7 Innovation Trends For Luxury Industries In 2018

The global luxury market has displayed a stable growth with increasing diversity. However, challenges are seen in the forecast for luxury brands as they face competition due to the emergence of new trends that have the ability to influence the luxury industry.

It is imperative for luxury brands to keep up with trends in order to effectively engage consumers with their ever increasing demands. It has grown harder to attract the attention of customers and even harder to retain their interests. However, there are ways to spark or rekindle that interest with. Here are several innovative trends being practiced which and are highly recommended for luxury brands to implement in order to keep a competitive edge within the market.

1. Personalizing the Purchasing Experience

No matter how you try to define it, at the heart of it all, luxury equates to status. As consumers strive towards attaining luxurious good and products, it has also become a part of the way they live. It is now important for luxury brands to acknowledge this and incorporate this into their brand for customers to experience a ‘personalized’ shopping experience. Improvements are constantly made to artificial intelligence and machines; companies should jump on that bandwagon to tie that into their business to provide an optimized shopping experience for customers. Personal data and refined algorithms should be perfectly paired together in an effort to provide an enjoyable shopping journey for consumers, proving that the company truly knows their customers on a personal level.

2. Artificial Intelligence Customer Service Tools

Continuing from the previous point of personalizing the purchasing experience for customers, it is also important to provide customer service around the clock. This will let your customers feel that they have a ‘personal assistant’ always at the ready. Certain brands have already begun experimenting, integrating artificial intelligence to their online shopping sites using chat-bots. It is all in an effort to enhance the shopping experience, providing the luxurious experience to your consumers even before a purchase has been made.

3. Seamless Shopping Interface

Consumers have gotten more demanding over time due to the advancements in technology as well as the emergence of new trends. It is all about speed — from the selection of purchase, ease of ordering, up to the point of checkout for their items. Everything has to be made seamless and convenient for customers to ensure a heightened level of shopping experience especially when it comes to luxury products. It is time to start thinking about how to improve the technology both in-store and online to provide a smoother, hassle-free purchase for your customers. Take the Internet of Things (IoT) as the next phase of technological improvement made to coordinate information across all devices. This step ensures consistency and continuity between offline physical retail to online e-commerce. Speeding up the way information is being processed and delivered will resultantly meet the growing demands of consumers.

IoT actually provides information about how customers use some good, like a frige, so it provides data, of usage, location and it can also be used to control objects from distance. But the main point is to create products that are connected to all devices, and helps customers that benefit from the convenience of having all connected and brands that can acess part of the data to improve their products.

The less we talk about e-commerce the better because that’s not a reality for shipbuilders and we lose their attention.

4. Shift towards a Voice-based Interface

On the topic of seamless and convenient shopping experiences for customers, voice interface comes to mind. Data has shown that the future of web searches will be carried out more with voice or images rather than traditional text searches. Some examples of these that are currently present would be Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa from Amazon. It is all about making it easier for customers and letting them feel a different level of experience, placing an order with one click rather than having to go through several steps and multiple clicks.

5.Jump into the Realm of Virtual Reality

Without the need for further introduction, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) has permeated the markets through multiple channels. We have encountered several luxury brands who have adopted these technologies, coupling VR with storytelling to apparel try-on. It enabled a new experience for customers through the ability to create realistic simulations and situations which might have never been possible. Imagine potential clients being able to do test pilot a yacht sea trial in a place where the closest water body resides miles away. This places emphasis on the point of functionality and, providing the convenience and a highly memorable experience for consumers as they immerse themselves in an alternate reality with products through VR , forming an entirely new experience with unfamiliar productswhere they might not have been able to gain access to on a normal day. These digital realities have shaped the future and have become an essential need for luxury brands everywhere. A noteworthy example would be the case of Sotheby’s, a fine art auction house. Sotheby’s green-lit a VR film that would allow people to ‘step into’ art pieces through VR, from what seemed to be completely fictional stepping into a work of art, has now been made possible. This further allows them to experience and contemplate art in a new light. The film was commissioned prior to Sotheby’s Surrealist Art Evening Sale and has since attracted the attention of various media publications. Watch the video here — https://vimeo.com/209178464.

6. Engage on Every Available Platform

There is no denying the advancement and demand for technology, however, one must not undermine the effectiveness of physical engagement. It is important to approach customers both online and offline. Where it is usually easier to connect with someone in person as opposed to fostering a relationship with customers over the web. Technology could also be used as activations to interact with people such as VR booths at roadshows or event spaces. An example would be Porsche’s Panamera 4 e-hybrid VR Exhibition. It provided customers with the ease of customizing and learning more about the car. People were able to view both the interior and exterior of the car and learn about the product benefits in the brand’s VR world. They could even see the different components that the car was made up off stripping off the exterior and going into the mechanics and specifics of the vehicle. This exhibition attracted huge numbers of visitors and gathered plenty of positive feedbacks. Take a look at the video here — https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=46&v=7HLxkOivvgw.. This will creates a multi-channel approach that will maximize the reach to potential customers and retains their interest.

7. Create an Experience that is Desired

Improvements to technology for the sustainability of brands in the luxury industry are no longer substantial. Brands need to implement different techniques and communication tactics to make themselves distinctive, creating an experience for their customers that will engage them through a wholesome aspect. It should result with them desiring to engage with your brand rather than the opposite.

With the apparent shift of trends toward the digital era, brands need to create exceptional customer experiences to retain interests and remain competitive within the luxury industry. . VR is still taking flight within the space of technological innovation and will soon become an integral component of all business models. (here we need to say that VR is already a reality for luxury brands It is always important to adopt innovative technological trends to attract and retain the interests of customers. VR has been used by several luxury brands to date and will soon become an integral component of all business models.