Mill Insight | Strategy Director Anna Fogg on luxury brand shopping experiences for mobile

Keeping it Luxury on Mobile 

Creating Bespoke Experiences on the Small Screen

We see the smartphone as a leveller, a democratiser of experience and access to information and herein lies the challenge for luxury brands. The world of elite, limited access exclusivity feels contradictory to mass engagement. If everyone can have it then why is it special? Inherent in luxury brands are well crafted stories, exquisite details, aspirational lifestyles and, more often than not, fabulous people. For mobile it is no different. Combining these qualities with the passions and behaviours of your audience and bespoke mobile luxury is born.

Here are five ways of creating bespoke experiences on the small screen:

Mobile as access – The drop. Transformed exclusivity. Transformed luxury fashion. Transformed streetwear. All about access. Limited numbers, limited invitations, limited product, huge queues. Using social platforms to create time sensitive windows, exclusive access events, mobile only collections, and the need to be there is paramount. Building scarcity into the experience builds desire and builds intrigue. Miss it, miss out.

Mobile as showroom – 25% of luxury sales happen online, and it is expected that this figure will triple by 2025 “with 80% of those sales digitally influenced.” (McKinsey) The audience is online and willing. Creating experiences that allow the audience to explore the product, to explore the options and try on the looks creates the showroom experience that IRL luxury experiences thrive on. Using mobile to create bespoke and personalised product experiences through AR and VR gets the audiences one step closer to purchase.

Mobile as portal – 48% of consumers said that they’d be more likely to buy from a retailer that provided AR experiences. As we continue to experiment in virtual spaces these spaces are becoming increasingly more captivating. Using intelligence and responsive design these spaces are an extension of the luxury brand world. Blending the real world, whether through AR, Web or VR, we are able to invite the audience into an entirely immersive space in which the values of the brand can be felt.

Mobile as influencer – According to Think With Google, 100% of luxury shoppers use a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop to make purchases. Obviously. We now carry out all tasks on our smartphones: entertainment, connection, interaction, shopping. Each one represented by a different app, publication, or person. Luxury brands have the opportunity to influence via partnerships with these brands that are part of the everyday. Creating editorial content, creating bespoke experiences, and exclusive retail events.

Mobile as storyteller – The story for luxury brands is central. Engagement with that story is key. Mobile offers brands the opportunity to tell that story in countless ways. Using social media to bring to life the brand visually, to translate the human story, to encapsulate a single moment – platforms are built to tell these stories. 80% of all luxury sales are influenced in some way by what consumers saw online. Whatever they see online is only limited by the creativity, imagination and originality of the creators.

You can get in touch with our Creative Strategy team via hellolondon@themill.com.