The luxury market is a difficult market. Ecommerce is very complex. When you put the two together you have a big challenge. So before we start, some thoughts on wanting to start a business within the luxury sector. When you think of ideas within Luxury, you need to think for the long term, because that’s what luxury is. If you want to make fast money you should probably get into finance. If you don’t care about what you sell but just want to sell a lot of it, then you should probably get into burgers. But if you have a passion to produce something that is really going to make people smile, be proud and want to be associated with you then luxury is your homeland. Those are the brands we love. And they all have that theme running through them.

So with that said, we thought it would be helpful to outline what we believe are good starting points when considering the idea for your new business.

1. Talk to industry friends.

The first place to start is to listen and look at those in the industry and friends around you and try to learn and understand where there are limits within the industry. What are the pain points? This could be something for consumers or it could be for trade and business. You are looking out for that moment a colleague starts the ‘what if’ conversation. Question everything and ask why something is done in a certain way. Production and delivery of almost any service and product can now be delivered in a fraction of the time than it could in the past, and more in importantly at a fraction of the cost too. Learn what aggravates people and you are on a winning path. 

2. Choose something you will be passionate about.

This almost goes without saying but many a business plan has been produced focussed on sales, conversion and measuring success. In some sectors that can be enough but in Luxury, as I alluded to in the introduction you will quickly be found out if you are not delivering a passion for your product. For early start-ups time is short, pressure is high and plenty of things go wrong. If you are not passionate about your business there will be many opportunities to give up. And that normally happens just as all the hard work has been done. Instead think of the hobbies you once loved, the things that give you pleasure outside of work, the moment of happiness you had on your last holiday. What was it that made that moment special? And can you recreate it? Whether its through hard times for the business, PR stories to the industry or sharing a common interest with your customer, having a passion give you the anchor from which all things are grounded. The ‘what if’ from the previous point becomes the ‘why I did’

3. Track early trends and fashions.

Whether it’s through instagram, a deep knowledge of your industry or mingling with trendsetters, knowing the zeitgeist of the time gives you the chance to be first to market, without competitors and with a head start. Spotting the trend can often feel uncomfortable. It involves sticking your neck out and showing belief in something that is only at its seed stage. But find it and then align it with one of your passions and your idea will start clicking into place. Finding early trends often involves exploring where others are not. Turn off your laptop, turn on airplane mode and go and find something that has momentum at a very small atomic level.

4. Keyword research through search engines.

Google is a great starting point to seeing what people are looking for and seeing if it’s being served. You’ll need to create a google adwords account, then start researching how many people are looking for particular keywords and phrases. Once you have an idea of popularity around a keyphrase you can go in to google, search for that keyphrase and see the results. If the results are not good quality then bingo, you have your starting idea. And search tools like Google and Bing tell you half the story. Check mainstream retail sites like Amazon or Asos to understand the keywords associated with certain products.

5. Take a proven model and reinvent it for luxury.

Inspiration can be found by looking at a potential competitor and improving on it. Would Apple have had the idea for the iPhone if there had been no BlackBerry? They could see the market and opportunity and backed themselves to produce a better product. Another strategy is to find a business model that works successfully in another country and launch it in your own country. A good example of this is Rocket Internet, one of the most successful tech companies in the world.  So ask yourself whether you really need to have a unique idea and innovate when there are business ideas and models that you can really be inspired by. Often you don’t need to be new to market, you just need to be better. One caveat is to make sure that you are being lawful, so check the IP, trademarks and copywrite before wholeheartedly committing.

Finally, here are a list of luxury sectors to get you started.

• The Arts
• Automotive (cars, yachts, planes etc)
• Education
• Fashion
• Financial services
• Food and drink
• Beauty and skincare
• Healthcare
• Home
• Jewelry
• Real estate
• Technology
• Travel and lifestyle

So here lies the problem. How can Luxury move forward and embrace new technologies when its philosophy is grounded in timelessness. There is very little choice. As main stream brands have pinched quality and values that once were only associated with premium and luxury (beautiful packaging and customer service) Luxury must strive to stay ahead. Whether through a tried and tested model rolled out in new markets or through exciting innovation, one thing that will always be true and that’s creativity and difference.

Creativity through innovation

A readiness to try something new is required for innovation. And creativity is the answer but with it of course comes risk. The risk of the unknown. A distraction from the routine. In order to be innovative you need to put resources on an idea and go with it. Hold your nerve. It’s innovative because its not been done before and with that it’s going to take that little longer to get pick up. The benefits are that you are first to market. Challenge to do the unexpected, be out-of-the-blue and look for the ‘what if’ accident that will raise eyebrows.

Creativity through talent and style

Millenials are now positioned at the centre of the experience. The brands no longer own the T on the tennis court. And with that change in power, you need to create a style that is all of your own, because style does not always mean the cliches of suave. At The Future of Luxury we interpret style as individuality, confidence and personality. Creating a personality and confidence and building an ambassador program that is true to it will be an ingredient saved for the success businesses.

Creativity through Inaccessibility

For all its great positives one problem that the web suffers from (or we suffer from) is the idea that simple rules can be applied to everyone. In the world of building web platforms, the modern trend is The MVP (minimum viable product) introduced by The lean Start up Model. But anyone who has built a complex commerce platform will tell you there is nothing minimally viable about it. The same can be said of web marketing. Go mass and push volume. But in luxury making things a bit exclusive feeds the desire and human instinct to chase and want what you cannot have.

1.The Future of Selling Fashion

“What I think everyone in the world of selling consumer and luxury goods must recognize is that if we are to survive and thrive in the next decade and beyond we need to offer a completely seamless and impressive multi-platform experience for our customers, with personalised service at its heart.  And that in itself has fundamentally changed the infrastructure of our industry.”

Read full article on: FORBES

2. High-class performance: Luxury brands find new confidence in affiliate marketing

According to digital marketing professionals, the last year has seen an influx of completely new brands from the luxury sector. Consumers are now as likely to see Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Net-a-Porter, Matches, Burberry, Gucci, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, Emporio Armani, Moschino, Valentino and Selfridges on price comparison sites as they are on city centre billboards.

Read full article on: THE DRUM

3. Touch-sensitive fabric and tiny radar chips: hands-on with Google’s ridiculous new tech

“Put Jacquard and Soli next to each other and you start to see that maybe we don’t have to be limited to touchscreens to interact with our gadgets. Maybe we can think about what they are and how we interact with them more broadly. It could be a big deal.”

Read full article on: The Verge

4. 7 Key Insights From The Worldwide Luxury Markets Monitor 2015

“The market is evolving at an alarming pace and luxury brands are being urged to adapt or risk becoming irrelevant. Here, we reveal the latest game-changers luxury players need to keep an eye on, as identified by Bain & Company’s Worldwide Luxury Markets Monitor 2015 Spring Update.”

Read full article on: Luxury Society

5. Why Clarks is measuring feet with iPads

“In an age where all aspects of our lives seem to be going digital and online, it’s also another example of a very simple activity – getting your children’s feet measured in a shoe shop – being turned into a profitable exercise in data collection.”

Read full article on: BBC NEWS

6.Tech Giant Unites With Luxury Car Manufacturer to Make Wireless Charging Cars

The newly- announced partnership between Qualcomm, a mobile technology company, and Daimler, the people behind the luxury brand of Mercedes-Benz, seeks to use wireless technology to create a new, more convenient type of luxury car: the wireless charging car.

Read full article on: CLAPWAY

Net-a-Porter create a social network that claims to revolutionise mobile luxury shopping as much as net-a-porter.com did for luxury online shopping. Other stories include the ever increasing number of fashion start-ups bypassing traditional, physical retail spaces in favour of digital making it easier for them to reach consumers directly.

1. Net-a-Porter Creates Social Network For Mobile Luxury Shopping

“Net-a-Porter, the online fashion retailer merging with Yoox SpA, unveiled what it says is the first social network for consumers to flaunt their style and buy luxury goods via mobile devices.”

Read full article on: BLOOMBERG

2. Luxury Brands, Technology & Operational Efficiency

“Technology is indispensable for all businesses today. The winners will continue to use technology strategically and tactically in all parts of the business. In this segment, we will discuss technology broadly from the following perspectives: product life-cycle management- design, demand planning, manufacturing, service; analytics and big data, wearables, and personalization.”

Read full article on: LUXURY SOCIETY

3. How Social Media Can Help Shoppers Find Their Style

“One might imagine there are not many firsts left in online retailing but Peter Janes would disagree, fired by an ambition to revolutionise the way people shop on the web. The British entrepreneur is chief executive of Shopa, a London company claiming to be the world’s first online marketplace selling fashion goods through the recommendations of people on social networks.”

Read full article on: THE TELEGRAPH

4. Fashion Startups Bypass Department Stores To Reach Consumers

“Are traditional department stores becoming irrelevant? Some startup founders are saying it is getting ever easier for fashion brands to reach consumers directly, through business models like subscription, as well as mobile apps where consumers discover trends and items.”

Read full article on: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

5. Could 3-D Body Scanners Help You Find the Perfect Pair of Jeans?

“Peer into the fitting room of the future. A couple of years ago, the apparel industry was abuzz about Me-Ality, a tech startup from Nova Scotia, Canada, with a radical proposition: If 3-D digital scanning booths could size you up at airport security, then why couldn’t they measure you for the perfect-fitting pair of jeans?”

Read full article on: ADWEEK

1. How Luxury Brands Should Manage Technology

“’Technology beware seemed to be the message of day two of the Condé Nast International Luxury Conference at Florence’s historic Palazzo Vecchio, as speakers warned that the downside of technology may be a lack of soul and emotion.”

Read full article on: VOGUE

2. Can Neuroscience Unlock The Luxury Mind?

“For years, fashion and luxury companies have tried to anticipate and cater to the deep, subconscious desires of consumers. Can neuroscience help?”

Read full article on: BUSINESS OF FASHION

3. Online Store Merger Prods Luxury Goods Makers Toward Internet

“The merger of the world’s two biggest online fashion stores, Net-a-Porter and Yoox, sends a warning to luxury brands to embrace the Internet with more vim after years of resistance.”

Read full article on: REUTERS

4. Luxury Shopping – The Top 7 Trends

“Wealthy travelers shopping abroad or at airports and the importance of a digital presence emerge among the biggest trends identified in luxury shopping right now. A booming second-hand market should not be overlooked either.”

Read full article on: CREDIT SUISSE

5. China’s LGBT Consumers: How Luxury Can Tap Into A $300 Billion Market

“Long an important target for marketers in the West, LGBT consumers often have higher disposable incomes and lead consumer trends. With public acceptance of LGBT people continuing to grow worldwide, it’s time for brands to think global when developing their marketing strategies to this community.”

Read full article on: JING DAILY

6. Luxury Consumer Market Gaining Traction In Poland

“Poland is being mentioned as one of the growing markets for luxury travel, alongside Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Colombia, Peru and Turkey.”

Read full article on: FORBES

1. The Luxury Visionaries 2015

“In a new annual portfolio, Telegraph Luxury selects the masterminds and aesthetes resetting the luxury agenda.”

Read full article on: THE TELEGRAPH

2. Spring, The Shoppable Instagram, Closes $25M In Series B

“Spring works by integrating directly with fashion brands, who users can then follow on the platform to see their new posts. Each post has an item of clothing in it, complete with scrollable pictures, a price, and a description.”

Read full article on: TECHCRUNCH

3. The Business of Menswear Is Booming, So Will It Always Be in Womenswear’s Shadow

“Menswear is growing. Like a toddler at the heels of his big sister, it’s growing fast, even faster than womenswear. A recent report found that growth of men’s clothing sales is outpacing both computers and beer; another showed that menswear grew faster than womenswear in 2014—4.5 percent versus 3.7 percent.”

Read full article on: STYLE.COM

4. Burberry Launches Snapchat Account

“Burberry is one of the first luxury retailers to launch an official social media account on Snapchat. Prior to the British brand’s celebration of a new Los Angeles flagship store on Thursday, it will be posting regular stories to the account.”

Read full article on: FASHIONTIMES

5. Online Shopping Survey Turns Up Counterintuitive Findings

“Men might consider engagement with a retailer on social sites, exploring products on mobile apps, comparing prices across multiple sites and interacting with web-connected devices in a store location the beginning of the shopping process more so than women.”

Read full article on: FORBES

1. Forget The Internet Of Things, There Is A Digital Revolution Taking Place In Our Shopping Malls

“The shopping centre that can provide the most immersive, exciting and attentive services are the ones that will thrive. Mall operators are realising that what ends with an in store purchase, begins online, and that they can have involvement on every step of the purchaser’s journey.”

Read full article on: FORBES

2. Integrating Luxury Retail Online & Offline

“Retail stores and digital presence are now absolutely complementary to each other; customers can research or buy on-line, view products at the store and buy on-line, or buy at the store. There continues to be an on-going debate of the web replacing the store; however, the storefront is critical and here to stay, especially for Luxury, where the opulence and ambience is both a sensory and visual experience, with or without a purchase.”

Read full article on: LUXURY SOCIETY

3. Chanel Makes E-Commerce Debut With Net-A-Porter

“Rather than debut e-commerce on its own website, Chanel has partnered with Net-a-Porter to sell a small collection of jewelry, dubbed Coco Crush, which includes five rings and a cuff in 18-karat white and yellow gold. It will be the first time Chanel has sold anything other than beauty products online.”

Read full article on: FASHIONISTA

4. Apple Watch And The Strategy Of Exclusivity

Read full article on: THE EPOCH TIMES

5. E-Retailers In China Going From Clicks To Bricks

“Though China now boasts about 300 million online shoppers, this is only a fraction of the country’s approximately 1.4 billion people. The new approach taken by Vinux.com and other companies aims to acquaint Chinese consumers unfamiliar with the Internet with e-commerce.”

Read full article on: RED LUXURY

1. Defining Luxury For A Modern Era

“In recent times we’ve seen luxury brands go back to their heritage and craftsmanship as an antidote to the logo and as a way of distinguishing their brand,” he said. “But the trap is that this can tip into nostalgia, and I don’t think the contemporary luxury consumer is feeling nostalgic.”

Read full article on: THE NEW YORK TIMES

2.  Some Luxury Watchmakers Are Actually Cheering On The Apple Watch 

“Of course, now that the established brands have seen what Apple’s smartwatch can do, they have had time to craft their responses. Two years ago, bespoke European watchmakers in Basel were openly dismissive of Apple’s rumored watch project—sniffy, even. “We’re not going to lose one customer,” a luxury house representative told Quartz at the time.”

Read full article on: QUARTZ

3. Amazon’s Purchase Of Luxury Retailer Net-a-Porter Far From Certain, But Talks On-Going

“Amazon.com is in talks to buy luxury online retailer Net-a-Porter but a deal is far from complete, FORBES confirmed on Thursday.”

Read full article on: FORBES

4. Are We In A Luxury Knickknack Bubble?

“Luxury tchotchkes like Fendi’s are one of fashion’s weirder obsessions, but if market demand is anything to go by, there’s a ton of consumer interest in very expensive knickknacks. They’re appealing because they are more than just a keychain, or a coin purse, or set of ridiculously expensive boxing gloves. They’re a way to tap into a lighthearted side of luxury that doesn’t often show its face.”

Read full article on: RACKED

5. Insta-Theatre: Why The Money Shot Matters 

“The clue is in the title: fashion show. Performance, production, exhibition.  But this time we’re highlighting the word “show” and pulling it apart for the sake of social media, an ever-increasing box to tick when it comes to creating that all-important catwalk money shot, something the international shows seemed to kowtow to more than ever this season.”

Read full article on: VOGUE

6. Luxury Market Faces A Drought As Affluents Choose Conscious Consumption Rather Than Conspicuous Brands

“A new style of luxury has taken hold reflected in consumers’ preference for high-quality brands, but without paying the premium for marketing-generated prestige.”

Read full article on: 4HOTELIERS

1. It’s a Necklace, It’s an Umbrella, It’s a Drone

“Picture a stylish, blade-shaped drone on your necklace. As rain starts to fall, the device can fan out and fly above your head, spinning fast enough to keep you dry. These futuristic concepts of wearable drones — which, though years from reality would make the Apple Watch look like a Beatles-era Timex — were dreamed up at Frog Design Inc.”

Read full article on: BLOOMBERG

2. A British Startup is Trying to Make Social Media Shopping Succeed Where Everyone Else Failed

“London startup Shopa is trying to turn shopping into a social media activity — a task that has frequently frustrated larger companies in the past. Shopa is hoping that this time rewarding users with discounts will be the way to drive an audience around a shopping-oriented social media app.”

Read full article on: BUSINESS INSIDER

3. Luxury Brands Swatch, Guess and Others Quietly Gear Up with Smartwatches

When Apple Watch was first announced last September, some experts dismissed such devices as appealing to a different class of customer – those who prize technology over prestige.

Now analysts and industry executives are starting to think that maybe the Apple Watch juggernaut will stoke sales of luxury timepieces among younger consumers used to telling the time with their phones, rather than on their wrists.

Read full article on: TECH2

4. Apple Watch Tests China’s Luxury Market

“China is one of nine countries Apple has picked for the release of its new Apple Watch next month, and there is high anticipation over how the device will sell in a market that already comprises one-fifth of the company’s total sales. The Shanghai-based China Market Research Group estimates that the Apple Watch will be a big success with China’s brand-conscious consumers.”

Read full article on: VOICE OF AMERICA

‘Elbaz is hardly the first designer to notice that the need to reproduce a lot of clothes, and to sell them over portable devices like tablets, has produced flat-looking fashion, with pricey embroidery often used to grab consumers’ attention — call it mobile fashion’

Read full article on: NYMAG.COM

2. Competition at the Digital Edge: ‘Hyperscale’ Business

‘Digitization is upending many core tenets of competition among industries by lowering the cost of entering markets and providing high-speed passing lanes to scale up enterprises.’

Read full article on: McKinsey&Company

3. Dash Hudson Raises $1 Million to Beat The Instagram Shopping Conundrum

‘Dash Hudson the app that aims to make your Instagram photos shoppable, has announced a seed round of $1 million, tapping a mix of institutional and individual investors.’

Read full article on: FASHIONISTA

4. China to Overtake the U.S. in Retail Sales in 3 Years

‘A recently released report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) looks at the country’s 2015 retail market and shows its tremendous growth potential for the future. China’s retail sales volume growth is expected to reach 7.9 percent by 2018, while North America will hit 2.6 percent and the global average only 3.4 percent.’

Read full article on: RED LUXURY