LVMH's new ecommerce is taking online luxury shopping to the next level

LVMH’s new ecommerce site 24 Sèvres

Tapping into growing demand for high-end goods online, luxury conglomerate LVMH has unveiled its new multi-brand e-commerce venture. Named 24 Sèvres and inspired by the high-end Parisian department store Le Bon Marché, the site aims to replicate the iconic Le Bon Marché shopping experience online. The site features a carefully selected mix of over 150 labels, including emerging and contemporary brands alongside big luxury names. The site also boasts a number of exclusive labels, such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, which cannot be found on any other e-commerce platform. The major product categories range from ready-to-wear fashion and accessories, through to leather goods and beauty. Alongside its strong brand and product proposition, 24 Sèvres is thought to be focused on creating compelling online visual merchandising as opposed to overly-commercialized content – boasting well-considered imagery throughout the site as it aims to target relatively young and creative luxury shoppers.

The growing demand for exclusivity

To celebrate its launch, 24 Sèvres released a capsule collection created in collaboration with Le Bon Marché and 68 luxury brands, including Fendi, Givenchy and Loewe. The collection featured 77 exclusive, limited-edition pieces, with each brand revisiting one of its most iconic products by collaborating with creative figures from the arts. Prices ranged from £100 to £13,410. Such collections will help 24 Sèvres attract online luxury shoppers away from more established players in the market and if the platform can frequently drop exclusive and limited edition products it will help the platform stand apart from its competitors, giving consumers a more compelling reason to shop at 24 Sèvres.

Online personal stylists

The 24 Sèvres site aims to bridge the online and offline shopping experience through superior customer service. In a bid to bring back the “human element”, Parisian stylists are available for live, one-to-one video consultations on the 24 Sèvres website. Meanwhile, 24 Sèvres is also launching a Style Bot to give customers personal shopping advice on Facebook Messenger.

Initiatives like 24 Sèvres online personal stylists and Facebook Style Bots align with Mintel Trend Talking Shop, which discusses how real-time messaging apps and channels represent a direct and speedy way for brands to offer customer service and interact with consumers on a conversational level. Demand for high levels of customer service when shopping for luxury goods, both online and offline, is confirmed by Mintel’s forthcoming Luxury Goods Retailing International 2017 Report, which found that 82% of French consumers expect a high level of customer service when buying luxury goods. This figure is similarly high across the US, UK, Germany and China. As such, the ability to chat to customer advisors even when shopping online for goods is likely to resonate amongst 24 Sèvres core customers.

Samantha joined Mintel in 2016, analysing and writing reports on the retail sector. Prior to joining Mintel, Samantha worked as a Fashion Analyst for EDITED, a retail technology company specialising in data software. Here she worked on the company’s retail data analytics, trend forecasting and runway coverage. She has a BA (Hons) in Fashion Marketing from Northumbria University.