Call to luxury marketers: Heed what your colleagues have to say about next steps

August 20, 2020

Social distancing is the new sine qua non for doing business, impacting every sector from media-led events to retail and hospitality. Image credit: Condé Nast

By Mickey Alam Khan

There has never been a more crucial time in the modern, recorded history of the luxury business.

That is why more than 40 senior executives from the entire luxury ecosystem across three continents have decided to set aside precious time to offer a roadmap for the future. Please take advantage of their generosity and register for the Future of Luxury eConference Sept. 23-24: it is not an expense, but a tiny investment in your secure future.

Not sure? Hear us out first.

Accelerated evolution
Even before the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, luxury was in for an overhaul. Consumers demanded more accountability and transparency from luxury brands’ manufacturing, marketing and retailing practices toward a more sustainable future. They started expecting more diversity in hiring. They sought the ability to shop online and via mobile for omnichannel ease. And they certainly were on track to trade product for memories via unforgettable experiences.

And luxury brands and retailers were delivering – some at a forceful pace, others more languid. But there was progress.

Now, with COVID-19, sitting by the shore watching the ships go by is simply not an option for those looking to last out this decade.

Whatever behavioral changes that consumers had initiated pre-pandemic are now accelerated.

The stock market has held up well – remarkably, fortunes of the wealthy and ultra-wealthy are largely intact, even as some of their businesses may suffer, but not their investments. That cannot be said of the aspirational customer base, typically hailing from millennial and Gen Z ranks. Their very foundation has been shook. This is your sales pipeline – and it is looking askance.

Not surprisingly, sitting at home and working from dining table, drawing room. bedroom, garden or study has led to much introspection about life and living, health and safety, product and service, friends and family, children and education, work and commute.

Three words: Priorities are evolving.

Luxury Daily, with its Future of Luxury eConference, is hosting 40+ speakers from leading luxury brands, retailers, market researchers, agencies and publishers to share ideas and strategy on how to chart a course for the future as marketers adapt to consumer behavior. Please register now

Star cast
While everyone wants a break – and is snatching moments of fun as summer wanes – they know that life as we know it will not return for at least a year, if not more. That line of thinking includes the rich and the up-and-coming, both critical groups for luxury’s secure future.

We have all taken one in the eye.

But life has to go on. A successful vaccine likely will restore confidence in pre-COVID-19 routines: shopping in stores, traveling on planes and in public transport, staying in hotels, dining in restaurants, and meeting up with friends and colleagues. Heck, consumers might even look forward to the work commute from their socially distanced homes in the shires.

And yet the new tomorrow will be different. Consumer buying behavior, sourcing, craftsmanship, marketing, retailing channels, travel reliance, brand loyalty: all is up for grabs.

We are all learning on the hoof, but we need more than that. We need to hear from those that are taking bold steps, those that are getting it right and those that want to share what is working and what is not.

The king’s trumpeter is out to lunch, so we have to take it upon ourselves to point out the caliber of the Future of Luxury eConference’s lineup: senior executives from Boston Consulting Group, Harrods, Bentley Motors, Saks Fifth Avenue, Apple, Christie’s, Facebook/Instagram, eBay, Montblanc, Pomellato, Moët Hennessy, UBS, Wempe, Watches of Switzerland, LVMH’s Starboard Cruise Services, Alibaba, Capgemini, Forrester Research, Agility Research & Strategy, McCann Worldgroup, Accenture, Walpole, Comité Colbert, Altagamma, Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, VistaJet, Knight Frank, Fifth Avenue Association, Travel + Leisure, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, Northrop & Johnson, Positive Luxury, Shanker Inc., Luxury Institute, SelfSells, Coresight Research, Business of Aspiration, Quinn PR, Soozan Baxter Consulting and China Luxury Advisors.

THERE IS SIMPLY nowhere you will find such an august assembly of the best and brightest in luxury. Yes, it is a boast – and completely rooted in fact. And they have set aside 16 hours across two days to inform, educate and stimulate. They see the future of luxury – and want you in the picture.

Well, our time is up, but yours is not. So please click here and register for the Future of Luxury eConference.

Mickey Alam Khan is editor in chief of Luxury Daily

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Call to luxury marketers: Heed what your colleagues have to say about next steps

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