Altagamma Study Reveals Importance of Online Luxury Goods Market

At present, the online luxury goods market accounts for only 2.6 percent of the total market volume (EUR172 billion). However, Altagamma expects online sales of luxury goods to grow at an annual rate of 20 percent, which means the online luxury goods market could reach a volume of EUR11 billion by 2015.

In addition to social networks, other notable drivers of this development are fashion blogs and magazine-style websites. Thanks to a yearly growth rate of 136 percent, so-called “Friends of Luxury Brands” on Facebook play a particularly important role. “The explosion of social media and the increasing investments in the online channel by luxury companies has reinforced and enlarged the community of those who explore, comment upon and eventually purchase luxury goods“, explained Altagamma during the presentation of the study. The study involved conducting a survey among 187 companies in seven countries with a total turnover of EUR60 billion, interviewing some 1,500 consumers and analysing more than 450 websites.

At least 50 percent of all consumers in Europe, the USA and China were found to use the internet for research purposes prior to buying a product in a shop. Prior to making an online purchase, the majority of online buyers were also found to have first formed an opinion on the product by visiting a boutique. The influence of the internet on the way in which luxury brands are perceived is most pronounced in China due to numerous fashion blogs. Fashion blogs were found to be responsible for shaping opinions on luxury brands among 58 percent of Chinese and 27 percent of American and European luxury brand consumers. With a projected volume of US$371 billion, the Chinese online retail market is expected to take the No. 1 spot from the USA by 2016.