Online sales are set to triple in the next decade (McKinsey & Co). By 2025, the online share of total luxury sales is predicted to be 18%, and a whopping £70 billion annually. As a result, luxury e-tailers are still finding their feet when it comes to meeting high consumer demand, especially during the busy festive season.
Announced on Monday, Matchesfashion.com has introduced a new delivery service that allows customers across London to receive their purchase only 90-minutes after they have placed an order. Chief executive Ulric Jerome told the Evening Standard: “This new service means a City worker who has just pulled an all-nighter can order a fresh set of clothes for that important first meeting of the day, or a last-minute invitation in the evening with nothing to wear won’t be a problem anymore.” The service is already available on the site with a £12 charge, adding one more option to the retailer’s available delivery services that also include Next Day and Express delivery. Customers who wish to purchase using 90-minute delivery have to place their orders from 6.30am to 10pm.
The service is already available on the site with a £12 charge, adding one more option to the retailer’s available delivery services that also include Next Day and Express delivery. Customers who wish to purchase using 90-minute delivery have to place their orders from 6.30am to 10pm.
In collaboration with leading same day courier CitySprint, the couriers will pick up the products from Matchesfashion.com’s Wembley distribution centre and deliver them to customers.
Major mass-market names, including Amazon and Walmart, have been investing heavily in research into done-based delivery but it is unclear how such a service would sit with a luxury offer and how amenable public opinion would be to the prospect of a massive number of drones occupying urban airspace.
Meanwhile Net-a- Porter currently runs their own branded fleet of vans and offers same-day shipping in three cities, Everlane ups the ante with one-hour shipping.
ContactLab CEO Massimo Fubini said: “There is definitely work to be done in the luxury sector. Consumers pay a lot of money for products from these luxury brands and they expect the whole experience to have that luxury feeling, from the moment they order the item to the moment it arrives at their door. Brands must go that bit further at every single stage of the consumer journey, but very few are fulfilling their full potential.
“Many brands are missing the little touches which make all the difference, such as covering the product in standard parcel paper rather than delivering it in a more luxurious manner. Some brands, such as Fendi, Cartier, Tod’s and Net-a-Porter do show best practice when it comes to packaging and focus on maintaining that feeling of luxury throughout the whole consumer journey.”
