make things right. You cannot compress time, at one point, without compromising on quality.” Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Artistic Director of Hermes, told CBS News.

Hermès’ premium positioning has created wide-scale customer demand – with estimates suggesting that there are 1.3 million searches for Birkin Bags per month, despite only around 12,000 to 17,000 being produced per year, and just 200,000 in circulation.

Ferrari

According to Bendetto Vigna, CEO of Ferrari, the company is not interested in making products that put function and utility first. 

Instead, the brand looks to deliver an emotive experience for its customers, which it achieves by embedding its close to 80-year heritage in its brand storytelling and maintaining exclusivity for clients. 

While much of the customer journey takes place before a sale, Ferrari invests significantly in the long-term experience of its customers by creating a sense of belonging through its Ferrari Owners’ Club Membership and by producing fewer cars than the market demands. 

This philosophy began with Enzo Ferarri, the company’s founder, and is designed to promote a feeling of exclusivity within clients. 

Ferrari has maintained these brand standards and messaging as it develops its luxury EV offering, with Benedetto telling Top Gear: “We are here to lead awareness, and to deliver unique emotion to our client. I also talk to them and you can see the pressure that is coming from their sons and daughters. We need to worry about the next generation, and act rather than just use words.” 

Cartier

When a customer buys a product from Cartier, that purchase represents more than one person. With more than 175 years of history, Cartier is committed to preserving the history and legacy of its products as they are passed down through families – creating a customer journey that spans generations. 

Cartier protects this multi-generational customer experience by offering a blend of traditional, high-touch luxury customer service– such consultations with staff and restoration for classic products – alongside the implementation of new technologies. 

This includes past partnerships with Snapchat to develop a virtual bracelet try-on, and developing an AI application with Google Cloud that can retrieve detailed information about specific watches, and suggest similar options.